CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Big changes are coming for PATCO riders. The High Speed Line plans to begin accepting credit cards and payment apps at the turnstiles next month.
Starting Dec. 15, PATCO will start installing new fare validators at two gates at each station. When the readers are activated days later, riders will have new ways to pay.
“They’ll be able to use their cell phone, their contactless credit card, Apple and Google at our fare gates. They will not have to purchase a ticket. They can tap and go with that and through our fare gates,” PATCO general manager John Rink told KYW Newsradio.
“After the week of the 15th and starting the following week, customers that want to use either their contactless credit card or their cell phone, Apple, Google, will be able to use that right at the fare gates.”
Rink said there were no immediate plans to phase out PATCO's Freedom fare card. He said San Diego-based vendor Cubic Transportation Systems worked out some bugs to ensure Freedom cards are compatible with the new validators.
“The systems have been tested,” Rink said. “We just had an issue with our Freedom card, not being able to read when you tapped it. So Cubic has worked all of those issues out and we're ready to go with implementation.”
To start, only two gates at each station will be equipped with the new validators. “With the tap, the Freedom card and the Freedom Share card will work at those gates,” Rink continued. “The only thing that won't work is the paper tickets.”
PATCO's paper one-way and round-trip tickets with magnetic strips are being phased out when new ticket vending machines arrive in 2026, Rink said. “Once we have those new machines, we're starting around May and we anticipate by June of '26, all of the [ticket vending machines] will be replaced and then we can begin to replace the remaining fare gates with the new system.”
Rink said the new vending machines will issue plastic tap-and-go tickets. And, no more dollar coins — the machines will dispense paper money for change.