Due diligence and prudence are always sound routes. So Key or NPT will be roughly 3 to 4 years behind schedule when it finally takes in it's first fare, possibly longer on regional rail.
MACTRAXX wrote:The entire NPT system is going to be a huge change for SEPTA riders and it will need to be phased in gradually and I give SEPTA credit for admitting that they are behind schedule and that their prime goal is to get it right and not experience the problems that Chicago had ...YES! As a veteran of 3-plus decades designing IT systems I definitely agree that getting a product right is far more important than releasing it on an arbitrary schedule. (Can anyone say Windows ME?) I'm also pleased to see that SEPTA is taking cues from what hasn't worked well in other systems. That's a major turnaround from the days when they seemed to feel they had nothing to learn from other operators' successes and failures.
I also share your two concerns about gating CC platforms and how intermodal fares will be assessed. IMO gates are going to be an inconvenience for daily commuters, a mess for those unfamiliar with the system, and a potentially dangerous blockade whenever there's a special event. I'm thinking of the debacle in NY/NJ a few years ago where passengers overwhelmed tunnels and corridors, trapping many and leading to heat exhaustion and injuries. That mess was due to the limits of existing construction, but it seems just plain stupid for SEPTA to create bottlenecks where none exist. Regarding transfers, does anyone know if it will be possible for riders to get an accounting of how their fares were calculated? Admittedly an electronic system should have far fewer misinterpretations than what happens currently ("But I already paid for a transfer!"). Even so, if fare calcs aren't transparent anyone with a complicated trip would never know whether what they paid was accurate; worse, any electronic glitch could rapidly under- or overcharge hundreds of riders before - or if - it was caught.
That said I have to respectfully take issue with the idea that the current system works well. Anyone who boards a train at a station without a ticket office or who needs tokens in the suburbs hits one of the system's inadequacies head-on. The need to pay transfer and/or zone charges separately is another inefficiency that puts an ironic spin on SEPTA's old slogan "Serious about change". For me the current system works only because it's what most of us grew up with, sort of the same way generations in England bought things with shillings and florins, or we Yanks insist it's simple to measure in feet and pounds rather than using Base 10. And (warning - soapbox issue here) anyone who is loyal to paying a full-cash fare is simply wasting money.