Coronavirus prompts PATCO to act to prevent fare card shortage
“We hear they closed the factory, had sent all the workers home, nobody’s been back, so the vendor had to scramble, we had to scramble to get those cards," PATCO General Manager John Rink said.
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The coronavirus outbreak in China has caused PATCO officials to act fast.
To prevent a shortage of the PATCO High-Speed Line Freedom cards produced at a manufacturing plant in China shuttered by the virus, Delaware River Port Authority CEO John Hanson used his emergency authority Wednesday to replenish PATCO’s stock.
A shipment of 30,000 cards — the stored payment option for frequent riders — had been expected this week. The unfilled order left PATCO with just about a week’s supply of cards on hand and scrambling to find a solution. Europe-based Paragon ID, which makes the smart cards, found 10,000 cards to ship from the United Kingdom.
The cards, purchased for $37,700 through the emergency action, should make it to Camden by Friday after a stop in a Vermont facility, where they’ll be imprinted with the Freedom logo, DRPA spokesperson Mike Williams said after DRPA’s board meeting Wednesday.
“We hear they closed the factory, had sent all the workers home, nobody’s been back, so the vendor had to scramble, we had to scramble to get those cards," PATCO general manager John Rink said.
The cards, introduced in 2007, can be purchased at vending machines at PATCO stations, or at the Freedom Card Service Center at PATCO’s Broadway Station. Paper tickets are available for occasional riders.
More than 70% of PATCO riders use the Freedom cards. About 500 are purchased a week, so the supply of 10,000 should ensure that riders don’t feel the impact.
“We have not run out of Freedom cards at this point," Hanson said. "We have Freedom cards, although the supply is small and dwindling.”
Reached for comment, Paragon ID did not provide further clarification.
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The coronavirus, believed to have originated at an animal market in Wuhan, has more than 75,000 confirmed cases worldwide and more than 2,000 deaths, most of them in China, according to the World Health Organization. While there are confirmed cases in the United States, none have been reported in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The growing virus is impacting businesses, however, with Apple, McDonald’s, and Starbucks among major companies taking measures as a result of the outbreak, according to ABC. Philadelphia-area business are also feeling some of the sting.
“We really don’t know when the factory’s going to open back up in China. As you might imagine, we don’t have a lot of contact with them," Hanson said. “And we don’t really know what the Chinese government is thinking in terms of when they’re going to ease some of their restrictions.”