Press Releases

For Immediate Release

NEWS ADVISORY: May 12, 1999 Press Briefing on TransLink Fare Card

CONTACT:

Marjorie Blackwell
510/464-7884

Russell Driver
510/464-7808

Who: Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) staff
Motorola, Inc. officials

What: Press briefing on proposed contract award for TransLink® — the single transit fare card system —that will be recommended for approval by the MTC Commission on May 26, 1999.

Where: MTC offices, Third Floor Conference Room
101 Eighth Street
Oakland

When: Tuesday, May 18, 1999
10 a.m.

A consortium led by Motorola, Inc. has been recommended to receive a 10-year contract to design, implement, operate and maintain a "smart card" fare payment system for use on all Bay Area transit systems. The contract value over the 10-year period will range from $114 million to $157 million, depending on usage of the card.

Final action on the contract is scheduled for the MTC meeting on Wednesday, May 26, 1999.

In fall 2000, a six-month demonstration of TransLink® will be launched on selected routes of AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Muni, and (Santa Clara) Valley Transportation Authority.

Transit riders on these routes will have a chance to participate in the demonstration project. If the demonstration is successful, MTC and the transit operators will decide whether to proceed with full rollout of the system, which could begin regionwide by 2001.

"Smart cards" — similar to credit-cards — are embedded with a computer chip that can accept, store and send up to 100 times more information than traditional magnetic-striped cards.

In a random phone survey of Bay Area registered voters, 76 percent of respondents ranked a universal transit ticket tops among their desired transportation improvements.

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