SEPTA riders spent much of Monday unable to buy train tickets or reload their Key cards because of technical issues that affected the transit authority's website, kiosks and on-board purchasing systems. The outage has since been fixed, spokesperson Andrew Busch said.
The problem began affecting riders throughout SEPTA's network around 5 a.m. People who already had train tickets or money preloaded onto their Key cards were still able to pay their fares as usual to get on buses, subways, trolleys and Regional Rail trains. But people without tickets or those who ran out of money on their Key cards had no way to make purchases until about 3 p.m., Busch said.
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The issue was caused by a software update from contractor Conduent, which manages SEPTA's fare platforms.
Those who were unable to buy tickets or reload their Key cards were instructed to talk to station cashiers, bus drivers and train conductors to be given access to board. Riders also had the option of using Apple Pay, Google Pay or linked credit cards for bus, subway and trolley rides instead of their Key cards.
SEPTA recently expanded the use of smartphone fare payments throughout the system and plans to introduce the option to Regional Rail this fall.
Busch said riders were not turned away during the outage.
"We are currently working on an estimate for revenue that was lost due to this outage," he said.