PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Check your old jacket pockets for SEPTA tokens, as the transit system says it'll no longer accept tokens for fare payments starting Jan. 1, 2024.
SEPTA started using tokens for general fare payments in 1968 and stopped selling tokens in 2018.
"Considering how far out we are from when these were on sale, we thought this was the right time to make this change," said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch.
Five years ago, 800,000 tokens were dropped into fareboxes each week, Busch said.
"That has dwindled over the years, and we're all the way down to about 750 tokens per week."
SEPTA won't give you cash for tokens, but Busch urges riders who still have tokens to go to a SEPTA kiosk to redeem their value on a SEPTA Key card before January.
Riders have collected tokens for nostalgic reasons — and Busch says SEPTA's headquarters store even sells lapel pins and other items made from the copper coins.
"We expect to have some available for those purposes. But the bulk of these, which are massive amounts of tokens we have that have to be disposed of, those will be sold for scrap."
While SEPTA’s token era is coming to an end, they are implementing new payment methods, like accepting credit cards and phone apps.