Tap To Exit At Jefferson Station To Start For Some SEPTA Regional Riders
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Changes are in store for SEPTA Regional Rail riders who make their way through Jefferson Station. Starting Monday, Jan. 13, passengers with SEPTA Key Cards will need to tap or swipe to exit at about half of the station's turnstiles.
"There was a time when people would get off of the train, they had the turnstiles here, they would walk through the vestibule area. There was no paid area and they would walk to their destination. But now they have to walk through an instrument where they'll going to have to tap to exit," SEPTA's Carla Showell-Lee said.
The tap to exit is expected to make its way to Suburban Station in the next few weeks.
The idea is to make sure riders are charged the correct rail fares by opening and closing their trips by tapping their key card.
This makes paper tickets and tokens a thing of the past.
"The plan is that people are eventually going to tap on and tap off. Right now we're just training people to change their behavior, " Showell-Lee said. "If you think about it, over the last 50 years, folks have gotten off the train, walked through this area and they have never seen any turnstiles. So, we're trying to educate people to change what they have been doing for years."
Septa officials say the signage will be glaringly obvious for passengers with the tap to exit them plastered all throughout the station. Riders will soon have to get used to reprogramming their daily routine.
The SEPTA Key technology is expected to be in place across the entire regional rail system by April.