SEPTA: Aug. 3 lottery for papal rail passes
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will commence a lottery Aug. 3 for the sale of special regional rail service passes that can be used during the visit of Pope Francis Sept. 26 and 27.
The lottery will open at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 3 and run until 11:59 p.m. the same day. Only one entry per person will be entered into the lottery, SEPTA officials said, and all entries will have an equal chance of being selected, regardless of when one enters the lottery.
“SEPTA will hold a lottery to randomly select the individuals eligible to purchase the Special One Day Regional Rail Passes good for Regional Rail travel on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27,” SEPTA said in a statement. “Everyone who enters the lottery will have a chance to be selected but given the limited number of Passes available for each station, not everyone will be selected to purchase Passes.”
When entering the lottery, each passenger will be asked to choose up to three departure stations, and the lottery will select one of the stations for purchase for those selected. According to SEPTA, the first round of lottery winners will be selected by random drawing, and winners will receive an email Aug. 6 inviting them to complete the purchase of their passes – which must be done by Aug. 9. Each online purchase will include a $1.95 shipping fee.
The announcement about the lottery followed an initial online sale of the special transit passes, which had been cancelled following technical problems due to high demand.
The sale of the special passes, priced at $10 for regular passes and $5 for reduced fare passes, had begun July 20 but was shuttered within ten minutes. According to the transit authority, “the traffic to the e-commerce site launched for pass sales was significantly higher than anticipated.”
Officials said that in the 10-minute window after the initial opening of sales, more than 900,000 visits to the site and an attempted 1,700 transactions per second led to technical problems. Most of the transactions were not completed, SEPTA said in a release, and the majority of the one-day passes remain available for purchase.
The transit authority is limiting issuance of passes to 175,000 for each day of the Papal visit, for a total of approximately 350,000 passes for the two days combined.
All riders, including regular passengers and visitors, will be required to pre-purchase the special, one-day Papal Visit Pass, according to SEPTA officials, and no other fare cards or passes will be honored. The transit authority has also announced that it will double capacity through modifying rail operations and schedules to accommodate the increased travel demand during the Holy Father’s time in Philadelphia.
Visit www.septa.org/fares/special-papal-visit.html for more information, and for the link to the lottery site – which will be posted at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 3.
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The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will commence a lottery Aug. 3 for the sale of special regional rail service passes that can be used during the visit of Pope Francis Sept. 26 and 27.
The lottery will open at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 3 and run until 11:59 p.m. the same day. Only one entry per person will be entered into the lottery, SEPTA officials said, and all entries will have an equal chance of being selected, regardless of when one enters the lottery.
“SEPTA will hold a lottery to randomly select the individuals eligible to purchase the Special One Day Regional Rail Passes good for Regional Rail travel on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27,” SEPTA said in a statement. “Everyone who enters the lottery will have a chance to be selected but given the limited number of Passes available for each station, not everyone will be selected to purchase Passes.”
When entering the lottery, each passenger will be asked to choose up to three departure stations, and the lottery will select one of the stations for purchase for those selected. According to SEPTA, the first round of lottery winners will be selected by random drawing, and winners will receive an email Aug. 6 inviting them to complete the purchase of their passes – which must be done by Aug. 9. Each online purchase will include a $1.95 shipping fee.
The announcement about the lottery followed an initial online sale of the special transit passes, which had been cancelled following technical problems due to high demand.
The sale of the special passes, priced at $10 for regular passes and $5 for reduced fare passes, had begun July 20 but was shuttered within ten minutes. According to the transit authority, “the traffic to the e-commerce site launched for pass sales was significantly higher than anticipated.”
Officials said that in the 10-minute window after the initial opening of sales, more than 900,000 visits to the site and an attempted 1,700 transactions per second led to technical problems. Most of the transactions were not completed, SEPTA said in a release, and the majority of the one-day passes remain available for purchase.
The transit authority is limiting issuance of passes to 175,000 for each day of the Papal visit, for a total of approximately 350,000 passes for the two days combined.
All riders, including regular passengers and visitors, will be required to pre-purchase the special, one-day Papal Visit Pass, according to SEPTA officials, and no other fare cards or passes will be honored. The transit authority has also announced that it will double capacity through modifying rail operations and schedules to accommodate the increased travel demand during the Holy Father’s time in Philadelphia.
Visit www.septa.org/fares/special-papal-visit.html for more information, and for the link to the lottery site – which will be posted at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 3.
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