Port Authority is in the process of eliminating the use of pennies to pay fares on its buses and light-rail vehicles.
As part of the upgrade of the agency’s farebox software that began Wednesday, the system will no longer accept pennies. Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the agency gets about $15 a day in pennies among the $45,000 it collects in daily fares.
As the fareboxes are updated, they will no longer be able to accept pennies. All of the boxes should be upgraded by the end of the month.
The agency’s service center on Smithfield Street, Downtown, will still accept pennies.
The agency has switched back and forth several times on whether it accepts pennies to pay fares. It discontinued them after 2012, then allowed them again in March 2018 after a previous software upgrade.
The agency said eliminating pennies should improve boarding speed for cash customers and eliminate downtime for fareboxes.
First Published: March 8, 2019, 6:25 p.m.
