PATCO Freedom Card Marks 10 Years Of Use Amid General Success Among Riders
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) -- It was 10 years ago that riders along the PATCO line were introduced to the Freedom Card as an alternate way to pay their fare. It seems the card has become quite popular with regular customers.
70% of PATCO's 37 thousand daily riders swipe that card, according to General Manager John Rink. For months now, there have been discussions with SEPTA about allowing for its use in the city, and perhaps the SEPTA Key allowing access into South Jersey.
"We're in the final stages and hopefully by November we'll be in a pilot phase with them and by early Spring, they'll be able to use their Freedom Card on SEPTA," Rink told KYW Newsradio.
So what makes the plastic so popular?
"If they auto-load from an account from a computer or through their bank, they don't have to stop at a ticket machine to put money on their card each day," Rink added. "Some will elect to do that. But it's a convenience like EZPass. You can have your account set up, it deducts from your account and then routinely will auto-load up and put another dollar figure on it."
The SEPTA Key system was rolled out about a year ago.