SEPTA No Longer Giving Riders Refunds For Late Trains
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- SEPTA's money-back guarantee that trains would get you to your destination on time has gone the way of horse-drawn buggies. The transit agency plans a replacement that won't include refunds for late trains.
SEPTA's on-time rate has inched back up to 80 percent since the cracks discovered in its Silverliner five fleet drove it down into the sixties. But the late train refund program, suspended with the cracks were found, is not coming back. Spokesperson Carla Showell-Lee says there will be something new.
"We're trying to redefine the relationship around customer loyalty," Showell-Lee said.
She says it will likely be a rewards-type program tied to the SEPTA key card, which is scheduled for roll-out sometime this year. She says the refund program had so many exceptions.
"Acts of God, a tree in the middle of the track, a weather-related condition," she said.
That it often left riders just as frustrated as the late train.
"More than 50 percent of the complaints coming back we request-denied," Showell-Lee said. "These customers would receive a rejection letter, literally, 6-8 weeks after filing a claims, which only added to their frustration."
She says the program cost $22,000, last year, up until it was suspended in July, so ending it is not a huge savings.
