Metro Working on “Smart Card” for Bus & Light Rail Service
Earlier today I posted that I was interested in some sort of system where I could buy a pre-paid transit card to be used on both MetroBus and MetroLink. The idea would be to swipe the card as I entered the bus or light rail station. Guess what? Metro has received a $20 million grant and it working on just that!
Metro’s Senior VP of Engineering & New Systems Development, Stephen Knobbe, explains:
Off camera he mentioned the technology is advancing so fast they trying to decide on a system. Right now they are in the planning stages but hope to roll something out in about 2 years. Knobbe indicated, off camera, they are looking at possibly having a system that doesn’t require you to literally “swipe” the card but just run it in front of a sensor — in close proximity. That, he said, would help with large crowds of people.
– Steve
Outstanding – $20 million is a great start!
While my Metrolink experience is primarily limited to the Missouri side, most stations’ existing platforms and approach walkways are not designed to support readers and turnstiles. For example, the ramp up to the platorm at North Hanley might be able to support three turnstiles but, in the process, would significantly hamper rider throughput. Given limited funds, Metrolink couldn’t afford to touch every station with significant modifications.
I do believe that RFID (radio frequency ID) technology is the only way to go. The lowest cost RFID tags go for about $0.05 each (large bulk purchases) and typically have a range up to 3 meters.
The New York subway system is testing this technoloqy.
http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/rfid_trials_at_subway.php
Looks like you have a fine day – I should have asked you for a Urban Review press pass!
That is awesome! I sent an e-mail to metro a while back and got a response that the machines were to expensive. They never told me they were even thinking of looking. Maybe I didn’t talk the right people? Thanks for sharing this. I have gone to a walgreens just to get some cash for metrolink. I work for US Bank and I think they could tie into all our existing ATMs too. Or just about any ATM. People shouldn’t have to go out of their way to get a metro fare. It should be everywhere! I think with the cross county system going in place it will be a catalyst for more CHANGE!
Thanks!
The attitude of Denver’s General Manager bears repeating here . . . “We want to be on the leading edge of technology, not the bleeding edge.” The current technology hasn’t proven to work well in real-world conditions, and any investment will be a “snapshot in time”. What is state-of-the-art today can likely become outdated in 2-3 years, while it will need to remain in place and fully-functional for 10-15 years to justify its investment.
Technology comes complete with the potential for unitended consequences. Just because you can implement distance-based or time-of-day fares doesn’t mean you should. The goal is to get more people to ride and to make fare collection as transparent as possible. Increasingly, colleges and universities are including unlimited transit passes in the package of fees students pay at the start of every school term. Similarly, some employers will pay for transit passes for their employees. On the individual level, the monthly pass becomes just another bill and riding becomes easier. KISS – the fewer fares the better, and the more transparent they are, the better, as well. The indirect costs of marketing and retaining riders need to be factored into any decision.
[REPLY They did not mention anything about using the technology to impliment any sort of distance based fares. The only thing I got from them was the ability to make fare collection and using the system easier. – SLP]
http://www.wmata.com/riding/smartrip.cfm
This is pointless technology.
How is this going to increase revenues for Metro? How will this help with large crowds except for those crowds during a baseball game? I ride Metro every day and I do not see any advantage of using RFID (which is insecure) or XYZ wireless technology. Furthermore, how could this be enforced? Turnstiles would be expensive and basically ineffective at most stations. This system could work at Forest Park Station and a few Downtown stations. The stations of Delmar, Welston, Rock Road, and UMSL-N/S, wouldn’t really work. Implement this at Stadium Station, yeah right!
Would every ticket have RFID? If not then both RFID and classic turnstiles would have to be installed. How much would this cost?
I think we should be saving every dollar for expansion or more frequent trains/buses. Something cheap like being able to order Metro Passes online and printing them would be cool and cheap.
[REPLY You missed the point Doug, the idea is to offer another way to pay. Someone could buy $20 at a time and not have to mess with $2 here and there. And the money they are using is a grant for fare collection, not money that could be used for expansion. – SLP]
I agree with Doug Duckworth–fuck a non-swipey pass, I would just like the busses to run more often than every 30 minutes so they are actually more useful to me, and so I can miss one without getting in major trouble at work (i.e. I’d be 15 minutes late rather than 30). Oh, to be able to ride down to the South Side for groceries or a haircut without it becoming a three-hour ordeal thanks to very infrequent bus scheduling….to not have to obsessively time my departure from work so that I don’t miss my transfer and stand on a hot street corner for thirty minutes….what a radical concept.
Chicago has recently added those no-swipe passes, and they’re okay, but they really don’t save that much time at all over the ones that you do swipe. They save maybe a second or two, which doesn’t really matter with the kind of small crowds we get in StL transit. Regular commuters learn how to swipe their swipe cards quickly enough that it shouldn’t be much of an issue even in a crowd–I can tell you that from years of riding 8:30AM rush hour trains in the Chicago Loop. As for non-regular riders, i.e. sports fans, tourists, and New Years revellers, everything is new enough to them that nothing short of just opening the station up and giving them a free ride will ensure timely passage on their part. You can give them a fancy card, but if they still don’t know how the machines or turnstiles work, they’re still gonna be slow.
Also a problem with the no-swipe cards, from someone who’s used ’em quite a bit: It’s quite easy to accidentally pass the card twice and end up paying for the guy behind you (d’oh!).
The cost of the no-swipe technology also means that purchasing a no-swipe transit card in Chicago (at least when I still lived there, less than two years ago) costs the rider five dollars (The swipe kind are free.). Just to get the card, with no rides on it. That’s kind of a waste if you’ll only use it a couple of times. Add one round trip to that, and you just paid nine dollars, ya chump.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think that a pre-pay card system would be absolutely great, but with plain old cheap functional swipe cards. I usually get the month pass, but still, I see the need for regular prepay cards. Prepay saves a lot of time, and saves one from fumbling for change at the last minute (which is especially annoying to me because there is literally nowhere to get change in my ‘hood at 7:30 AM when I go to work).
I think Jim Zavist had a good point about the still-burgeoning, maybe not-so-practical technology. Sure, the swipeless cards are good….for impressing people who will ride Metrolink maybe three times ever. Like Duckworth said, it’d be pretty silly to add this frill when our bus service still sucks.
[REPLY OK, let me make sure I understand your points. A swipe card is OK but the proximity-card is too high-tech/unproven/costly. Bus frequency sucks (agreed).
For me I’m happy with the swipe-type card, I don’t really need the proximity type. Still I can see where it could come in handy if they show future ridership using this quite a bit. The people who take in a game or two won’t be buying these cards —- they can still buy regular tickets. – SLP]
I do not get it it. Bi-State sells weekly and monthly transit passes good for both bus and train.
Heads up, get your Taken For A Ride By Bi-State textbook by this weekend. The guide to using the trains and buses will cost you $3 beginning next Monday. Good luck finding one of the free manuals. Bus drivers do not have them and the downtown transit information place ran out of them last week. They were passing them out at select train stops. Yesterday, I looked for the publicized set-up at the Civic Center stop as the train went by, was going to hop off and grab a manual, but did not see anyone who looked like they were from Bi-State. Later in the day, I found out they had a tent set up at the bus terminal up the hill from the train station.
[REPLY What is not to get? The weekly pass ($19) and monthly pass ($60) are excellent values for those that use the service often. For me, however, I might use that $60 in a 3-month period rather than in a single month. By buying a card at once I don’t have to fiddle with money each time I decide to hop on a train or bus. Convenience=increased ridership – SLP]
so what we need is:
1) proven technology that is
2) easily purchasable,
3) allows carry-over of credits, and
4) eliminates the need for exact change.
—-> swipe-able debit cards!
Sure, we’ll take it and hopefully use it wisely, but doesn’t $20,000,000 sound like an awful lot of money for something like this? Maybe it can be used to purchase the ‘smart card’ machines, as well.
Or let’s go really old school, and sell bus tokens by the roll, good for one ride each!
I dunno about it being too high tech, but… yeah, unproven and costly, when the swipe technology is just fine and not so different really. The advantage don’t seem worth the expense.
I’d be interested to know what the data is from Chicago’s experimentation with proximity cards.
One other thing to keep in mind–the pathetic state of the Metrolink ticket machines, at least at the stops where I’ve used them. I particularly remember the ones at Civic Center as being bad. I used that stop for commuting last year, and would not-often-but-regularly miss the train because the machine randomly would not take my money, spat all the money back at me at the last minute (on one occasion I was just about to get the ticket in time…one more coin…when…29 dimes went splattering out all over the sidewalk! in the dark! GAH!), etcetcetc. Those things are in sorry shape, which says two things to me:
1) Yes we do need a replacement, and a prepay card system would be ideal, HOWEVER….
2) It would probably be wiser to focus on a sturdy, long-lasting technology that Metro will actually be able to maintain & keep working over the years, rather than somethin’ flashy.
I’m surprised how few people “get” this. I was just this week wishing, as a occasional rider, that I could just buy a farecard and load it like I can in Chicago, DC, London, Paris, etc. Instead I cope with the ticket machines every day I use the train while that spare ticket I always forget sits in my wallet until it’s expired.
And if this system removes the confusing-to-visitors validation system all the better.
I wish someone had followed my WMATA link above…here’s how the SmartTrip card works (not RFID IIRC):
yes it’s $5 for the basic card – what do I get? if it’s ever lost it’s replaced with the same value when it was lost. No fumbling with wet or bent farecards, or waiting behind someone who is. (if I use the handicapped aisle I just have to bump the side mounted sensor with my hip and not even take my wallet out – great if you’re carrying stuff)
I can load value with existing farecards, debit/credit cards or if you have a progressive employer you can either purchase fare value with pre-tax income or even better, some offer it free as a benefit that I can download directly at the station even easier than loading cash onto it.
Metro here is a distance based fare so I have to use at both ends, so no chance of paying for the person behind me like in a flat fare system and no need to calculate what my proof of fare receipt needs to be (does it still work that way there?).
It also works on all the buses and you can even pay for parking at the suburban stations.
“would just like the busses to run more often than every 30 minutes”
and the buses too… 🙂
Calling Smart Cards “new” when MAJOR and MANY trasit systems use it is absolutely absurd.
http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/archives/000792.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_card
No one can say that this is “new” and keep a straight face. It’s new to THEM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
An extremely useful Smart Card from 1997! It’s a DECADE OLD! NOT NEW!
http://www.octopuscards.com/consumer/payment/use/en/index.jsp
http://www.sony.net/Products/felica/mov/index.html
Combined with the general lack of intelligent design evidenced at the stations; by poor accessibility and seeming ignorance of security oriented design, I, as a consumer of transit was deeply disappointed by MetroLink’s new expansion.
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