July 15, 2017
Remember life before "Quick Trip"?
On Friday, SEPTA celebrated the millionth sale of the recently launched feature that's helping bring Philadelphia one step closer to traveling without a token or exact change.
To ring in the occasion, SEPTA surprised James Dutko, 41 of South Philly and its millionth "Quick Trip" purchaser at Dilworth Park station with a Key Card pre-loaded with $100 and a bunch of merch.
“I was walking through the station and was on my way to buy some tokens, a five-pack," Dutko told CBS3. "And they found me and said, 'Hey, guess what? You’re customer one million.'"
The transit authority began to sell the disposable, magnetic strip tickets good for a single, one-way ride in late September, introducing them to all stops along the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines in October.
The "Quick Trip" meant no more purse or pocket digging to find $2.25 – now $2.50 – in exact change to pay the transit fare since subway riders could pay for the pass with a debit or credit card.
Though, there are downsides to the "Quick Trips" too. They're only good for one ride and only for the station it's purchased in. "Quick Trips" don't offer any discount, either.
While excited about the milestone, SEPTA is still recommending that frequent riders use the SEPTA Key's Travel Wallet feature to load money on the plastic, reusable card.
"Today, if you lose your paper pass or your pack of tokens, you're out of luck," SEPTA wrote on its blog.
Riders can register the SEPTA Key online to replace the value loaded on it if ever lost or stolen, too.
SEPTA's Travel Wallet was introduced shortly after the "Quick Trip" in November.
"The 'Travel Wallet' is a big step in the program because it is the start of, I don't want to say phasing out the token ... it's the next evolution in the program," said Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesperson ahead of the feature's launch.
