Happy 60th Birthday SEPTA! Part 5
February 28, 2024
We’ve reached the end of our month-long 60th Birthday celebration! Lucky for us - this year had an extra day! 🥳
In 1968 – four years after its creation - #SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Transportation Company and its fare system: tokens! Originally these tokens were only available to students but nine years later in 1977 – SEPTA made the tokens available to everyone. Over the years the token went through quite a few redesigns – some of which you can see above!
Other fare options included paper tickets for Regional Rail, paper passes for both Regional Rail (TrailPass) and Transit (TransPass), and who could forget those paper transfers on transit! These disposable fares were widely used on the system until a reloadable and reusable contactless card valid on all modes - SEPTA Key - was introduced in 2016.
Wide adoption of the SEPTA Key card led to the eventual decline and demise of paper tickets and passes - and tokens. SEPTA officially stopped selling paper TransPasses, paper transfers, and tokens in 2018; paper TrailPasses in 2019; and paper tickets in 2020. We stopped accepting tokens in December 2023.
In October 2023 – SEPTA began accepting contactless payment (credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay) on buses, trolleys, and subways. Do you think 60 years ago they imagined customers could use their watch ⌚ to pay their fare?
Through the years and still today - there’s one form of payment that remains a constant - cash!
No matter how you pay - SEPTA is the #waytogo! Thanks for riding! #ISEPTAPHILLY #SEPTA60
Photo Cred: BlaineCollectsOldThings on IG
