Slog - The Stranger's Blog

Line Out

The Music Blog

« Can You Help Me Find My Brains... | LaRouchie's crackdown continue... »

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Smart Card for Transit

Posted by on September 19 at 12:15 PM

OK, I know this doesn’t qualify as major news (it’s not like we’re getting a real regional transit system or anything) but I think it’s cool anyway: Seven regional transit agencies are testing a region-wide Smart Card, a credit-card-size pass that will work on every transit system in the Puget Sound area. (Those seven agencies, for the curious, are: Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, and the Washington State ferries.) The card, which is similar to smart cards in dozens of other US cities and abroad (surprise: we’re behind the curve), will keep track of the value of all tickets, transfers and passes and bill riders accordingly at the end of the month. If you’re interested in volunteering, a full list of test routes is available here.


CommentsRSS icon

Do you know if it's a swipe card (like a bank card, with a mag stripe) or a proximity card or whatever they call it, that just has to be waved past the sensor (like an "Oyster Card" in London)?

If it's a RFID card, it's proximity-tyle card that just needs to be near a card reader/sensor.

Based on the description on the web site, that's what it sounds like.

Very easliy hacked, btw.

Here's Metro's press release about it:

http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/news/2006/nr060828_smartcard.htm

It's a smart card like the Oyster Card in London, that you wave in front of a sensor. And it even has a goofy name too... ORCA - One Regional Card for All.

Will these replace the existing bus passes (already good for all the regional transit agencies mentioned in the slog entry, I believe)? If these cards are like the NYC transit cards, they'll be incredibly convenient, but for folks who use monthly bus passes and ride the bus a LOT (say, twice a day to & from work at peak hours), the pass does save them money over paying per trip. I no longer need to commute on a bus to work, so I really welcome the smart card, but I hope the folks who're already reliable riders won't end up having to pay more.

Just think - it costs more than $2.50 each to MAKE these things.

Annual pass? Sure. Quarterly pass? OK. Monthly pass - um, not so keen about this.

I think if the program were instituted full-scale, you'd probably register and pay a "deposit" for the card and then be billed for usage on a monthly basis (as stated in the press release and the Slog post). Volume discounts could then be calculated at the time of invoice.

Great idea, provided transit fares don't go up.

Why isn't Intercity Transit of Thurston County not included? It sort of is Olyburb nowadays.

Yeah, if they do away with monthly passes and I have to pay for individual trips via Smartcard, I'm gonna be pissed. I take two commuter bus trips each workday and trips on weekends.

I take the 177, which is one of the test routes, and they are paying for a guy to ride the bus and hawk the card to passengers. He didn't seem to have a ton of information about it aside from salesman vagaries like "It'll combine all your transit into one card" -- which IMO PugetPass already does; which he, ostensibly a transit employee, didn't seem to know, either -- and "You won't even have to take the card out of your pocket, just get it within two inches of the reader" which is presumably RFID or proximity card (which is technically just an older form of RFID). They are calling it a "smart card", but this is misleading -- proper "smart cards" have a grid of exposed metal that must make contact with a reader.


Anyway, like all corporate and government "FAQs" these days, the one on the orcatest.com site is unhelpful about any *real* questions. Like, what information will be on this smart card and how will it be traced back to me so as to track what buses/trains I take and when? Do and how will I have to pay for rides taken via the card? When implemented, will I get screwed compared to the cost of my unlimited-ride fixed-fare PugetPass?

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 45 days old).