“SEPTA Key” smart card to debut next year

Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) says its $130 million smart-card payment system, now dubbed "SEPTA Key," will be implemented on Philadelphia-area buses and subways beginning early next year, with implementation on light rail transit operations to follow.

SEPTA regional rail service will be incorporated into the smart card program in 2016, the agency said.

SEPTA Key will allow customers to use any contactless” credit card or a SEPTA-issued card, and even a smart phone, to pay fares at card-reading turnstiles or bus fareboxes.

The agency, which oversees public transport operations in six southeastern Pennsylvania counties, initially announced plans for electronic fare collection in 2007, hoping to put a system in place by 2010. SEPTA awarded a contract to Xerox in November 2011. Xerox highlighted its SEPTA contract at its APTA Expo 2014 booth in New Orleans earlier this month.