Machka 

That's nice. Do you know anything about the payment systems in your local public transportation system? What is it currently like? Are they planning changes in the near or distant future?

I-Like-To-Bike

How should everybody pay for their bicycling supplies or anything else? Are cash payments obsolete in the days of bank cards and smartphones? I believe some Car Free People ride bicycles and many have smart phones, some shop at their local grocery stores, some eat their meals at restaurants too, so are the method of payment at those locations and for those products/services also definitely a living car free/light topic because somebody on the LCF list is curious about the topic of payment options?

rockmom

I've only worked for employers who provide bus passes so I stop in human resources once a year to get a pass. We buy the kids semester passes online (it adds up to $330 per kid per year for unlimited rides). According to the website, you can pay $2.00 cash or buy a 10 ride card for $15.00. A 31 day unlimited pass is $58.00.

Dahon.Steve

New Jersey and New York have the "Pay wave bank card system" but I don't use it. Sometimes the readers don't work and when that happens, you better have cash to pay for the bus! Plus, I don't feel safe with my credit card now having a chip that some hacker can steal the contents

I actually use a combination of three systems.

1. Bus Pass --- This allows me to use any bus system 24/7 every day of the year. I can't take as many buses during the day as I wish. This is a huge benefit for those like myself who are carfree and can travel basically for free during the weekends. I use this card for my express bus into Manhattan.

2. New York Metro Card --- I buy trips and use it once a day. The beauty of this card is that you don't have to carry change and it offers a discount. I could buy the monthly card but I only use it once a day so that would be too costly.

3. Path Subway Card --- I use this card on my return trip home and it has an electronic chip. I put money into the card, similar to the New York Metro card. It gives you a free ride if you put enough funds.

I actually prefer these systems over using a "Bank Card system" any day. Why?

1. Bank card systems do not give you free rides or credit --- When using a bank card, you have to pay full fare each time. Transfers are not acceptable.

2. Bank cards do not give you unlimited rides each month --- Using an unlimited monthly card, you can ride as many times during the day including weekends. I sometimes use the bus to take me 5 blocks. I'll take three buses at times to avoid having to board a train because the bus is free with the monthly card.

Machka 

According to that first article I linked to ...


So who knows ... maybe you'll eventually get your RFID key tag.

Walter S

Why make people carry anything? I'm holding out for the retina scanner approach. Or maybe voice-print identification aka 2001 A Space Oddesey.

wolfchild

This thread is starting to sound as if we're all going to be living in cashless society few years from now. I highly doubt this is going to happen anytime soon.
It's good to have a variety of different options to pay for things. Why does it all have to be smartphones, apps and pay by waving ??...What's wrong with cash ??...Majority of my purchases are paid with bank card using debit, but I still carry some cash on me and use it often.

Machka 

I don't think anyone has said that.



Anyway, this thread isn't about cash vs. other methods of payments ... it is about what the public transportation systems we are familiar with currently use for payment, and what the possibilities of the future might look like (based on what was said in the article in the original post.)

As it says in the article regarding the changes in Australia's future, it will likely be 2019 before the bank card system which London is currently using as one of their payment options will start to be implemented. Similar changes in other parts of the world may occur sooner or later than that. The article does not comment on a cashless society because that is not the topic of the article..


The article ...
Opal, Myki, Go Card: Australia?s public transport cards falling behind


And part of the bit I quoted back in my original post ...

Transport systems needed to be easy to use or people will choose to drive instead, he said.

“How can you stop the thought process of someone going, ‘I’m in a hurry, I’d like to get on that bus, can I get a ticket in that shop over there and will the bus still be there when I get back?’ to a much more spontaneous, ‘great there’s a bus, I’ve got something in my pocket I can pay with, I just get on, tap and ride it.’”

Using bank cards has another benefit — you don’t need a wallet full of different smartcards for different cities. A bank card from Sydney could be just as easily used in Melbourne or Singapore.

“It makes sense to make transport systems as accessible to the transient as well as the core population,” said Mr Judge."

I-Like-To-Bike

Mr. Judge [spokesman for global payments giant MasterCard’s "transit centre of excellence"] says exactly what is expected from a paid shill for the process.

I doubt if a single person on the face of the Earth will choose to take a bus rather than drive because the transit system allows the use of various "smart" payment systems.

Walter S

Many working people get paid in cash and don't even have bank accounts. I prefer to pay by card. But I strongly support preserving the ability to pay for transit or almost anything with cash. I think the government will continue to support the concept of legal tender for many years to come.

Walter S

Probably true. It's more a convenience for people that would ride the bus anyway. And I think, an idea with some merit if only in those terms.

I-Like-To-Bike

Of course the cashless, smart payment options can be a convenience for those who can use them, as long as the needs of all the patrons are considered and not just those who consider themselves as the only worthy customers of the system.

Mr. Judge might find more customers for the transit systems if Mastercard sponsored electronic device charging outlets on the transport vehicles.

Of course, it would be no more be an LCF topic or affect "LCF people" any more than everybody else, than every other proposal on this thread.

I-Like-To-Bike

Right! If all passengers were required to pay their fare with a Mr. Judge approved Mastercard, Mastercard would get a cut of every fare paid to every transit system.

gregf83 

About my only use of cash was the local coffee shop we visit at the end of group rides. Since they now take Visa I have virtually no need to carry cash. Use of cash in Canada is particularly bad as $5 is the smallest bill so you end up with buckets of coins.

Walter S

It is a topic of some interest to many if not most of the car free simply because they are more likely patrons of mass transit than people that own cars. It's not that there are not plenty of drivers that also use mass transit. But zero percent of those that are car free will be found to be in the huge group of car drivers that never take mass transit.

wolfchild

Where do people who don't have bank accounts keep their money ??...Under their bed ??
My paycheque gets deposited electronically into my bank account. The only time when I receive actual cash from my employer is performance bonuses...Few times we also had a problem with payroll, and when that happens we all get a cheque which we have to deposit ourselves. It's very important to have a bank account. Maintaining a bank account costs peanuts and I am surprised how some people on this forum exaggerate the cost of having a bank account.

I-Like-To-Bike

Lots of topics are "of some interest" to some car free folk, like what books or movies they enjoy, or which sports team they support if any, or which smart phone or data plan they use, or where or how much they walked today, or a whole host of other topics/activities which are not peculiar to so called "car free people."

My point is that topics are not car free topics or relevant to living car free just because someone who is/or is not car free is "interested" in said topic, or likes to post about their daily activities/random thoughts.

P&R topics of interest to some of the car free are finally being placed where they are appropriate.

Perhaps the list should have its own sub list for posting personal blogs and fooish subjects of interest to some of our so called car free comrades.

I-Like-To-Bike

Empathy much?

Can I presume that none of the Car Free/Bus Riding Folk you know (or know anything about) are in the lowest income brackets?

fietsbob

Bus across the River to a near by town in Washington is Half a Buck, where a similar trip distance staying in Oregon is $3..

State subsidies make the difference .. vs just County tax based budgets ...

ganchan

I can get a local 24-hour bus pass for $2.50. I only need to take the bus about once a week, though. Once in a while I spring for the pricier express service across town.

Otherwise, anything that's bikeable (for me), I bike. Anything that's walkable (for me), I walk. I also use a shuttle service to and from the airport.

FBinNY 

It's nice to be decently well off.

The reality is that bank accounts are more expensive for poorer people who can't maintain decent minimum balances or do whatever it takes to get cheap or free checking accounts. There's also the questions of the definition or "peanuts". A few dollars a month doesn't sound like much unless it's your last few dollars. For folks who barely get by week to week (and there are many, and they're the ones most likely using mass transit) the cost of a bank account may equal the cost of a dinner for the family, or some other more important outlay.

Walter S

It's not just of interest and that's it. It's relevant to the techniques by which you most easily manage a car free lifestyle.

Walter S

A lot of people are poorly educated, have no permanent home or steady job, speak poor english, have less than $100 dollars, don't trust "the man", etc.

wolfchild

Even people who make minimum wage should be able to find some bank or financial institution which has no monthly fees or at least a very minimum fee to maintain an account.
Some large grocery store chains also have their own financial services which offer the same services as all major banks but at a much cheaper cost. I don't know of any company that pays actual cash. Majority give out cheques or direct deposit... How is a person supposed to deposit their payroll cheque if they don't have a bank account ??

chewybrian 

My company, and presumably many others, offers an option to load your pay onto a pre-paid Visa card (or something like it) if you don't want direct deposit.

I guess there is not much difference from a paper check. In fact, it might be easier and cheaper for those without a bank account.