PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA is upgrading the fareboxes on its buses and trolleys to make sure they can continue to accept old forms of payment, as well as new ones.
“The SEPTA system is always going to accept cash for as long as people have cash,” said spokesman Andrew Busch.
But here’s the problem: “The fareboxes that are on our buses and trolleys currently go back to 1994.”
And that makes it hard to find parts to repair them, he said. So SEPTA’s board of directors has approved $22 million to spend on more than 1,500 new fareboxes from Chicago-based Genfare, LLC.
The Fast Fare machines accept not only cash but also mobile payment via smartphones.
Busch says as SEPTA seeks proposals for a new digital payment system named SEPTA Key 2.0, it wants to make sure that riders can still pay using more analog methods.
“The important part for us is to be able to continue to accept cash while also making sure that we’re set up for the future with improvements that are going to come with the Key.”
He says any proposal for Key 2.0 is required to be compatible with the new fareboxes. They’re expected to be delivered in about a year.
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