Single-card Translink system finally set to roll BAY AREA: After years of delays, program to let riders hop among transit systems with one pass gets final OK By Kiley Russell CONTRA COSTA TIMES After seven years of ballooning costs and one successful trial run of the Bay Area's universal transit pass, the Translink fare-card system soon will hit the streets for a test run.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission on Friday approved the final two contracts to get the system up and running.
"If we could just pause here and note the accomplishment," commission executive director Steve Heminger said before the committee unanimously approved the contracts.
"It's been a very significant uphill battle. I don't think it's downhill now, but I hope we're on level ground."
Translink's uphill struggle included lawsuits, political squabbles and technical problems. Delays haunted the project, which planners originally expected to launch in 2004, and the cost soared from $38 million in 1999 to $149 million today.
When the system is fully implemented, it will allow riders to move from one to another of the region's 26 public transportation systems using only a single electronic card. The card will access the holder's account, which is preloaded with either a dollar amount or a discount pass, such as those used by the disabled and seniors.
The card, modeled after similar "smart card" systems in Hong Kong and London, is intended to eliminate the need for people to use cash, buy multiple tickets or collect transfers when getting off a bus and jumping on BART, for example.
"We're catching up with a lot of folks around the world and it's about time we got here," Heminger said.
Transit agencies are excited about Translink because it's cumbersome for them to deal with large amounts of cash, and planners say they hope it will encourage more people to take mass transit.
At the very least, if a majority of riders use the card, it could save everybody a little time.
John Aydelotte of Walnut Creek rides the County Connection bus every weekday to the Pleasant Hill BART station on his way to work in Concord.
The 71-year-old likes the Translink idea because it seems convenient and will work just like his senior discount passes.
"I get a pretty hefty senior discount," Aydelotte said. "If I get the discount, I'll probably use it."
Evelyn Kabsay, 23, of Oakland takes BART a couple of times a month, but often takes AC Transit buses.
Kabsay said she'll likely use the Translink card because it could shave some time off her commute.
"As opposed to waiting in line," she said. "It's a pain in the butt to get a ticket."
Planners will roll out the program in the next several weeks on the AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit bus and ferry lines. Although anyone can sign up for a Translink account, managers will work with a group of several hundred volunteers to learn what's working well and what's not.
A major marketing push is planned for early next year.
The entire system is expected to be up and running on most of the region's bus, train and ferry lines by 2010, with BART and Muni joining sometime in 2007, baring any more major problems.
The system's biggest problems cropped up when developers tried to create software that would recognize all the region's transit agencies and their fares and could accurately transfer the money to the agencies' accounts.
The delays became so annoying that BART moved ahead with its own smart card technology ahead of the Translink launch.
"We've been frustrated because it is a difficult development (process) and we've known as a board that this technology is available," said BART board member Joel Keller of Antioch. "We delayed for a long time implementing a BART-only pass, but as time went by we thought that as long as it didn't hurt the implementation of Translink, why not give our riders the benefit of this technology?"
Keller said that BART's card system will dovetail easily with the Translink system once MTC is ready to bring BART on board.
At the commission meeting Friday, there was a palpable if somewhat subdued sense of relief among committee members.
"There's an old saying in the restaurant business that says 'Gloat while you can,'" said Contra Costa County Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier, who is also an MTC board member and a restaurateur.
"So feel free to gloat."
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