Winners of Pope Francis SEPTA lottery have until 3 p.m. to claim train tickets

People who won special passes to ride the Regional Rail lines during Pope Francis’ visit in September have until 3 p.m. today to claim their tickets.

SEPTA extended the deadline, which was set to expire just before midnight on Sunday.

The transit agency sold the tickets through a lottery system after an attempt to sell them through a “first-come, first-served” e-commerce site led to a deluge of customers that crashed the site. The lottery system was designed to avoid a heavy onslaught of entrants because buyers would have an equal opportunity to win, no matter what time they entered the drawing.

Many winnershave neglected to claim their tickets.

SEPTA says winners were notified by email on Thursday.

The transit agency had about 350,000 tickets available, which cost $10 each. While SEPTA did not receive entries to move all of those ticketsthere were some stations for which demand exceeded supply. On Tuesday, the transit agency will begin offering tickets to people who are on wait-lists for high-demand locations.

The seeming glut of unsold tickets hasn’t stopped some people from trying to speculate on Pope Francis’ visit. Some papal passes were listed on Ebay for $50.

SEPTA will also hold a lottery on Wednesday for special 3-day passes to ride thetrolley routes 101 and 102 and the Norristown High Speed Line.