SEPTA To Release Details On Papal Pass Website Update After Monday's Crash Under High Demand
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- SEPTA is expected to give an update this morning on when they'll restart sales of the one-day Regional Rail passes for the papal visit in September. The website crashed yesterday morning because of overwhelming demand.
SEPTA officials promise 24-hour notice as to when the papal pass website will go back online and sales will resume.
The site was up and running at nine yesterday morning, and SEPTA officials say there were approximately 900,000 visits, and about 1,700 transaction attempts per second.
The problem is, people couldn't complete the purchase. Some got to the "Shopping Cart" but couldn't finish the deal.
The transit agency says they tested the site over the weekend but the demand was even greater than they expected, so within an hour-and-a-half they shut the website down.
The passes are for SEPTA's regional rail lines for the weekend of the Pope's visit in late September. Officials say having them will be the only way to use the trains that weekend. So if you have to go to work or need to be in the city, even if it's not for the papal visit, these passes are the only ones SEPTA will accept.
The agency says they're offering 175,000 passes each day, September 26th and 27th. SEPTA officials say they were only able to sell 201 of the passes Monday morning out of the 350,000 available for the weekend of the pope's visit. SEPTA is expected to have more information this morning on when they'll start selling the one day passes for the papal visit.
