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December 10, 2001 |
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Metro
set to Embark on New Era of Seamless Transit Fare Shortly
before the stroke of the new year, LA County transit providers will embark
on an experiment that marks the dawning of a new age in seamless public
transit travel which could one day replace the need for tokens, cash and
monthly passes as we currently know these fare media today. Within
several years, Metro will introduce a plastic, wallet-sized Smart Card that
is embedded with a computer chip capable of "carrying" cash, tokens
passes and more. The changeover to this new fare system will not take
place until customers become acquainted with the benefits of the new fare
technology. In
the meantime, on December 30, the first step to such future transitions
will be taken toward developing a seamless bus and rail transit services
system in LA County that, in essence, will allow all providers of public
transit, including Metro, municipal operators, paratransit and Metrolink to
accept one form of payment -the key component of the universal fare
system (UFS). Albeit
a basic form of UFS, Montebello Bus Lines will become the first municipal
bus operator in LA County to partner up with Metro by accepting Metro transit
passes on all its bus lines. In several years, when UFS is fully
implemented, the paper pass, like all other passes in the county, will
become transparent to all customers in the form of one regional transit
Smart Card. Besides
the benefit of hassle-free travel to passengers, it is estimated that the
advent of the Smart Card, already used in other parts of the country, will
save Metro close to $158 million from fraud during an 11- to 15-year period. Since
Smart Cards utilize radio frequencies that communicate between the card
and fare reading equipment, there is no need to remove a card from a purse
or jacket to pay a fare, which will speed up the boarding. "The
immediate goal of the Metro is to develop a countywide transit pass as a
precursor to a Smart Card. This will make it much easier for people to
transfer from one transit provider to another," said Metro CEO Roger
Snoble. "If we can make the public transportation system as attractive
as possible, people who currently depend on the automobile, and not only
the transit dependent, will be drawn to this pass. The ultimate goal of
all LA County transit providers is to increase public transit ridership,
relieve traffic congestion and improve air quality. These new technologies
including the Smart Card clearly firmly set us upon this path." The
Smart Cards, embedded with miniature computer chips, can be programmed to
hold more than just cash equivalents for use on transit. Among the
numerous potential prospects are partnerships with other government
entities, schools, convention centers, parking lots and retailers with
businesses near transit stops and rail stations. For example, with the
Smart Card, people today pay for soft drinks in vending machines at the
transit stations in Sydney, Australia or for clothing in Hong Kong. The
Smart Card also provides the opportunity for employer transit benefits to
be directly added to the card each month - all the customer has to do is
validate a card at a ticket vending machine or a stand-alone validator. Imagine
a tourist coming to Los Angeles and being provided a Smart Card to use on
public transit to access local tourist destination points during their
stay. Or, being a daily transit rider who currently purchases coffee
regularly upon de-boarding. A commuter could conceivably avoid the hassle
of digging for cash for this daily transaction as retailers offer transit
riders the convenience of waving their Smart Cards no differently than
whenpaying for their fares on bus and rail systems. The
Metro is scheduled to award a contract for the manufacture and
implementation of the Smart Cards in February 2002, with a full year of
pilot testing projected to begin in 2003, according to Jane Matsumoto,
Metro's UFS project manager. "Bus
fare boxes will be manufactured first for a pilot program, and rail ticket
vending machines will follow a bit thereafter," said Matsumoto, who
envisions partnering closely with local municipal operators, paratransit
and Metrolink to help implement this project at a countywide level. The
UFS contract will include the design, manufacture, testing, delivery,
installation, and support of ticket vending machines (TVMs), stand-alone
validators (SAVs), validating bus fare boxes, revenue collection
equipment, ancillary equipment, spare parts, services and associated
software. "The
objectives of UFS coalesce with the goals of the Metro's successful
Accelerated Bus Procurement Program," said Metro Board Chairman John
Fasana. "The 1,500 compressed natural gas buses the Metro has received
since 1998 have improved on-time performance and reliability. When
implemented, the UFS will build upon those gains with faster boardings at
bus stops and faster trips. It will also reduce the Metro's exposure to
fare fraud and counterfeiting, and promote seamless and increased use of
transit services provided by Metro and municipal operators in LA County as
well as the Metrolink commuter rail network." Since
1990, when the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, now Metro,
first issued a Request for Proposal for a UFS consultant, five Los Angeles
County municipal operators have implemented magnetic-based fare
collection systems. In
the next several years, Metro and other regional operators will procure and
operate compatible systems as a regional initiative to improve transit "Our
goal would be to get a Smart Card into everybody's hands in Los Angeles
County and partner up with as many different agencies and entities In
September of this year, the Metro Board of Directors approved the FY 02
Service Changes Program that included the cancellation of Metro line 262
(Garfield Avenue). Effective Dec. 30, Montebello Bus Lines will begin to
offer transit service along Garfield Avenue and also honor valid Metro
passes on all of the eight fixed route bus lines that Montebello Bus Line
operates. Metro-154 |
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