Machka 

How do you pay for your public transportation?

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

It is a fairly long article, but I found this bit particularly interesting ...

"Since October 2014, Londoners have been at the forefront of a simpler way to pay for their tube and bus journeys. Instead of queuing at ticket machines to reload their Oyster cards, they can now just use their bank cards to pay wave their way through the barriers with the money deducted directly from bank accounts.

Around one in four journeys in London, or more than a million a day, were now being paid with bank cards, said Mr Judge. Passengers can even use their phones to pay for travel.

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."

Currently, here in Hobart, we use a Greencard which we tap each time we board the bus. I think cash is still accepted, but discouraged. However, we can top up our Greencards through a cash transaction on the bus.


What system does your city have in place for patrons to pay for public transportation?

And secondly ... is your city considering installing the pay wave bank card system ... to pay for public transportation ... that they mention in the article in your city or one close to you?

CliffordK

In the past, I have had public transport monthly passes. But with a bicycle, it is rare to use local transportation. I may chose to use Amtrak sometime, but that would be a different situation.

mconlonx

It would be way cool if more public transport systems went that way. When I visit a city with subways, I'll usually get a pass for the duration of my stay or projected travel use. But I seldom use the buses. Probably would use buses more if it were that easy to pay for rides.

Roody

I just put a dollar bill and a quarter in the fare box. The tokens are 10 for $10, but you have to get them at the bus stations. Transfers are free. A monthly, quarterly, or semester bus pass can be paid for online or at the station, but I don't ride the bus nearly enough to make it worthwhile.

Artkansas 

I pay cash. I could get a monthly pass, but I'd have to go downtown each month to renew that. And the amount I spend is just less than a pass.

Roody

Would you ride the bus more if you had a pass? I have bought passes when I was injured, and found that I did ride quite a bit more. Sometimes I took a bus just to see where it went.

Artkansas 

No. Expense is not a limiting factor.

wolfchild

I use a bus only 2-3 times per year...I pay cash fare of $ 3.25 one way...Monthly pass is not worth it for me because I don't use it often enough...We also have a Presto Cards which you load up electronically, and they can be used on busses, trains, streetcars and subways.

Machka 

We don't have monthly passes or 10-ride passes or things like that anymore. But I remember Winnipeg had that sort of thing when I lived there.

In Hobart, and other cities in Australia if I am not mistaken, we have a choice between cash and card for bus and train travel (Hobart doesn't have trains, but other cities do). The card is a less expensive (by 20%), more convenient option ... cash is more expensive and generally discouraged. I'll have to check, but in some places cash might not be accepted at all anymore.

With the card, you can top it up at a Metro shop, or in the bus, or at home using a credit card ... so it is quite convenient. A person can put any amount on the card. I think there used to be a minimum of $5, but I believe that minimum was removed a couple months ago. But a person could put several hundred dollars on a card if the person wanted. Personally, I select an amount that will usually last me a little over a month.

And then using it is just like using PayWave to buy groceries or clothing or Christmas presents or whatever.

Greencard - Metro Tasmania Metro Tasmania

I-Like-To-Bike

The last public transportation I used was in Philadelphia last year where I showed my Medicare Card and rode the subway and bus for free.
Prior to that the only public transportation I have used in the U.S. for the last 20 or 30 years were airlines, all paid by credit card on the Internet or phone.

Overseas I have paid for trains with a EuroRail Pass paid for by credit card. Paid for trams in Amsterdam at a travel kiosk near the Centraal Station with a credit card for a strip of tickets; paid for the subway in Paris with cash at a vending machine in the train station.

Machka 

OK, I will ask this a slightly different way ... what system does your city have in place for patrons to pay for public transportation?


And secondly ... do you have the pay wave bank card system they mention in the article in your city or one close to you?

Machka 

Myki is Melbourne's Smartcard system:

https://ptv.vic.gov.au/tickets/myki

It seems to be a little bit more straightforward than it was when we wanted to use it back in early 2013. Then, they didn't seem to have any options for people who wanted to take just one trip.

gerv 

I usually have a bag of bus tokens throughout spring, summer, fall ... during winter I buy a monthly pass from work. Last year the pass was $15, which includes all buses in the system for the entire month. Great deal... it pays for itself over token if we have a week of snowy weather.

Jrobert73

Here in Tokyo there are various smart cards (IC cards) that can be used for trains, buses, many taxis, convenience stores and many vending machines. These are rechargeable at train stations and possibly convenience stores. You can link it to a credit card or bank account for auto recharge.

There are apps to link it to certain smartphones, depending on the technology in the phone. Then all you need is the phone for travel and purchases.

B. Carfree

About three-quarters of the riders on my local bus system are students from the local university or community college. They get a group rate that requires the schools to buy a pass for each student, so they just show their current student ID and they're good to go. The rest of the fare-paying public seems to split between people who work for businesses that get the same deal as the students (show a company ID with the bus pass on it) and people who pay for their fare either with monthly passes or one at a time.

I seem to recall some talk by the transit district to get some more modern fare systems in place, but they like to talk about things for a few years before they spring them on everyone as a done deal. They just hired a new top executive and she will need some time to get the lay of the land before she makes any changes, so I don't expect anything to happen for three or four years.

Personally, I don't ride the local buses but once every three or four years. This is a small city (150,000) that abuts another small city (50,000), so everything is a short bike ride or walk. When I travel intercity, I either ride my bike or take the train. Once in a blue moon, I might take a bus to a city that doesn't have train service and is in a lousy place to ride to. Unfortunately, this includes the city my mother and one sister live in, thus I will occasionally do the car rental thing.

Machka 

Yes ... like yours, our Greencards can be set to be automatically recharged too. I haven't done that, but I suppose I could.


According to that article, the various cities around Australia are looking into using our bank cards (instead of a separate smartcard like what we use now) ... or the phone technology you mention. The prediction is that these things (bank card or phone app) might start to be implemented as early as 2019! We'll see.

One of the selling factors of going that route is supposed to be that travellers, like Rowan and me, could potentially use our bank card or the phone app on any transportation system around the world ... like yours in Tokyo, or London, or Paris, or Sydney, or Hong Kong, or wherever. We wouldn't have to get individual smartcards for each city we visit.

Artkansas 

You can pay cash, $1.35 plus $0.05 if you want a transfer. You can get a 31 day pass, a 1 day pass or a 10 ride ticket.

You can use a credit card to buy a pass online.

Walter S

I pay with my Marta card which I periodically load using my credit card. I can easily load the card at any train station. I can load it on the bus too but I try to avoid that because passengers wait for me to execute that transaction rather than just tap my card.

Paying with a bank card sounds good. But one thing that complicates that is the discounts. For example I could choose to load my card with a 30 day pass and unlimited trips. That works well for a lot of people. But my trips are sporadic so I choose to buy a certain number of trips. And if I buy 40 trips instead of 20 for example the per-trip cost goes down.

People without bank cards or credit cards or even bank accounts (yes they exist in significant numbers) can load a Marta card by putting cash in the machine instead of a credit card.

Machka 

Melbourne's Myki thing seems to go by numbers of trips and things, sort of like you describe.

But Hobart's Greencard is very similar to a bank card. I just put money on it ... the money isn't designated for anything. I have gone into my settings online and have the card programmed to default to a medium distance trip, but if I do something else, I tell the driver and he presses a button to change the distance, I tap, and I'm charged the new distance. This happens when I go to the university, which is a short trip. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but changing my trip distance, and therefore what I'm charged, only seems to take a couple seconds, and next time I default back to a medium trip.

The only discount is whether or not we use the Greencard. If we use cash, we pay full fares. If we use the Greencard, we get a 20% discount.

Walter S

What about a "no charge" tap? With my Marta card I can transfer from bus to bus or train. If I do so shortly after my previous ride ends there's no charge.

Machka 

Yeah, we've got 90 minutes, I think, to make a transfer with the Greencard. But I'm not sure how it would work with a bank card. I guess that's why they can't just roll out the bank card idea in the next few months ... they've got to sort through all these issues.

tandempower

Isn't one of Uber's main selling points the fact that the app takes care of all money exchanges?

Probably I'm going to get accusations of working for Uber again, but if they can, why not transit organizations?

Walter S

What are you talking about? Uber instead of busses and trains? The topic here is how you pay for that. At least I thought "public transportation" meant "mass transit". I don't think uber has a place here.

Machka 

+1

This isn't the uber thread ... that's a different thread. This thread is about public transportation, mass transit: buses, trains, subways, that sort of thing.

Walter S

I wonder if we have anybody that pays for rides on a ferry with a card?