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SEPTA set to begin rollout of Key Card Regional Rail passes

Riders at 19 stations in SEPTA Regional Rail's Zone 4 will get to be the first to use Key Cards to load monthly passes.

As SEPTA prepares to expand its Key card to Regional Rail, the five biggest stations are being retrofitted with new fare gates. But it will be a tight squeeze in many places, including the SEPTA concourse in 30th Street Station.
As SEPTA prepares to expand its Key card to Regional Rail, the five biggest stations are being retrofitted with new fare gates. But it will be a tight squeeze in many places, including the SEPTA concourse in 30th Street Station. Read more / File Photograph

Some SEPTA Regional Rail riders will be able to use a Key Card to make trips later this summer, marking the next phase in the rollout of the transit agency's new payment system.

Starting Aug. 1, some Regional Rail passengers will be able to use a Key Card loaded with a Monthly TrailPass for their rides.

The agency said Thursday that under an "early adopters" program, riders will be able to travel to and from one of 19 selected Zone 4 stations using the Key Card.

They can purchase Key Cards loaded with the pass starting July 20, when Monthly TrailPasses go on sale.

SEPTA said the card with the Monthly TrailPass can be purchased at sales offices at Center City stations. In addition, a mobile fare kiosk truck will be visiting stations included in the rollout program. It cannot be purchased yet from existing fare kiosks. But customers will be able to reload Monthly TrailPasses online at septakey.org or by calling the SEPTA Key Customer Service Center at 855-567-3782.

If you already have a Key Card, you can load a monthly pass onto it at one of the Center City stations.

Holders of Key Cards with a Monthly TrailPass can continue to use them to ride subways and buses in the city at no additional cost.

>> READ MORE: SEPTA's Key card readers will soon accept new PATCO fare cards

The Key Card program for Regional Rail will eventually expand to include Zones 1, 2, and 3, and allow for the purchase of Weekly TrailPasses. Until then, all existing fare instruments, including magnetic stripe passes and paper tickets, will remain available for purchase, SEPTA said. Customer attendants will collect paper tickets at the gates between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Key turnstiles and ADA gates, already in operation at Jefferson Station, will be activated at University City on July 2, Temple University on July 9, Suburban Station on July 16, and 30th Street Station by the end of July, the agency said.

>> READ MORE: There's no getting around the clumsy design of SEPTA's new fare gates | Inga Saffron

The turnstiles will accommodate tap-and-go travel with the SEPTA Key Card, and customers with legacy TrailPasses can swipe through the turnstiles. Passengers with Key Card passes will have to tap a platform validator at their home station before boarding and on their return. Conductors also will have handheld devices to validate the passes, should you fail to tap in at the station.

The 19 stations in the rollout are:

  1. Lansdale/Doylestown Line: Doylestown, New Britain, Chalfont, Colmar, Fortuna, Ninth Street, Lansdale, Pennbrook, North Wales, Delaware Valley University, and Link Belt.

  2. Paoli/Thorndale Line: Thorndale, Downingtown, Whitford, and Malvern.

  3. Trenton Line: Bristol.

  4. West Trenton Line: Yardley, Woodbourne, and Langhorne.

Also this summer, SEPTA is continuing to phase out token sales, as it encourages customers to use the Key Card instead.