Skip to main content

$129.5 million Philadelphia fare system contract awarded to ACS

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) board has voted to award a contract of up to US$129.5 million to ACS Transport Solutions Group for equipment and services for the installation of a modernised fare system under its new payment technologies (NPT) programme.
March 26, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 4288 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) board has voted to award a contract of up to US$129.5 million to 13 ACS Transport Solutions Group for equipment and services for the installation of a modernised fare system under its new payment technologies (NPT) programme. The scheme will upgrade SEPTA's outdated fare payment and collection system. Current fare instruments such as tokens, paper tickets and magnetic strip passes will be replaced by contactless payment devices.

The NPT installation project will be divided into three phases and work is expected to be completed within three years.

The first phase focuses on design and testing, with implementation following in the second and third phases. NPT will be rolled out first on buses and trolleys, followed by the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, and then the Regional Rail system.

For the 90 per cent of SEPTA customers who use buses, trolleys, the Market-Frankford Line and the Broad Street Line, the major change will be moving to a user-friendly fare system. NPT will retain some familiar transit fare elements while adding modern amenities. This includes upgrading fare boxes on buses and trolleys and turnstiles at subway stations to accept contactless payments. Customers will pay fares with a simple "tap" of their contactless device of choice upon entry to vehicles and stations.

Related Content

  • October 8, 2012
    Philadelphia’s transport system moves to contactless payment
    US-based Xerox has been awarded a contract worth US$122 million to provide Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) with a contactless fare collection system. The system, which is to be installed on regional trains as well as buses, trolleys and subways, uses credit or debit cards to collect fares. Philadelphia is home to the USA's sixth largest urban transit network which clocks up 1.1 million journeys per day. Users of the network will soon be saying farewell to cash, metal tokens and
  • May 20, 2024
    Septa launches 3D fare gates pilot with Conduent
    Fare evasion is estimated to cost Pennsylvania transit agency $30-40m each year
  • November 19, 2015
    Indra extends Medellín intermodal public transportation system
    Indra has won a US$2.8 million contract with Metro de Medellín to implement the complete fare collection system for the new Ayacucho trolley and to upgrade the contactless validators for the two subway lines. This new project will integrate the Ayacucho trolley line with the intermodal public transportation system that Indra has implemented in Colombia's second-largest city, and the company’s access control technology will be used in all modes of transport managed by Metro de Medellín. Indra's platform,
  • February 2, 2012
    Developments in smarter multi-modal fare paynment
    This section pulls together all the multi-modal topics in each issue. Subject matter will include smartcards; ticketing and payment systems; passenger information systems; fleet management for buses, trains and light rail; park and ride systems; on-line access to real-time information via Internet portals