Press Releases

For Immediate Release

BAY AREA TRANSIT AGENCIES ISSUE NEW DISCOUNT FARE CARD

MTC Develops Improved Program

CONTACT:

Reka Goode
510/464-7706

Connie Soper
510.817.5746

OAKLAND, Calif., May 26, 1998...Under the guidance of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Bay Area transit agencies are centralizing their elderly and disabled discount card programs to improve customer service and reduce their lost fare revenues by an estimated $1 million a year, collectively.

On Monday, June 1, a dozen agencies will launch a new regional transit discount card program, which provides substantially reduced fares on Bay Area bus, rail and ferry systems to qualified persons with disabilities and seniors 65 and older.

According to MTC transit planner Connie Soper, "The eligibility criteria for discount cards will not change under the new program, and transit riders who currently have discount cards may continue to use them until they expire."

"The difference," Soper explained, "will be that all applications for new discount cards will be reviewed at a central location, and each one will be verified for eligibility. This will ensure that only persons qualified for the discount fares are issued cards."

Under the current system, individual transit operators review and process applications and issue discount cards on the same day. Concerned about growing misuse of the cards, BART conducted an audit, which found that a significant number of ineligible people were obtaining and using the cards and that the transit agencies were losing up to $1 million
a year in fare revenues.

To obtain new cards, disabled persons will have to be re-certified as eligible and submit new application forms to their local transit agencies. Seniors also will have to submit new application forms, along with photo identification, to their local transit agencies. The cards, good for three years, will then be mailed to qualified applicants. The application fee for the new card will be $3. After initial certification, most card-holders will be able to renew them by mail.

Currently, some 60,000 transit riders are enrolled in the regional discount fare program, which has been providing transit fare discounts ranging from 50 percent to 75 percent since it began in 1984.

According to Soper, "When BART's audit revealed some major problems with the regional discount program, MTC agreed to step in and coordinate system improvements."

As a result, BART has agreed to manage a contract with a private firm that will review all discount card applications and issue the cards. A new database also has been created that will provide the transit operators more current and accurate information.

According to Merrie DuFrene, manager of marketing and public affairs for the Livermore/Amador Valley Transit Authority, "By ensuring that only the people who actually are entitled to discounts receive them, the new program will enable us to maintain the current high level of discounts."

The participating transit agencies are: AC Transit, BART, County Connection, Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Muni, SamTrans, Santa Rosa CityBus, Sonoma County Transit, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Tri Delta Transit, Vallejo Transit, and Livermore/Amador Valley Transit Authority (Wheels).

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MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.