SEPTA to end ticket sales at nine more Regional Rail offices on Dec. 31

SEPTA will stop selling Regional Rail tickets at nine more stations — including two of its hubs in Philadelphia — at the end of the year as a growing number of riders use other methods to pay for their train fares, officials said.

The ticket offices at Temple and Penn Medicine stations both will close on Dec. 31, leaving sales windows open only at Jefferson, Suburban and 30th Street Stations among SEPTA's hubs in the city. In the suburbs, ticket sales will end the same day at the Regional Rail stations in Ambler, Doylestown, Media, Norristown, Warminster, Wayne Junction and Wilmington.

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Waiting areas and restrooms at all of these offices will remain open during designated hours for SEPTA Key card holders, who will be able to tap their cards at readers near the doors to gain entry, officials said. Riders with senior, reduced fare and CCT cards also will be able to access the station offices.

The pending closures follow SEPTA's decision last year to end ticket sales at 10 of its smaller Regional Rail stations. The offices in that group — which included Elkins Park, Hatboro and Langhorne stations — had seen ticket sales dwindle to fewer than 20 transactions per week.

For years, SEPTA has encouraged riders to get Key cards and load money onto them or use other payment methods at Regional Rail fare gates. Alternatives include tapping credit and debit cards, using mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, or using cash or credit cards to pay conductors after boarding trains.

When the next round of ticket offices close at the end of the year, SEPTA will have 36 remaining sales windows at stations throughout the Regional Rail system.

SEPTA did not immediately respond to questions about how it decided on which ticket offices to close at the end of the year. The Temple station, located on Berks Street between 9th and 10th streets, is among SEPTA's busiest Regional Rail stops.

The announcement of the closures comes amid a disruptive month for Regional Rail riders impacted by canceled and delayed trains. SEPTA had been mandated by the Federal Railroad Administration to inspect 223 of its Silverliner IV trains that had been flagged for potential fire safety hazards. The inspections were completed Friday, and SEPTA will lease 10 commuter trains from Maryland to make up for shortages while safety upgrades are made to the existing fleet.

“We understand that the recent service disruptions on Regional Rail have wreaked havoc on the daily lives of our riders,” SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said last week. “We appreciate their patience as we work to mitigate the canceled trips, long delays, and crowded railcars.”