Lottery for Philly papal visit rail passes goes live
The overwhelming demand for rail passes during Pope Francis' September visit to Philadelphia has already crashed one website. Now an online lottery has been launched to give consumers another opportunity to purchase tickets.
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) instituted a lottery site in which consumers can register to purchase the passes required for travel on regional rail during the papal visit. The site, organized by TicketLeap, went live shortly after midnight.
Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Philadelphia in September for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, after stops in Washington, D.C. (where he will address Congress), and New York City. It will be his first papal visit to the U.S.
Events in Philadelphia include a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, to which the public is invited.
The Special One-Day Regional Rail Passes will be the only accepted fare from 18 regional rail stations providing service on Saturday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept.27.
Last Monday an online site for selling rail tickets for the papal visit weekend crashed due to heavy demand. Only about 200 passes were sold.
Unlike last week's attempt, the ticket lottery will not be first come, first served.
TicketLeap CEO Tim Raybould told CBS Station KYW that SEPTA's failed first attempt combined two problems: an event with far greater demand than supply of tickets, and the sheer volume of demand, with everyone hitting the website at once.
On Thursday winners of the lottery will receive a "congratulations" email with a personalized link to a secure page where they can complete their debit or credit card transaction. SEPTA will mail out the passes.
The one-day passes are $10 each.
- Enter lottery (open on Monday, Aug. 3 until 11:59 p.m. ET)
- For more information about SEPTA's lottery
SEPTA says the lottery ensures that everyone who wants to see the pope, or who needs to travel for work, will have fair shot at buying a pass for that weekend.
"It doesn't make a difference what time of the day that you submit your lottery entry," SEPTA's Jeri Williams told KYW.
TicketLeap will also weed out duplicate entries.