Brt (Woodbury, Cleveland: to buy, construction, live in)

[pete6032]

Originally Posted by 1stpontiac

Somewhat off topic, but I was really confused the first time I got on an express bus going *out* of downtown and saw everyone getting in the back door and not paying. I finally figured it out at the end of the route that you pay when you get off.

A good way to reduce the stop time in the crowded downtown area.

I don't understand why you pay when you get on most of the time but on the suburb-bound express routes out you pay as you get off. That confuses me too.

[Beenhere4ever]

I've ridden transit in places that had zones. So its only when you get off that you know what you actually owe. So once you get out of Zone 1, everyone gets off in front and pays the fare for that zone.

Yes, a dollar bill is cash. I merely cited Belllingham as a place that took a step toward simplification. Now in Toronto ON, at least in 2004, you could pick up tickets in your local convenience store and drop those in the fare box. So there was really no need for cash. Of course, they also had super saver fare cards, too. And they had an enclosed system to allow you to pay once and change modes without fussing with fares at all. But their system is far more complex and expensive than ours.

As for buying a ticket with a debit card, I've done it. But my Go To card is all set up to let me ride at reduced fare ($.75) in off hours. So it is only when I don't for some reason have the Go To card that I would ever use the machine. But I do think the machines are part of a smart system. Can't, of course, have them on every corner. But if they allowed retail stores to sell single ride tickets like in Toronto, that would make a no-cash system feasible. They have vending machines for scratch off cards. Why not one for transit tickets?

[golfgal]

The problem with the go-to card is actually getting one-they are staffed strange hours in the suburbs to buy one...

[1stpontiac]

Originally Posted by pete6032

I don't understand why you pay when you get on most of the time but on the suburb-bound express routes out you pay as you get off. That confuses me too.

Its a speed and congestion thing. When you are getting on downtown, there are a hundred buses pulling in and away from Marquette Ave, all sharing stops, so they want the buses to pull in, dump their passengers, and get away as quickly as possible. By the time you are out in your suburban park-n-ride, there are less buses, so when someone stands around counting out nickels, it only slows down that bus, not a whole line of them.

I'm sure there is an occasional person who jumps on the bus, and then "forgets" that they didn't have enough money, but its probably worth it for the increase in efficiency.

[ManBearPig1]

Originally Posted by golfgal

The problem with the go-to card is actually getting one-they are staffed strange hours in the suburbs to buy one...

You can order them online

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by ManBearPig1

You can order them online

I thought you had to get the first one in person....maybe that has changed. It's been a couple years since I've looked into it. It used to be that they sold them from 9-11 am at the Burnsville station...goofy time.

[Beenhere4ever]

Look at metrotransit.org. I'm sure it says how you get them.

[1stpontiac]

I was able to order my U-pass online, but I can't remember if that came from UMN or Metrotransit.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

They need to get away from taking cash. People don't count what they have before getting on transit. Then they always seem to ask the driver if they can't ride anyway. Bellingham WA has a simplified system. Every ride costs a buck. You either stick a dollar bill in the slot or swipe a card. And that's all they take. No transfers. By eliminating variables in the process, they speed up pickups a lot. And there's no way to count a dollar bill "wrong". You have the bill or you don't.

Removing cash from the system leaves people like visitors or those who forget their transit cards from using transit. On buses, we charge $1.75/$2.25, but you can certainly slip in $2 and still get that $1.75 pass.

The real way to go is to actually find a way to market Go-To cards. I ordered one online, but it never arrived (fortunately I didn't get charged for it either as it seems they have to be activated first before they charge you?), so I had to go downtown to buy one. The website lists vendors who sell them, such as the Lunds in NE near where I live. But when I've shopped there, I've never seen a place that advertises that they're sold there. I had to actively search for it online (and still haven't found out where they're sold in the store).

We need to be rolling them out in vending machines, convenience stores, and at all major transit stations (light rail stops, BRT stations, and major bus stations like Uptown Transit Station and Chicago Transit Station). The biggest problem is rollout.

Originally Posted by golfgal

I thought you had to get the first one in person....maybe that has changed. It's been a couple years since I've looked into it. It used to be that they sold them from 9-11 am at the Burnsville station...goofy time.

They can be ordered online, though as I mentioned above, YMMV.

Originally Posted by 1stpontiac

I was able to order my U-pass online, but I can't remember if that came from UMN or Metrotransit.

The U-Pass is ordered online, but you have to go and pick it up at a place like Coffman.

[Beenhere4ever]

I was a visitor to Toronto. I found out from their publicity that convenience stores sold single ride tickets (you didn't have to buy them singly. I bought about 6 or 8 at once). I found that an excellent option for me. I could buy them without exact change, unlike the buses in most cities where if you don't manage to carry exact change, you either overpay or are out of luck. This of course eliminated the old old days where bus drivers had to carry funds with them. Which was progress in one way, but created the problem of people who can't think systematically and forget to save the right change for the bus. I always think those people should buy stored value cards, at very least. But you also have to store them carefully so they don't become unscannable before they are used up. Anyway, no wheel needs invention here. All over the world, transit systems have come up with practical solutions. I'm sure a transit authority can find someone already using an option that will work for their system.