SEPTA giving up cards for parking lots

Even as SEPTA looks to a future of electronic fares, it is returning to its past of coin-operated parking.

The transit agency is ending the use of magnetic-stripe cards for its Regional Rail parking lots, because of continuing problems with the cards.

SEPTA chief financial officer Richard Burnfield said the cards, which have been used at six parking lots, had a tendency to become demagnetized when they came in contact with a cell phone or other electronic device. That would wipe out the value stored on the card.

"It kind of stinks. The cards did have problems, but when they worked, it was great," said Dan Cipolla, 25, of Jenkintown, who parks at the Jenkintown station. "Otherwise, I'm hunting for coins in the morning when I'm trying to get out the door. It was much more convenient with the card."

With the magnetic-stripe card, a commuter could buy a card from a ticket agent with $20 worth of parking credits and use the card at a machine in the lot or on the train platform. The machines also accept coins, but not dollar bills.

The cards were in use at Jenkintown, Fort Washington, Ambler, Warminster, and 69th Street parking lots, and, until recently, at Fern Rock.

Burnfield said SEPTA was selling out its supply of the cards and ending their use by Nov. 30.

Customers will have to rely on old-fashioned coins. Eventually, SEPTA hopes to include a parking-lot payment feature in a future electronic-fare system.

"I wish they'd just fix the problem, instead of taking them away," said Cipolla.

SEPTA temporarily stopped the use of the parking cards about a year ago, when similar card failures occurred.

A representative for a commuters' organization said SEPTA's abandonment of the parking cards might be a symptom of a bigger problem with the agency.

Matthew Mitchell, of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, noted that SEPTA also abandoned vending machines for passenger tickets in 2007, citing their inability to accept newly designed U.S. currency.

"This is not a new phenomenon. It reminds me of the difficulty SEPTA had with maintaining its ticket vending machines while NJ Transit and other systems managed to keep theirs working reliably," Mitchell said.

"It's also worrisome to see that SEPTA is having problems with a system that is quite simple," compared with proposals for an electronic fare system, Mitchell said. "For SEPTA, this ought to be a rehearsal for the big project."

SEPTA hopes to award a contract by early next year for a long-postponed high-tech fare system to replace its current tokens, tickets, and passes for buses, subways, and commuter trains.

"Either there are real problems with SEPTA's maintenance performance or a lack of will on the part of management to make these things work."

Customers with leftover parking cards may return them to SEPTA for a refund: Customer Service, 1234 Market St., Fourth Floor, Philadelphia 19107.