PATCO is smarting over faulty smart card

PATCO's long-awaited "smart card" for fares is still, well, long-awaited.

In June, PATCO president John J. Matheussen said the new cards would be ready by late summer. Yesterday, he said the new fare cards wouldn't be available until "the end of the year or the beginning of next year."

PATCO's parent, the Delaware River Port Authority, is spending about $13 million to install the fare system, similar to ones in Washington, Boston, Atlanta and other cities.

Passengers will be able to pass through new turnstiles by waving a credit-card-sized plastic card with an embedded computer chip at a sensor. The fare will be automatically deducted from the card, which can be replenished with cash or from a credit-card account.

But in trial runs, the new cards have failed too frequently to risk general distribution, Matheussen said yesterday.

He said the cards had proved too fragile and sensors had shown a propensity for not being able to read the cards.

Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., of San Diego, is the company installing the smart-card system for PATCO.

"I'm disappointed," Matheussen said. "This is something that has our full attention."

He said DRPA officials are discussing invoking penalty clauses against Cubic for not meeting contractual deadlines.

"I know our riders are very anxious to see it rolled out," Matheussen said. "But we don't want a system that isn't going to work. That's the last thing we want."

The Freedom cards, designed to also work in PATCO parking lots, will cost $5 each. They initially will be sold loaded with $5 value.

As stations along the 14-mile line between Philadelphia and Lindenwold are converted to accept the "smart cards," plastic magnetic-strip fare cards will be phased out.