Papal pass lotto entries lower than expected

Maybe a bajillionpeople won’t be showing up?

SEPTA says the number of people who entered a lottery for tickets to ride the Regional Rail Lines during the papal visit was lower than expected.

By 10 a.m. Monday, 16,500 peoplerequested140,000tickets through SEPTA’sonline lottery, well short of the 350,000tickets available.

By 5 p.m., about 27,400 people had requested tickets, though SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams didn’t say how many tickets were requested.

In July, adeluge of visitors trying to buy tickets to ride Regional Rail lines during the papal visit — 54,000 in the first minute — crashed SEPTA’s e-commerce site.

SEPTA instituted the lottery system in hopes that it would even out web traffic.Theoretically, because everyone has an equal chance of winning the train ticket lottery, it wouldn’t create the mad crush of a first-come, first-served model.

Williams said that it appears many people who entered the lottery had a good chance of receiving a ticket, though she anticipated that tickets will sell out for some stations.

Tickets wereexpectedremain on sale until 11:59 p.m. Monday

“It seems like everyone has been able to register and we expect that to continue for the rest of the day,” Redfern said.

To sign up, visit septa.org and click “Enter Lottery.”

Individuals can sign up for up to 10 entries per day on Sept. 26 and 27. You can enter to win tickets at up to three outlying Regional Rail stations. The passes cost $10 each.

Winners will be notified on Aug. 6 via email and then asked to submit payment.

Only 18 Regional Rail stations will be in service during the weekend of Pope Francis’ scheduled visit Philadelphia.

The only Center City stations open will be 30th Street Station, Jefferson Station and University City Station.

There are 350,000 tickets available for the weekend of Sept. 26 to 27 — 175,000 per day.