SEPTA Temporarily Suspends Sales Of One Day Regional Rail Papal Passes
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Technical problems forced SEPTA to suspend online sales of its special passes for regional rail service during the visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia less than two hours after the transit agency began selling them.
The passes went on sale to commuters at 9 a.m. Monday, but customers trying to access the e-commerce site immediately experienced problems logging on.
In a statement, the transit agency said it while it was prepared for high volume when online sales began, the traffic to the site launched for pass sales was significantly higher than anticipated.
SEPTA'S Jere Williams said the techs tested the system over the weekend and thought they were prepared.
She explained the website was quickly overwhelmed when sales began Monday morning as thousands of people tried to access it to buy the one-day passes for the regional rails for September 26 and Sept.ember 27.
Within 90 minutes, the decision to shut down the site was made, Williams said.
She admitted that it was a frustrating exercise for some.
"Those people who were able to go through their transactions, some of them once they got to the cart, once they got everything ready to go, they weren't able to complete the sale," Williams explained.
SEPTA said most transactions were not completed, and therefore, most of the one day passes are still available for customers to purchase when sales resume.
There are approximately 175,000 passes available for each day of the Papal Visit, or approximately 350,000 total for September 26 and 27 combined.
Williams explained that more testing will take place for the site and SEPTA hopes to have word on Tuesday about when people will be able to begin buying passes again. She added that 24 hour notice will be given in advance of when sales resume.
