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Old 04-01-2012, 04:14 PM
 
53 posts, read 175,582 times
Reputation: 24

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The last time I took a MTA bus in Los Angeles (after the TAP Card came out), the bus driver got all weird on me and made a big stink that I should have gotten a Day Pass via a TAP card. I had a $5 bill in hand (the exact amount), however he reluctantly took my money and gave me some sort of narrow strip of paper representing a Paper Day Pass. When I used the pass to transfer throughout the day, I got strange looks from the MTA drivers when I flashed this narrow strip of paper to board the bus. I’m not sure why this was such a big issue for them.

I would purchase the MTA Day Pass at one of their light rail stations, but the closest station is like 4 miles from my house. When I tried to buy a Day Pass (yesterday) at my local check cashing place, they wanted to charge me like $2.50 just for the TAP card AND $5 on top of that. Since I wanted to use the Day Pass (yesterday at least) and get another Day Pass for another day, the clerk wanted to charge me $2.50 for each TAP Card and then load $5 on each card. I did not mind paying $2.50 for TAP Card if I could load $10 on it, if I could use the same card at least 2 separate day, and as long as the TAP Card was reloadable. Yet the clerk did not tell me there was no other way to do this. So I walked out and did not buy either card. So in essence, I would have had to spend $15 to buy “2" two Day Passes. WHAT THE HECK?!?

I remember before that TAP card came out, I was always able to easily ask for a "paper" Day Pass, and the MTA driver would quickly give me one . . . with no issue.

Yet my question is, can I still get a “paper” Day Pass on an MTA bus nowadays, without all of the hassles & grief from the MTA drivers?

Nick
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Old 04-01-2012, 07:14 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,078,817 times
Reputation: 2958
Uh, just get a TAP card? I think when you get on the bus you can just load a $5 day pass onto them from the driver. Maybe call Metro and see if you can get a free one, I live in Long Beach and a few weeks ago I got a letter from Metro saying they'd send me a free 5-day pass on a free TAP card as a welcome to the area, so I filled out the form and it arrived a few days ago. If you live in LA County maybe you can get one if you just ask.
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Old 04-02-2012, 12:31 PM
 
Location: Hollywood, CA
396 posts, read 906,346 times
Reputation: 331
A tap card is reloadable and you can put a set amount on it. I am not sure if stores are able to do it but I know the ticket machines in the subway are able to load amounts on the tap card.

HOWEVER, make sure you buy a day pass. As the tap card is unable to count the times you use it during a day. So if you tap it four times, without a day pass loaded on it, it'll just charge you 4 times. Thus you're spending $6 instead of $5.
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Old 04-02-2012, 03:08 PM
 
53 posts, read 175,582 times
Reputation: 24
Thank you very much Mayorhaggar, and Senshi. I appreciate your help.

Mayorhaggar, how AWESOME that you were able to get a free 5-day pass. WOW!!!

Senshi, thank you for taking the time to explain to me how this works in better detail. Since I need to use the MTA tomorrow, I’m going to be in the situation of where I need a day-pass again. Yet I’m still not sure how the reloading process works, so I will ask that question in another posts, with the hopes that someone will give me an answer between now and tomorrow morning.

Thanks again, you two!

Nick
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Old 04-02-2012, 05:31 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,078,817 times
Reputation: 2958
I looked on the Metro website and I couldn't find anything about getting a free pass like I did. I did some googling and got some dead pages about past deals for 3-day passes. Maybe call up Metro and mention that someone you know got a free 5-day pass, and ask nicely for the same consideration.

And this explains how to load a tap card, you can do it on the bus but it looks like you can only do that for a day pass. I guess you can get a card for $1 from the driver, you put $6 in the till and he gives you the reusable TAP card with the $5 day pass on it. Keep the pass and load it with a day pass whenever you need one.

http://www.metro.net/around/fares/load-tap-card/
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Old 04-02-2012, 11:21 PM
 
2,131 posts, read 4,914,955 times
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Wouldn't it be nice if we could use our smart phones as a replacement for TAP cards? There should be an app for that.
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Old 04-03-2012, 11:38 AM
 
53 posts, read 175,582 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by mayorhaggar View Post
I looked on the Metro website and I couldn't find anything about getting a free pass like I did. I did some googling and got some dead pages about past deals for 3-day passes. Maybe call up Metro and mention that someone you know got a free 5-day pass, and ask nicely for the same consideration.

And this explains how to load a tap card, you can do it on the bus but it looks like you can only do that for a day pass. I guess you can get a card for $1 from the driver, you put $6 in the till and he gives you the reusable TAP card with the $5 day pass on it. Keep the pass and load it with a day pass whenever you need one.

http://www.metro.net/around/fares/load-tap-card/
Mayorhaggar, thank you so very much for your help once again and the MTA link. I'm going to try to follow the instructions like your link says, and I will hope and pray that it works exactly as MTA states that it will. However, since I often have bad luck when trying brand new things when there is a line of people waiting behind me , I'm not going to get overly optimistic at my first try at trying to reload my TAP Card on a MTA bus. Yet as near as I can figure how this should work is, I board the bus, insert $5 into the fare machine, tell the driver I want a day-pass, the driver presses a button, then I tap my TAP Card on the TAP Card gizmo on the fare machine, then I should hear a beep (that tells me that my card is loaded with the day-pass), and I am then free to use my card as much as I want until midnight on that day.

It sounds simple and easy enough to do this (while reading this), but doing it in person with a line of people behind me "may" be a different story. LOL!!! Yet I wonder when I asked for a day-pass the first time (a long while back), why the driver did not tell me about using the TAP Card then (since it was fairly new at the time, but I did not know how TAP cards worked and guessed that it was the modern "monthly bus pass", but I was aware of them at that time), rather than give me grief over the whole TAP Card business, where I could have purchased one on the spot right then and there, instead of him giving me that narrow slip of paper to use as my day-pass for the day.

Thanks again, Mayorhaggar.

Wrcousert, that would be a COOL idea!

Nick
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