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PATCO Announces FREEDOM Fare System Upgrades

PATCO announced today that it would implement a series of scheduled system upgrades to its FREEDOM Fare System. The upgrades will include enhancements to existing hardware and software responsible for running fare collection systems.  As a result, customers will not be able to use credit/debit to load value on their Freedom cards or buy paper tickets over the Memorial Day Weekend. During this temporary outage, only cash will be accepted at the vending machines in each of the PATCO stations. Customers can still use the value on their FREEDOM card to buy other products such as SEPTA transfers and paper tickets. In addition, Patcofreedomcard.org will be down for the conversion period until the morning of Tuesday, May 29th.

“Technology is constantly changing and that includes the software and applications which run our fare collection system,” said PATCO’s GM John D. Rink. "Moving to the next level of fare collection software will allow us to perform much of the “housekeeping” work we need to complete, such as replacing hardware and upgrading the operating systems on our servers.  Upgrading to the next level of software also allows us to move forward with planned projects, including our SEPTA integration.”

Due to the large scope of this project and the need to allocate a period of four days, PATCO identified the Memorial Day Weekend because of historically low ridership. Scheduling the upgrades during the extended holiday weekend should also minimize the disruption to the majority of our commuting customers.

FREEDOM cards and tickets will still be accepted at all PATCO fare gates. Customers who have previously signed up for automatic loading of their FREEDOM Card will not see any change and Freedom cards will load normally. 
The FREEDOM card Customer Service Center will be closed on Friday, May 25th and Monday May 28th.  Customers who wish to report lost or stolen cards should still call 1-877-373-6777 and leave a message.  Your card balance is guaranteed from the time the message is left.  

The current Fare collection System will be shut down at 7pm Thursday evening (May 24th).  All systems should be up and running by 4am Tuesday morning (May 29th). 

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