Lottery for papal high speed line, trolley passes today

The lottery to buy passes for travel during the papal visit on SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line and two trolley routes is open.

The online lottery opened at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and runs through 11:59 p.m.

The special three-day transit passes will be valid Sept. 26 through 28.

There are 20,000 passes available for the Norristown High Speed Line and 5,600 tickets each for trolley Routes 101 and 102.

All passengers on those lines during the papal visit must have one of the special $10 passes.

When entering the lottery, riders will need to designate the station and time slot they plan to use.

Stations available are Springfield Mall and Leamy Avenue for the Route 101 trolley, North Street and Clifton-Aldan for the Route 102 trolley, and Gulph Mills and Villanova for the Norristown High Speed Line.

Time options are 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Riders will take the suburban lines to the 69th Street Transportation Center, where they will transfer to the Market-Frankford Line to continue to 30th Street station. Outbound trips from 30th Street will begin after 5:30 p.m.

Successful lottery applicants will be able to buy up to 10 passes. All valid entries have the same chance of winning, regardless of what time the lottery entry was submitted.

Meanwhile, an undetermined number of passes for Regional Rail travel during the papal visit also remain for sale.

More than 20,000 passes remained unsold in a separate lottery for those passes.

Winners of that lottery had until 3 p.m. Monday to pay for their purchases. Any passes not bought by the deadline have been made available for sale, first to unsuccessful lottery applicants, who have until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to buy the tickets.

Passes still unsold will be for sale at some SEPTA stations. The transit agency is expected to release more information about in-person sales on Friday.