revenue ready in sf

These are magic words for ERGIANS



Revenue Ready

Within the next few weeks, a group of Golden Gate Transit bus riders will get a card enabling them to take trips without using cash or a bus ticket, eventually allowing them to link to more than 20 other Bay Area transit operations.



On Friday, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission announced the TransLink program is "revenue ready," meaning segments are now operational.



"In the next couple of weeks, Golden Gate Transit will begin recruiting a few hundred passengers on select routes to get them to use TransLink and report any problems," said John Goodwin, MTC spokesman. "This is the beginning of the regionwide rollout."

The East Bay's AC Transit will be the other bus agency to begin using TransLink.



The technology is already available on Golden Gate ferries, which have roughly 300 patrons who use TransLink. About 4,500 people ride the ferries each day.


Now Golden Gate buses, which carry 28,000 passengers each day, have been fitted with hardware for TransLink.

Pushed by the MTC - the Bay Area's transportation planning agency - the program supplies transit users with a single card that is good on all transit systems in the region.



"We are looking forward to TransLink with the same excitement that FasTrak brought

to our organization," said Mary Currie, Golden Gate Transit spokeswoman. "This pre-launch initiative allows regular customers to help identify and resolve any issues in the live, real-time environment."
The system will go fully operational next year, Currie said.

Cash still will be accepted on buses.

FasTrak allows drivers to pass through Bay Area toll booths without having to stop and fork over cash. Drivers set up accounts that typically allow their credit cards to be billed for tolls.




The TransLink "smart card" would work much in the same manner, with patrons signing up and allowing their credit cards to have bus, ferry or rail fares deducted. The card will be free for those who have fares deducted from a credit card, otherwise it is $5.

At the Larkspur ferry terminal there is a stand with a screen where TransLink users can scan or "tag" their cards. A computer chip inside the card reads the transaction and information is displayed on the screen.

On Golden Gate Transit buses there will be a similar screen at which riders can tag their cards. Because Golden Gate Transit charges by distance, riders will also have to tag the card when they get off the bus. That differs from other bus services around the region, which typically charge a flat fare. All discounts will be figured into the electronic pay system.

Eventually, all Bay Area bus transit systems will take TransLink by 2010. San Francisco MUNI is slated to come on line in 2007, along with BART.

"For people who have to make multiple connections it will be a heck of lot easier," Goodwin said. "For typical riders it will mean no longer having to have exact change, of having to get a wrinkled dollar bill into a machine.

"You just have to tag your card and go. It makes transit more convenient and speeds up boarding."

Contact Mark Prado via e-mail at [email protected]