Imagine getting on a bus without having to fumble for exact change or wait behind somebody trying to stuff crumpled dollar bills into the fare box. Consider transferring from the subway onto a bus operated by the city of Long Beach or another municipal transit agency using the same prepaid pass.
For Wally Shidler, the fantasy has begun: He simply taps his new transit "smart card" every time he boards the Blue Line or gets on a Metro bus.
With a flick of his wrist, transit officials can track his every move: His 8:11 a.m. departure on board a bus near his Walnut Park home, his transfer 17 minutes later onto the Blue Line, his 8:47 a.m. arrival at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.
"Why have all the hassle? If I want to go someplace, I just hop on the bus and go," said Shidler, 68, a lifelong transit rider.
He is one of about 50 volunteers testing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's new universal fare system. The accompanying Transit Access Pass cards should be widely available within the next two years.
At that time, transit users will be able to load prepaid products, such as student passes, onto their TAP cards over the phone, on the Internet or in person. They also will be able to add separate credit to the cards that can be used, like gift cards, for transfers and rides on other transit agency buses.
Passengers can designate amounts to be automatically deducted each month from a bank account or regularly charged to a credit card, or they can authorize transactions whenever they want to reload their cards.
Transit officials are gradually introducing the cards, each embedded with a computer chip, into widespread circulation. UCLA got the first batch in the fall.
"We want to be absolutely certain that we have completely tested the veracity and reliability of that equipment," said Jane Matsumoto, the MTA's project manager. The agency, also known as Metro, collected $280 million in fares last year.
Signs of the new system are already evident. Computerized fare boxes have been installed on all 2,500 Metro buses. Stand-alone card validators in subway and light-rail stations advise riders to "TAP here." And new ticket vending machines allow passengers to buy one-way tickets and day passes.
When completed, the regional transit pass -- similar to those used in Washington, D.C., Chicago and the Bay Area -- will help create the seamless system envisioned by transit officials a decade ago. So far, the MTA has budgeted more than $165 million for equipment and this summer signed a $32-million contract to provide customer service.
