SEPTA's Proposed Operating Budget Does Not Include Fare Hike
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - SEPTA has released its proposed $1.4-billion operating budget -- and the fare increase that was expected to take effect is getting pushed back one year.
You can thank delays in the roll-out of the new fare collection system for the savings. The launch of "SEPTA Key" has been delayed several times. Engineers are still working out some kinks ahead of a scheduled soft launch in June.
"When it goes out to customers, it needs to be right," Spokesman Andrew Busch said. "It needs to be working well."
SEPTA Key will be limited to 10,000 weekly and monthly transpass customers in this first phase.
"And that includes subways, buses and trolleys," Busch said. "Regional Rail will be a separate roll-out expected to start next year."
There is a board meeting on April 14th where officials from SEPTA as well as Xerox, the vendor for SEPTA Key, will decide if it's ready or not. If so, they will be installed six weeks later.
"We think that's the best thing to do to make sure we have the best possible system in place," Busch said.
Traditional forms of payment will still be accepted as this system is slowly introduced. Because of all the moving parts here, Busch says they wanted to hold off on the three-percent fare hike.
"We felt it would be a little unnecessarily complicated for our riders to roll out a fare increase," Busch said, "and the initial stage of the Key right around the same time."
There are public hearings scheduled on the budget proposal.
More info is available at SEPTA's website.
