PATCO, SEPTA selling rail passes for pope’s visit

SEPTA announced that it is suspending online sales of Regional Rail passes for the pope’s visit in September until technical problems can be fixed.

SEPTA said it had prepared for a high volume for its online sales, which were to begin at 9 a.m. Monday, but “the traffic to the e-commerce site launched for pass sales was significantly higher than anticipated”.

Riders will need to buy a separate $10 pass for each day and select their station and travel time slot when purchasing the passes.

The passes went on sale to commuters at 9 a.m. Monday, but customers trying to access the e-commerce site immediately experienced problems logging on. “There are approximately 175,000 passes available for each day of the Papal Visit – or approximately 350,000 total for September 26 and 27 combined”, he said.

PATCO’s preloaded passes for the papal visit also went on sale Monday morning. SEPTA is limiting the number of passes that will be sold, and requiring pre-purchase of the passes, to keep crowd numbers consistent with the capacity that will be available on Regional Rail trains. SEPTA will operate to/from Jefferson, 30th Street and University City Stations during the two-day Papal Visit.

Until this morning, when the site went live at 9 a.m. So, like all of you, we just got a chance to take it for a test run.

A link to the page where you may purchase the one-day passes (and the three-day passes starting July 27). Each One Day Pass will cost $10, and will be valid for one passenger. When the sale resumes, go to SEPTA’s special section and select the station you want to travel from. Customers can also use tokens, transfers and weekly and monthly passes on subways, buses and trolleys. Parking will be limited at SEPTA stations and surrounding locations, and spots are expected to fill up quickly both days. PhillyVoice will provide updates.

A one-day pass cost $5; two-day passes were $10 for unlimited travel. Washington, Pennbrook, Norristown TC, Media, Primos, Paoli, Radnor, Croydon, Cornwells Heights, Levittown, Warminster, Woodbourne, Wilmington and Marcus Hook will all be open on September 26 and 27. The deadline for PATCO’s online purchases is Sept 1.

Each customer will be able to purchase up to 10 passes.

Passengers may still use their regular Freedom cards during the weekend pope visit and be charged $2.50 for each ride.

PATCO will provide non-stop service westbound to Center City Philadelphia only between its Lindenwold, Woodcrest, Ferry Avenue and Broadway stations, and will only stop at 9th/10th and Locust streets in Philadelphia.