[PRCo] F.Y.I. -- Port Authority Starts "Smart Card" Fare System

[Herb Brannon]

>From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
Port Authority starting 'smart card' fare system

Monday, July 25, 2011
By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Port Authority's conversion to a fare collection system using electronic
smart cards will get its first big test starting next week.

University of Pittsburgh faculty, staff and students will begin using the
technology Aug. 1, tapping their university ID cards on a target on the new
fareboxes that have been installed on buses and light-rail vehicles.

"This is the first large-scale implementation," said Winston Simmonds, the
authority's rail operations-engineering officer.

When the project is fully implemented next year, bus and rail riders will be
able to pay with permanent plastic cards that have embedded computer chips.
Riders will tap the cards on the fareboxes and the amount will be deducted
automatically.

They will be able to replenish the value of the cards at vending machines or
online. Cash also will continue to be accepted.

More than 40,000 Pitt students and employees get unlimited free rides on the
transit system. The university is paying the Port Authority $6.8 million
this year for the service.

The university switched its ID cards some time ago, making them compatible
with the smart card system, which the authority is calling ConnectCard.

Earlier this year, the system was tested to ensure that when a student or
employee leaves Pitt, the fare system's database was updated promptly to
terminate their free ride privileges.

Later this year, the authority board expects to develop fare policies for
the ConnectCard system. Currently, riders can purchase unlimited monthly or
weekly passes and one-trip tickets. The new system will allow the authority
a broad range of new options, including unlimited daily rides for a set
price.

"It's a significant change to the way we do business," spokesman Jim Ritchie
said.

The board's decisions will be a factor in determining the next group of
riders who will start using the technology. Most likely, it will be annual
pass purchasers, he said.

In checking with other transit systems about their experience with smart
card conversion, the authority concluded that it would be a mistake to
switch all or most of its riders to ConnectCards simultaneously, Mr. Ritchie
said. So the new system will be implemented gradually throughout much of
2012.

The $32 million project is designed to improve collections and provide
valuable new data about ridership, while offering greater convenience to
customers. Federal funding is covering 80 percent of the cost and state
funding 16.7 percent.

Other transit agencies in the region are expected to participate in the
conversion.
Jon Schmitz: jschmitz at post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868. Visit the PG's
transportation blog, The Roundabout, at www.post-gazette.com/roundabout.
Twitter: @pgtraffic.

First published on July 25, 2011 at 12:00 am

Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11206/1162761-147.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz1T7MBQXSy




-- 
Herb Branno
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park