PATCO 'smart cards' to debut
The fare-paying devices will appear after Thanksgiving, officials said.
The region's first transit "smart card" will make its appearance late this month, as PATCO inaugurates its long-awaited Freedom Card service.
Passengers will be able to get through new turnstiles by waving a credit-card-size plastic card with an embedded computer chip at a sensor. The fare will be automatically deducted from the card, which can be "reloaded" with cash or from a credit-card account.
The system will be similar to ones in Washington, Boston, Atlanta and other cities.
The Freedom cards will be available "immediately after Thanksgiving," PATCO president John Matheussen said yesterday.
The cards will cost $5 each; they initially will be sold with $5 in value already loaded on.
All PATCO stations in Center City and South Jersey will be converted to accept the smart cards by early January, Matheussen said. As stations along the 14-mile line between Philadelphia and Lindenwold are converted, existing plastic magnetic-strip fare cards will be phased out.
The Freedom card also will work in PATCO parking lots.
For occasional riders or those who do not want to get a smart card, PATCO will offer magnetic-strip paper tickets that can be purchased from vending machines in stations.
After more than a year of conducting tests and wrangling with the maker of the $13 million system, Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., of San Diego, PATCO believes it has the bugs worked out.
"There will be times when machines don't work as well as we'd like them to work," Matheussen said. "We're confident these machines will work very, very well. This will be a far better collection system than we have in place right now."
PATCO and Cubic finally settled their disputes yesterday, Matheussen said. PATCO agreed to extend its contract with Cubic until Sept. 30, 2008, although it will not pay additional money to the company. The terms of the contract originally had required the entire project to be completed by March 16, 2007.
To help passengers adapt to the new system, PATCO has hired uniformed "ambassadors." The first of the ambassadors, in black-and-red uniforms, began working in PATCO stations earlier this month. They are to assist passengers with schedules, tickets, vending machines and parking lots.