Small businesses, which are about half the region’s employers, offer a potential growth market for the program, Johanson said.“We wanted to make sure we were administratively ready for the demand,” Johanson said. “We’re able to leverage the Key [card] infrastructure from a card distribution and data perspective, but standing up a whole new benefit program is a lot.”The transit agency began the pass program in large part to put customers in empty bus, trolley, subway, and Regional Rail seats.
Trips have increased about 29% since May 2022, when participants in the program tapped their Key Cards 176,732 times. In January, SEPTA recorded 228,618 taps by participants. To be sure, more companies are enrolled in the Key Advantage now so it’s not a precise measure. Key Advantage customers on average tap their fare cards 26.5 times per month, which represents about 1,314 round trips on SEPTA service, Johanson said. The passes are good on all modes of transit.Mayor Jim Kenney’s latest budget proposal also included $80 million in city taxpayer funds over two yearsat no cost to them. If City Council approves, roughly 50,000 people would be eligible for a Key Advantage pass.
At this point, SEPTA is talking with colleges and universities in the region about a version of Key Advantage for their students. Officials hope to have a campus pilot program up and running for fall semester. For farther down the road, SEPTA is developing a proposal in which residential and commercial landlords would be able to give zero-fare passes to tenants, as an incentive to lease or in place of parking spots, Johanson said.
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