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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

December 2001

TransLink® Hits the Street

Six-Month Public Demo Gets Under Way

Keep your eye out for the bold "T" inside the tilted green circle -- the distinctive, contemporary logo has been popping up all over the Bay Area, signaling the launch of the TransLink® universal fare card pilot program. The logo appears on special fare readers installed on 30 bus lines and one light-rail line as well as at 19 train stations, two ferry terminals and, of course, on the credit-card sized plastic TransLink® ticket itself.

For the past two months, several hundred transit agency employees have been testing the card as they make their way to and from work, giving project staff a chance to iron out the final kinks in the complex fare-collection system, which relies on smart-card technology. In January, a six-month public demonstration is scheduled to get under way, with some 4,000 volunteers from around the region using the TransLink® card in lieu of monthly passes, ticket books or cash.

A microchip embedded in the card keeps track of the amount and type of fare the rider has loaded, and how much has been spent. "You just need to touch your card to the fare reader," said TransLink® Project Manager Russell Driver. "You don't even have to remove it from your wallet or purse."

During the pilot program, the TransLink® card will be accepted on selected routes and stations of a half-dozen transit operators: AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Muni and (Santa Clara) Valley Transportation Authority. Together, the six systems offer a sampling of the Bay Area's diverse modal mix, thus allowing the testing of TransLink® in every conceivable environment.

MTC views TransLink® as a key strategy for knitting together the region's 20-plus transit systems into a seamless, traveler-friendly network. Assuming all goes well with the demonstration, regionwide deployment on all Bay Area transit systems could begin in the winter of 2002, at a build-out price of $61 million.
-- Brenda Kahn

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