PPE vending machines are coming to Suburban Station this week

A New York company will install four mask vending machines at Suburban Station this week.

The machines are to be installed Tuesday outside the turnstiles, said David Edelman, cofounder of RapidMask2Go.

“I think this is right in time for the expanded SEPTA schedule,” which started Monday, he said. He said his vending machines and “transit hubs are a natural fit because masks are a requirement to ride the trains.”

» READ MORE: SEPTA Regional Rail is coming back, but many of its suburban riders are still working from home

Edelman said last month that he wanted to work with Philadelphia to bring his creation to several locations across the city.

“We recognize for our cities to reopen, we’re going to need these masks,” he said. “It’s not that this is your everyday mask. It’s a solution for when you’ve gone out and forgotten your cloth mask.”

Suburban Station is one of SEPTA’s busiest hubs and an entry point to Philadelphia for millions of people each year, according to AthenianRazak, which has the master lease for the station’s retail space.

“As people begin to use SEPTA more and commute into Philadelphia for work, these machines are the perfect addition to Suburban Station,” Jackie Buhn, CEO of AthenianRazak, said in a statement.

Edelman, 30, said he and a business partner thought of the idea after they struggled to buy protective masks in March and discovered they had to purchase them in bulk, which left them with a surplus. They installed their first mask vending machine on New York’s Lower East Side in April, he said, and have since expanded to four other locations in New York City.

The vending machines operate the in the traditional way, he said, but instead of buying snacks or drinks, customers can purchase KN95 masks — the Chinese standard for masks, not the medical-grade respirators used on the front lines of the pandemic.

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The machines accept contactless payment, he said, as well as cash and credit cards. The masks will sell for $3 this week — initially the price was $4 — and the machine also dispenses hand sanitizer and wipes.

When machines were installed in 10 other locations across the country, the initial response was positive, he said.

“People are excited by the machine, and at the same time disappointed that this is where we’re at,” Edelman said. When the machines were installed in New York, “I think it opened people’s eyes a bit. This is our new reality. This is how we’re going to get back to work.”

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Edelman, who works in property management and development, said he foresees masks being required everywhere from tourist destinations and concert venues to office buildings. With that in mind, he said, he is looking to install the machines in areas with high foot traffic.

In the coming weeks, Edelman said, machines are set to be installed at 13 shopping locations in New York and New Jersey. He is also in talks with two other locations in Philadelphia, a place that he said has a special significance to his family.

A University of Delaware alumnus, Edelman spent time here during college, and recently developed a greater appreciation for the city’s health-care community. His 2-year-old son, Remy, gets treatment for an inflammatory condition at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Because his son is on medicine that compromises his immune system, Edelman has been apart from him during the pandemic.

“I have a really soft spot for Philadelphia,” he said. “I have insane appreciation for not just the nurses and doctors at CHOP, but nurses and doctors everywhere.”

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When the machines are installed Tuesday, Edelman said, RapidMask2Go will also donate a couple of thousand masks to SEPTA workers who have been on the front lines of the pandemic.