The SEPTA Convenience Pass is definitely not worthy of its name. It's a pass issued by SEPTA for rides on SEPTA services, but it is hardly convenient. Many in the transit circle call it, more appropriately, the Inconvenience Pass (I will refer to it by either term during the remainder of the post). Here's how it came to be.
Before last year, SEPTA had a nice little pass called the Day Pass. It cost $5.50, and was good for travel on any SEPTA rail, bus, or trolley service. It was also good for one ride on SEPTA's regional rail system (of which the R7 I mentioned previously is a part, though it could not be applied to trips to or from Trenton). The way it works is somewhat simple. You buy the pass, and it comes in a little folder, with a sticker inside it. When you present it to a bus/trolley operator or booth clerk, (s)he would place the sticker on a dated transfer ticket. You could then show the transfer ticket to subsequent booth clerks or bus/trolley operators, and get an unlimited number of rides for the rest of the day. If the pass was used on the regional rail system, the conductor would punch a hole in a designated section of the sticker. Because of the nature of the day pass, requiring a dated transfer ticket to show validity for a given day, you could use the regional rail portion on one day, and use the rest on another day. It was truly remarkable.
During the middle of last year, SEPTA implemented a fare hike, which not only eliminated the Day Pass, it introduced the (In)Convenience Pass, and eliminated transfers. A court order forced transfers to be reinstated, but it was too late to save the Day Pass. The Convenience Pass was already being sold, and Day Passes were officially discontinued.
Why is the Convenience Pass so inconvenient? First, what it offers is somewhat less than the Day Pass that preceeded it. It is only valid for eight rides in a single day. It is not valid for travel on regional rail. At $6, it costs 50¢ more than the Day Pass. In the restrictive nature of the Convenience Pass compared to the Day Pass, there are already three negative points, which can be summed up by saying that you're paying more to recieve less.
The next thing that's wrong with the Inconvenience Pass is the size of the thing. At 4⅛ × 2⅞", it's larger than a credit card, so it won't fit in most wallets. That means you would have to carry it loose in your pocket while not in use, making it a bit easier to lose.
Next item on the Convenience Pass's naughty list, the way transactions involving the pass are carried out. It requires every bus/trolley operator and booth clerk to have a hole puncher readily available. And Heaven forbid having the pass being first used on a bus in a crowded street, or worse, a group of people who have all bought Inconvenience Passes and have walked from 1234 Market Street to catch the C bus for a ride up Broad Street. On the first use, the operator has to punch out four holes: The current month, the current day of the month (tens digit and ones digit), and the "1" indicating that this is the first trip using the pass. It's very cumbersome. Sometimes, the operator you show it to will just give it a look and wave you through to take a seat. He must have left his hole puncher at home or something. And judging from the size of the holes in each of the subsequent trips I've made with an Inconvenience Pass dated September 18, 2007, it doesn't appear to be a SEPTA-issued hole puncher, either. Apparently, any operator could simply walk into any office supply store and pick up a hole puncher for use on the job. (I took 6 SEPTA trips that day, but only had holes 1 through 5 punched out, because apparently, the trolley operator on an inbound trip from 40th Street didn't have his puncher. He just gave it a look and let me take a seat.) In an experiment, I simulated punching holes into an Inconvenience Pass. It took me about 40 seconds to look at the pass, reach for the puncher, and punch holes in the designated spots. Though with the right sized hole puncher, it could take about 20. But still, the whole ordeal of the first use takes longer than it should.
Finally, if you look at the back of the pass, there's a magnetic strip. What's the big idea of even having a magnetic strip if it's never used? Ideally, it could be used to keep track of the day in which it was used, and the number of trips taken so far, but since it's never swiped through a magnetic card reader, what's the point of having it?
That's what I don't like about the Inconvenience Pass. Other than that, it's a decent thing, but New York's $7 1-day unlimited pwns it.
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