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Transactions Newsletter

December 2002 / January 2003

TransLink® Moves Toward Wider Rollout

The TransLink® universal fare card is a hit with Bay Area transit riders, according to a recently released evaluation.

Some 3,000 passengers have been testing the “smart card” on portions of the networks operated by AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Muni and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Evaluating the initial six months of the pilot program, the report shows that 70 percent of users are completely or highly satisfied with the TransLink® card, which can store a wide variety of transit passes as well as cash value.

“Customers like TransLink® so much that the biggest complaint by far is that the system isn’t available on every route and in every station,” said MTC project manager Russell Driver.

The six pilot program agencies have now agreed to continue accepting TransLink® cards while working with MTC on implementing TransLink® throughout their systems. The schedule calls for two or three of the region’s biggest transit operators to install TransLink® equipment on all their vehicles and in all their stations by the end of 2003, with the region’s remaining transit operators likely to move toward full rollout during 2004.

“I love not dealing with tickets, and walking right on,” commented one customer. “It is definitely going to be the fare payment of the future... I love how easy it has become to travel,” wrote another.
— John Goodwin
TransLink card

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