by KYW's Steve Tawa
SEPTA wants to overhaul the way it collects fares, and will soon put out a request for bids for using "smart card" technology throughout the system. But it's still a ways down the road.
The tipping point in moving toward an electronic payment and automated fare collection system for SEPTA was the financial industry's development of technologies beyond magnetic swipe cards to a "contactless" media.
SEPTA planning manager Jerry Kane:
"What we are looking at is a network of contactless readers on our turnstiles and our bus system that would have the ability to read not only a SEPTA-issued contactless card but have the ability to read what we carry in our wallets today."
SEPTA says it has closely followed how similar transit agencies around the country have rolled out new payment technologies -- including Boston's MBTA, Chicago's CTA, and Atlanta's MARTA.
Those systems took at least five to seven years for the design, test, and buildout phases, costing between $120 million and $190 million.
SEPTA plans to put out requests for proposals in the first quarter of next year and award a contract around next year at this time.
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