SEPTA is closing in-person ticket sales windows at 14 Regional Rail stations
Demand for in-person ticket sales has plummeted at some Regional Rail stations as customers turn to electronic payments.
A mainstay of the suburban commuting life will fade away at 14 Regional Rail stations early next month as SEPTA shutters ticket windows with low sales.
“These sales offices are closing due to decreasing demand for in-person sales,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said. Each of the offices has been processing fewer than 20 transactions per week, he said.
Fifteen ticket agents will lose their jobs, though the contractor that staffs the offices, Edens Corp., has offered reassignment to other positions in the company, transit agency officials said.
Regional Rail riders are increasingly using Key cards, which can hold cash value for pay-as-you-go travel or weekly, or monthly passes, to ride the trains, SEPTA reports. In addition, they have the option of buying Quick Trip tickets from conductors on board with cash, credit, and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
An onboard ticket purchase is more expensive than if you are using a prepaid Quick Trip ticket or stored cash value on a Key card, however. The extra charge varies slightly by Regional Rail zone, but most are 75 cents more than a prepaid Quick Trip ticket, Busch said.
The 14 Regional Rail stations losing their ticket offices are: St. Martins, Oreland, Clifton, North Hills, Roslyn, Chelten, Chestnut Hill East, Mount Airy, Cheltenham, East Falls, Carpenter, Melrose Park, Wallingford, and Morton. The last day for in-person ticket sales at these stations is Feb. 2.
Conshohocken’s ticket office closed on Nov. 23.
SEPTA will continue to offer in-person sales at 56 outlying commuter stations, the transit agency said. Edens employees staff those ticket offices, as well as the five Regional Rail hubs in Center City — Temple, Jefferson, Suburban, 30th Street, and Penn Medicine stations.
Regional Rail has struggled to recover from the ridership losses of the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because more people are working at home or hybrid rather than full-time in office buildings.
The service carried 58% of the weekday passengers it did in 2019 as of Nov. 30, the latest SEPTA count available. That marks a high for Regional Rail since the pandemic; by contrast, other transit, including buses, subways, and trolleys, carried 68% of the customers it had before as of Nov. 30.
Regular riders at the Melrose Park station chimed in on social media after their ticket agent, whom they know as Jack, told them he would be leaving. They said he was a positive, cheerful presence in their daily routine who, besides selling tickets, helped passengers with problems such as a balky Key Card.