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Transactions Newsletter
1998 Annual Report

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Metropolitan Transportation Commission
MTC Pursues TransLink® Universal Ticket
In the public transit industry, the smart money is on smart cards capable of storing fare value and making complex fare calculations. Embedded with a tiny, wafer-thin computer chip, the credit card-like piece of plastic can serve as both a single-ride ticket and a monthly pass, and can generate reams of ridership statistics. It also eliminates the need for transit riders to carry around exact change, crisp dollar bills or multiple tickets for different transit systems.

MTC has been exploring smart card technology as part of the TransLink® project, the agency's answer to the long-held dream of a universal ticket that would eliminate barriers to transferring among the Bay Areas many public transit modes and operators. As currently envisioned, TransLink® will feature the convenience of a proximity card that merely needs to be waved in the vicinity of a fare-reader.

In early 1998, MTC issued a request for proposals to find a consortium of firms not only to develop the smart card itself, but also to design, manufacture, install and maintain new fare-reading equipment for the regions diverse public transit network. The year-long procurement process for the project is scheduled to wrap up in the spring of 1999.

Seven operators representing a range of modes -- from buses, to streetcars to ferries AC Transit, BART, San Francisco Muni, Golden Gate Transit, Caltrain, Valley Transportation Authority and the Vallejo Ferry -- will participate in a demonstration phase that is slated to get under way in mid-2000. Regionwide deployment could follow in the year 2001.

-- Brenda Kahn

Annual Report Contents

BATA

Status report on bridge expansion program

Vehicle counts on Bay Area Bridges (With photos!)

Summary of Regional Measure One projects

BATA Revenues & Expenditures

MTC

Bullish year for transportation funding

Citizens applaud Regional Transportation Plan

TLC program aims to turn neighborhoods around

Transit and traffic info is just a
mouse click or phone call away

MTC pursues TransLink® universal ticket

View and download MTC statistics

SAFE

Keeping roadways SAFE

SAFE services

SAFE statistics for 1997-98

Facts and Figures

Bay Area's 10 worst traffic hot spots

In Print & Online

New: Transportation funding, paratransit resources,
transit operator statistics