July 27, 2015
A SEPTA press conference on the sale of regional rail papal passes for Pope Francis's visit was postponed on Monday an hour before it was scheduled to start.
SEPTA officials had told members of the media that, after the site to sell the passes crashed last week, they would make an announcement by Monday about the sale of those passes.
"We just want to make sure that all of our partners are aware of our plans," said SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams. "We will reschedule the press briefing to explain when and how we will be resuming the sale of the papal passes ... one day this week."
Unlike subways, buses and trolleys, Regional Rail trains will only accept special passes for the weekend of the pope's visit, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept. 27. Monthly transit passes and cash fares will not work. So whether you're coming to see the pope or just commuting for work on those days, you'll have to buy one of SEPTA's special passes beforehand.
Last week when the site went live, however, there was more demand than the system could handle - more than 50,000 people tried to use the site in the immediate aftermath of its launch causing the crash. The rush was likely caused in part by the limited nature of the passes - only 175,000 of them will be sold for each weekend day.
Last week, SEPTA said they would decide whether to keep the vendor used to set up the site, CapTech, or go with a different company. CapTech has a contract with SEPTA for about a half a million dollars a year to do IT services, but only a small portion of that amount was paid for constructing the papal passes site. While a spokesman with SEPTA said they were happy with some of CapTech’s past work, it was paramount that the site start working quickly.
Timing is so important because the passes have to be mailed to people. For those traveling from far away to Philadelphia, it is essential that the passes arrive before they begin their pilgrimage to see the pope.
“We think we need to have these sales … by the early part of August,” SEPTA Spokesman Andrew Busch said last week. “The sooner we can get these passes in people’s hands … that will benefit everyone involved.”
