Seniors will need photo ID to ride Regional Rail for free

The roll out of SEPTA’s Key Card program is still underway, and the changes keep on coming. However, the newest development in the transit agency’s efforts to get everyone on board with the reloadable, reusable Key Card may come as a relief to many senior citizen commuters.

Starting tomorrow, SEPTA is doing away with the $1 fee for seniors riding Regional Rail, allowing anyone over the age of 65 to ride the service for free, according to a statement from SEPTA this week. Those traveling in and out of Delaware and New Jersey, will still be subject to a discounted half-fare.

But there’s a slight catch. SEPTA is also eliminating the paper PA Senior Citizen Transit ID Cards, meaning seniors eager to take advantage of the free rides will have to get a SEPTA photo ID Key Card, a Pennsylvania drivers license, or a non-driver ID with a magnetic strip. The photo ID Key Card is available at SEPTA headquarters and Suburban Station, as long as you bring your ID, according to SEPTA.

The news is just the latest in several measures SEPTA has taken over the past few months as it continues to roll out the Key Card, a plastic card that acts like a debit card at SEPTA stations. It can be reloaded with money and used to pay for rides on trolleys, subways, and some Regional Rail lines

Earlier this summer, the transit agency announced that anyone riding Zone 4 Regional Rail lines could use their Key Card to ride (you can now buy a Key Card loaded with the weekly Zone 4 pass). In the spring, SEPTA announced the end of token sales entirely and hiked the price of the Key Card up to $5.

• Open Thread: What do you think of SEPTA’s new Key Card measures? [Curbed Philly]
• Seniors to get free Regional Rail rides with SEPTA key [SEPTA]
• SEPTA Key Cards will soon be available for some Regional Rail riders [Curbed Philly]