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The Travelin’ Grampa Touring the U.S.A. without an automobile

Focus on fast, safe, convenient, comfortable, cheap travel, via public transit. Vol. 8, No. 3, March 2015 Illustration credit: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

Philadelphia’s transit system calls its new electronic ‘smart’ farecard a Key Card, reportedly reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s flying a kite with a key attached to catch a bolt of lightning in June 1752.

Philly-area seniors will get new ‘free ride’ ID cards

Yellow and blue paper ID cards Philadelphia-area seniors currently use to ride transit buses and trolleys, aka streetcars, without paying a fare will be phased out as Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority switches to plastic electronic farecards.

SEPTA will eliminate metal tokens, and paper passes, tickets and transfers. In the future, to ride without paying on SEPTA fixed-route transit buses, or to pay a sharply discounted $1 fare on its regional commuter railroad trains, seniors ages 65 & 65+ will be able to use their driver’s license or non-driver photo ID from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Or, they can use a special new photo-ID card to be provided by SEPTA. A photo-ID card issued by the state costs $27.50. It expires in four years. You swipe it at bus

and trolley fareboxes and rail station turnstiles. A photo-ID farecard issued by SEPTA will cost zero and expire in four years. You tap this on card readers attached to bus/trolley fareboxes and at rail station turnstiles. SEPTA calls this a “Validator” and its new farecard a “Key Card.”

On the back of the state-issued driver’s licenses and non-driver ID cards is a magnetic stripe and bar codes. These contain the same information printed on the front.

Rides not free; Pennsylvania Lottery pays senior fares As do other mass transit systems across the state, SEPTA currently issues senior ID cards as

agent for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which pays the transit systems for each senior ride. So, they are not, strictly speaking, free rides, contrary to what many seniors suppose. Money from the Pennsylvania Lottery funds this “seniors ride free” program.

SEPTA Regional Rail senior fares won’t change? “Fares for seniors … will not be changing, just the cards they use,” says SEPTA. Seniors now

pay $1 per SEPTA regional railroad train ride. Or buy a strip of ten one-ride tickets for $8.50. But there will be no tickets? Huh! Wha? For more info: http://www.septa.org/key/faq.html

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS .

Visiting with grandkids? Buy a SEPTA family daypass Smart visitors to Philadelphia and other infrequent riders buy one-day passes. Called

an Independence Pass, this costs $12 and provides one-day of unlimited rides on transit buses, trolleys, subways, high-speed light rail line, and SEPTA Regional Railroad trains. These are calendar daypasses, not 24-hour passes.

For a visiting senior traveling with 3 or 4 grandkids, a Family Independence Pass at $29 is a real bargain. This allows a family of up to five members traveling together unlimited rides on its transit buses, trolleys, subways, and regional railroad trains. During the summer, it also provides free rides to/from the popular Mann Center for performing arts. The five family member limit doesn’t include babes in arms and two children age 4 or under, who travel free of charge.

Full fare is charged for each additional kid no matter what the age. NOTICE: In Delaware, these passes are available for $12 and $29 at Amtrak/SEPTA railroad

stations in Wilmington and Newark, and at Darley Pharmacy near Claymont station.

Here's the fine print regarding SEPTA one-day passes Though the Family Independence Pass is $29 for a family of up to five traveling together,

only two can be age 18 or older. ● If you and the kids travel from or to New Jersey on a SEPTA Regional Rail train, you must

pay $15 additional each way. ● One-day passes aren’t valid on regional railroad trains arriving Center City Philadelphia

weekdays before 9:30 am, except Airport Line trains, where they are valid any time. ● A one-day pass for an individual can be issued by a conductor on a regional railroad train for

$12. However, the conductor gives you only a cash sales receipt. This must be taken to a Center City Ticket Office to exchange for an actual Family Independence one-day pass.

● Market-Frankford and Broad Street line trains are not regional railroad trains.

Key Card one-day family pass will be here soon On a SEPTA Key Card the Family Independence Pass will provide exactly what it does in

paper form today. One family of up to five members traveling together – one of the five, but no more than two, must be 18 years of age or older – will be able to use it for one day unlimited travel on SEPTA transit vehicles and railroad trains.

NOTICE: This pass will be available only at SEPTA sales outlets. It won’t be dispensed at Fare Kiosks, aka vending machines.

NOTICE: Key Cards okay in 2015 for travel on transit buses, trolleys, subways, high speed light rail, etc., but not until 2016 on SEPTA regional railroad trains. If your 2015 travel includes a SEPTA railroad, buy a paper Family Independence Pass.

Paper pass gets hole punched; new Key Card won’t Currently, SEPTA one-day weekly and monthly passes are punched by a bus driver, trolley

car operator, subway booth attendant, or railroad train conductor to indicate day, week or month they are good for travel. After that, the rider merely shows this pass for each subsequent trip.

After SEPTA switches to new “smart” farecards, no more hole punching will be done. Passes will be electronically recorded onto the “smart” Key Card farecards. In fact, SEPTA warns that punching a hole in these new cards can destroy their usefulness.

Visitors can buy one-day paper passes at: SEPTA HQ at 1234 Market Street, railroad ticket windows, Independence Visitor Center at 6th & Market Sts., and online at shop.septa.org

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS . Lustrations credit: DMV, Penna. Dept. of Transportation; © Washington State Dept. of Licensing; PennDOT.

Magnetic stripe and bar codes on the back of Pennsylvania driver licenses and PennDOT-issued ID cards basically contain the same personal information that’s on their front.

PennDOT-issued cards will act as a SEPTA farecard Instead of getting a new SEPTA Senior Key Card, seniors who have a Pennsylvania driver’s

license or non-driver photo-ID card will be able to swipe it at a bus farebox or rail station turnstile to ride without paying. Driver’s licenses and photo-IDs from other states won’t be acceptable, however. A magnetic stripe on the back of Pennsylvania’s cards contains name and date of birth of the senior doing the card swiping.

NOTICE: Most public transit in the state will continue using blue and yellow non-photo IDs pictured at the bottom of this page. If you have one, keep it, for use outside the Philly area.

Visiting seniors can get new Key Card ‘free’ rides card Out-of-towners age 65 and above now can show a Medicare Card to ride without paying on

SEPTA transit buses, trolleys, trackless trolleys, subway-el and high-speed light rail lines. Or they can show a Senior Citizen Lottery Funded Transit non-photo ID card they can apply

for and get within minutes. Females get a yellow-color paper ID card. Males get a blue color paper ID card. The Pennsylvania Lottery pays their fares.

After introduction of new Key Card “smart” farecards, they won’t be able to do this, especially at non-attended transit boarding areas.

Instead, these seniors, including non-residents, will be able to get a new Key Card photo-ID farecard that will allow riding on buses, subways, etc., without paying a fare.

SEPTA keeping existing fare boxes on buses, trolleys. Adding its new Validator card reader to bus fareboxes rather than replacing the fareboxes is

“a more efficient way to integrate the new fare program without inconveniencing customers,” SEPTA says. It lets riders keep using the farebox’s swipe reader and coin/bill slots during the transition from the old to the new fare payment system, for instance.

Seniors age 65&+ ride on public mass transit in Pennsylvania without paying by showing one of these. The Pennsylvania Lottery pays their fares. SEPTA will stop issuing the blue and yellow ID cards as it introduces new photo-ID farecards for seniors. Other public transit systems in Pennsylvania will continuing using the paper blue and yellow IDs, including those in tourist-attractive Harrisburg, Erie, and Pittsburgh.

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS .

Philly’s nicest subway trains go to/from New Jersey Philadelphia’s nicest subway trains are those of Port Authority Transit Corp.’s high speed

railway linking the Quaker City and several of its New Jersey suburbs. Seniors using a photo-ID PATCO Senior Freedom farecard can travel between any of these for 70¢ per ride, weekdays during off-peak hours, and 70¢ all day Saturday and Sunday. During peak hours, seniors pay full fare, which varies depending on distance traveled. One-way fare ranges from $1.40 to $3.

PATCO is a subsidiary of the Delaware River Port Authority. DRPA has four bridges that span the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

SEPTA-PATCO joint fare will continue SEPTA says it is working with PATCO to ensure that riders now paying one fare for travel

between Philadelphia and New Jersey stations will be able to continue doing so after introduction of SEPTA's new fare collection system.

A reduced fare, round-trip Jersey-Philly ticket is $3.10 at self-service vending machines at PATCO stations in New Jersey, paid for either with cash or a Freedom card. These tickets are valid on selected SEPTA bus and subway links in Center City Philadelphia at interchange points near that city’s several PATCO stations.

New Jersey Transit’s railroad division and SEPTA Regional Rail also have a joint monthly pass arrangement. These include passes for travel to/from New York City.

Using PATCO senior farecard on SEPTA is silly New Jersey seniors who show a Medicare Card or Pennsylvania Lottery funded ID card can

ride on most Pennsylvania public transit free of charge. Thus, it is illogical for them to use their photo-ID reduced-fare Freedom card to pay to ride on SEPTA buses, subways, etc. Illustrations credits: CBS News, Philadelphia; Port Authority Transit; DJ Hammers, YouTube.

PATCO train at Ashland station. PATCO Wave & Pay card. Comfortable PATCO train seats.

PATCO experimented with an ‘open’ payment system PATCO had an “open” fare payment from Sept. 2011 to Oct. 2012, in cooperation with big

banks and Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a leading supplier of contactless fare systems in San Diego, Calif. At that time, PATCO turnstiles accepted an experimental Wave & Pay Visa debit card, or other suitable Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express card, and its own Freedom card. Provided by Cubic, the latter has been in use since 2007.

Vending machines dispense the Freedom card. A reduced-fare Senior Freedom Card must be applied for at Walter Rand Transportation Center station in Camden, N.J.

Lottery pays for more than 100,000 rides per day On average, the Pennsylvania Lottery every day helps provide more than 105,000 older folks

free and reduced-fare shared rides. In 2013-14, more than $162.2-million in Pennsylvania Lottery funds paid for nearly 34.7-million free transit rides and more than 3.9-million shared rides.

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS . Illustrations credit: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority; Philadelphia Museum of Art.

SEPTA’s new Key Card’s name reflects the transit agency’s and the city of Philadelphia’s long love affair with Benjamin Franklin. Among his many inventions is the Lightning Rod that saves numerous lives and prevents trillions of dollars of property damage. At left: Children’s coloring book, sold at the SEPTA store, 1234 Market Street in downtown Philadelphia. At right: Benjamin West’s famous painting titled ‘Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky,’ on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which overlooks Philadelphia’s majestic Benjamin Franklin Parkway. SEPTA bus routes 32 and 38 stop near the museum. The history of SEPTA’s New Payment Technology In our September 2011 issue, we ran this item: New web site devoted to new SEPTA fare technology On a new web site especially devoted to new fare technology, Joseph M. Casey, general manager, says, “I'm excited to announce that the era of tokens, tickets, and paper transfers may soon be a thing of the past.” Then, he promises “a new era of public transportation to our region” and mentions “a multi-year effort to modernize our fare collection system across all modes of transportation, from buses and trolleys to the subway and parking to power transit and regional rail” and invites SEPTA riders “to browse this site to learn more about the new payment technologies and follow our progress in the coming months.”

You can do so at: www.septa.org

In our Sept. 2011 issue we also ran this Philebrity comment: “Can I just point out that SEPTA chose April Fool’s Day to hold an information session on a

service that has been promised then yanked more times than I can remember? This is either an oversight, or an epic prank.” – comment in Philebrity, a Philadelphia based web newsletter.

History of SEPTA’s New Payment Technology continues on p.6.

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS . The history of SEPTA’s New Payment Technology Our first mention of new farecards was this p.2 item in January 2009: SEPTA farecard to replace tokens, paper passes & transfers

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, serving Philadelphia and its environs, has asked several suppliers of contactless farecard systems to propose a system that will let riders pay fares via: a bank-issued credit or debit card, personal SEPTA permanent farecard, a cell phone, single-ride paper swipe pass, or cash. Presumably, this will require SEPTA issuing new ID cards to thousands of seniors whose free rides are subsidized by funds from the Pennsylvania Lottery.

SEPTA first announced its intent to go tokenless in December 2007.

Next real news of it worth mentioning was on p.5 of in Sept. 2010: SEPTA seeks funds for smart card fare system

Philly-based Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority wants $29.3-million from the federal government to install a $100-million “smart card” fare system. So far, it has been able to come up with only $48-million. Its fare cards likely would resemble one Grampa now uses to ride on the PATCO high-speed rail line. Vending machines would dispense a plastic value-memory card upon deposit of cash or swipe of a bank credit or debit card. Whether special photo ID cards for senior citizens, who ride free in Pennsylvania, will be issued is unknown.

In our April 2011 issue, we revisited this ongoing 4-year-old saga: SEPTA once again announces the demise of tokens

Every so often, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority declares its intent to switch from its present ancient fare collection methods to a modern one featuring the latest technology. Yet, year after year, its buses, subways and railroads continue collecting metal tokens and paper tickets and transfers. Meanwhile, transit riders elsewhere merely tap or flash their permanent electronic fare cards. Or, they merely wave a fare-loaded "smart” phone. On Friday, April 1, SEPTA management again sort-of unveiled a new fare process that spokesperson Andrew Busch modestly declared “would make SEPTA the most advanced public transportation system in the country.” John McGee, its expert on such matters, said it not only would accept credit and debit cards, pre-paid fare cards, “smart” phones, etc., but even – using words usually reserved for science fiction – “new forms of payment as yet unknown.” Some time this summer, SEPTA expects to award contracts to one of three suppliers of such fare-collection systems. After that, it likely will be two years, maybe three, possibly never, before it is in full operation. Big stumbling block: How to finance it. SEPTA now thinks it has a $175-million low-interest loan sewed up, plus other available funding. Time will tell. In a Nov. 2012 feature on tokens past and present, this was on p.1: Philly’s transit system to end token & paper transfer use

SEPTA, the transit system serving the Philadelphia area, next year will stop selling metal tokens and paper transfers. Instead, most of its riders will use a permanent plastic fare card. For one or a few rides, there will be a paper fare card. These will resemble the Freedom fare cards now used to ride on the Delaware River Port Authority’s PATCO high speed rail line linking downtown Philly and the New Jersey city of Camden and its suburbs as far as Lindenwold.

As presently envisioned, regular adult riders would pay half fare each time they transfer from one transit vehicle to another. That's what they pay now; $2 for a single ride; $1 for a transfer.

Cash still will be accepted for SEPTA bus, subway/el and trolley rides.

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. SPECIAL REPORT: SEPTA’s NEW FARECARDS . The history of SEPTA’s New Payment Technology Eight pages about SEPTA in April 2014 began on p.1 with the following: Photo credits: PlanPhilly.com; Kimberly Palmer, NewsWorks, WHYY- Philadelphia.

Left to right: New electronic fare card readers on SEPTA bus farebox and SEPTA subway-elevated turnstile, which riders someday will touch their personal permanent plastic fare cards against to pay their fares.

Philly’s leap into 21st century fare payment postponed When first announced in November 2011, this month was to be when the Philadelphia area’s

major public transit system would introduce the latest in electronic fare payment technology. This won’t happen for at least two reasons:

● Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, aka SEPTA, bus, streetcar, and subway-elevated railways workers could be out on strike this month.

● Similar new fare payment technology introduced by the Chicago Transit Authority last September has encountered many woes, as related in the February issue of this newsletter.

“They had some significant issues when they rolled it out in Chicago,” Richard Burnfield, chief financial officer of SEPTA, told news reporters recently. “We don’t want to go through that here. We would rather take our time and make sure it is done right.”

SEPTA’s “Frequently Asked Questions” web page now says: “By Fall 2014, riders will begin to see the installation of new turnstiles and vending equipment at subway-elevated stations. Next winter, passengers will begin the transition to new fare media as all subway-elevated stations, buses and trolleys will be outfitted with new equipment.”

SEPTA and CTA systems eliminate metal tokens, paper passes, and paper transfers. Below that item was this postscript:

Except for railroad fares, the new technology is unlikely to immediately affect seniors age 65&+ who use a Pennsylvania Lottery funded ID card to ride without paying on most public transit in the state. These are free and not restricted to Pennsylvania residents

March 2015: SEPTA electronic fare collection begins this year for its transit buses, trolleys, subways, etc., and next year for SEPTA Regional Rail and CCT Connect paratransit.

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. FARECARDS AND TOKENS AROUND THE USA . Connecticut buses no longer accept tokens

Connecticut transit buses no longer accept bus tokens for fare payment. Token holders were told of this deadline two years ago. CT Transit tokens unused by Feb. 28, 2015 “will no longer have any value,” they were warned.

CT Transit buses serve the metropolitan areas of Bristol, Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, Stamford, Wallingford and Waterbury.

Seniors age 65 and over can show their Medicare card to ride on CT Transit fixed-route buses for half-fare or better. Seniors who don't like carrying around a Medicare card can apply for a state-issued photo-ID card at: http://www.cttransit.com/SeniorDisabled/Application.asp

A $5 fee is charged.

Far-apart Springfield bus systems sell tokens, but not to seniors Tokens are sold by the transit system serving Illinois’’ state capital city and its environs. But

not to individuals, only to organizations. A roll of 50 tokens is $50. Even if you could buy them, it wouldn't be worthwhile. Seniors pay less than half fare, 60¢ per ride. Regular adult cash fare is $1.25. A 20-ride senior pass is only $12, and available to non-residents of that city and state. The system’s name is Springfield Mass Transit District, or SMTD.

Ironically, the bus system serving the Springfield area of western Massachusetts also sells metal tokens. Also, not to seniors. Reduced fare tokens of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, aka PVTA, are sold only to high school students via their respective schools.

PVTA senior bus fare also is 60¢, while its adult fare also is $1.25. A paper PVTA senior transfer is 10¢; and 25¢ for anyone ages 13 to 64.

Twin Cities transit system sells tokens, but only wholesale Metro Transit buses and trains serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota still take

tokens for fare payment. A visiting senior can't buy any, however. Nor can a resident senior. They are supplied only in wholesale amounts to social services, employers, etc., who must provide them free to qualified riders. Tokens are good for one ride on local buses More than one is needed to ride on express buses during rush hours and for rides on Northstar rail trains.

Most Metro riders use a Go-To Card, a “smart” farecard. Metro Transit was the second transit system in the USA to adopt “contactless: farecards.

A regular day pass for $6 allows unlimited rides for 24 hours on all Metrobus and Metrorail lines. If purchased online or at a Metro Transit Service Center, this must be initialized and first used on a bus. Day Passes purchased on a bus or at a rail ticket machine are valid upon purchase; no initialization required. Adult cash fare is $1.75, but $2.25 during rush hours. Senior fare is 75¢ non-rush and full $2.25 fare during rush hours.

Adult express bus fare is $2.25 non-rush and $3 rush. Senior pays 75¢ non-rush but $3 during rush hours. This is to discourage everyone – especially seniors – to travel off-peak who don’t need to travel at peak times. Grampa always tries to avoid rush hour transit.

To get a reduced fare, seniors show a Medicare card, photo ID with a “T” endorsement, or a Minnesota driver license. Anyone with an ADA-qualified disability can ride for 75¢ at all times.

SEPTA to phase out tokens gradually SEPTA says it plans to keep using tokens “for some time” after new farecards debut. Bus

fareboxes will continue to accept them. For subway-el rides, a token will buy a Quick Trip one-ride card at card-dispensing kiosks.

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. FARECARDS AND TOKENS IN CANADA .

Illustration credits: Toronto Transit Commission; Metrolynx.

Senior ticket. Toronto fare token. Toronto’s coming electronic Presto farecard.

Toronto getting ready to abandon tokens and tickets Toronto’s public transit system still sells tokens, though it expects to abolish them, along with

paper tickets and passes, sooner or later. “Eventually,” says the Toronto Transit Commission, “tickets and tokens will be eliminated as the TTC moves entirely to the Presto farecard or cash to pay your fare.” Other Canadian transit systems using Presto cards include those in Ottawa, Vaughan, and Mississauga. Virtually every Toronto area subway station collector booth sells paper tickets, metal tokens or/and paper passes. Tokens are purchased 3 for $8.10, 4 for $10.80, 5 for $13.50, 7 for $18.90, 10 for $27, 20 for $54, and 50 for $135. Canadian dollars, of course. Vending machines in subway stations dispense tokens in quantities of one, three or seven. They take cash only. No credit cards.

Toronto seniors save $1 per ride by not using tokens It’s illogical for seniors age 65&+ to use a Toronto transit token. They can pay $2 per ride

when using cash, compared the $3 regular adult cash fare. To get a reduced fare, seniors need to show acceptable identification. This can include: a TTC Senior Photo ID card, a government-issued driver license, or government-issued non-driver ID such as an Ontario resident non-driver photo ID card that costs $5 and take four weeks for delivery by mail. Until Sept. 1, 2014, TTC issued its own special TTC Senior Photo ID card. It no longer does, although TTC continues to be accepted as valid ID cards it previously issued.

To save 75¢ every five rides, instead of wasting money on tokens, seniors can buy five senior tickets for $9.25, or ten for $18.50. Or purchase a monthly pass for $108, which costs a regular adult $133.75. This monthly pass is called a Senior/Student Metropass. For a weekly pass, a senior pays $31.25, versus $39.25 regular adult price.

Warning: Downtown express senior cash fare is $1.85 ($2.70 regular adult). No senior tickets are sold for express rides.

New Toronto senior tickets twice as big as previous ones To suit fareboxes on its new streetcars, Toronto Transit doubled the size of its reduced fare

senior/student tickets. Thus, those purchased before 2013 no longer can be used. If you’ve kept some from a previous trip to Toronto, either throw them away or try to sell them to a memorabilia collector. TTC won’t refund your money, nor exchange olds one for bigger new ones.

Each new streetcar has two Validator ticket readers. “Information about how to use the ticket Validator will be provided as we get closer to the new streetcars entering service,” said TTC.

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. FARECARDS AND TOKENS AROUND THE USA .

Chicago-area seniors, disabled get millions of free rides Chicago area public transportation systems provided nearly 30-million free rides to low-

income seniors and low-income folks during the year 2013. This included rides on: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) vehicles, Metra commuter railroads, and PACE suburban buses. This was fewer than the 33.5-million free rides they provided in 2009, the first full year after when the statewide free rides program began. In 2010, the number peaked at 34.4-million, before declining to 27.2-million in 2011 and 17-million in 2012.

One CTA commentator supposes if the free riders had paid a regular adult fare CTA would have gotten probably $62.3-million more in revenue that year; Metra maybe $2.6-million more; PACE perhaps an added $2.7-million.

“The uncollected fares must be made up by cutting other expenses or passing along the costs to fare-paying riders,” a CTA official told Chicago Tribune reporter Jon Hilkevitch.

Funds from the state of Illinois “cover only a fraction of the cost for reduced-fare rides,” said Brian Steele, CTA spokesman. “Any significant jump in mandated rides puts pressure on the CTA budget. Those increased costs, and any reduction in funding, also diverts monies away from providing bus and rail service.”

“That's one side of the story,” wrote reporter Hilkevitch. “The other side is that the free-rides service is a lifesaver to the people who depend on it.” He cited several examples.

Introduced in 2008 and limited in 2011 to folks with low income, the statewide free-rides program is administered in the Chicago area by its Regional Transportation Authority. More than 600,000 RTA reduced fare and ride free permits are in circulation. Of these 156,796 ride free and 365,150  at  reduced  fare.  The  remainder  include  78,000  military  veterans,  students,  etc.  

Some Illinois bus systems let any senior ride at no charge Anyone age 65 or 65+ can ride without paying on buses in Champaign, Urbana and portions

of Savoy, in western Illinois. They do this by getting a photo-ID DASH Card at Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District headquarters at Illinois Terminal in the city of Champaign. Seniors who don't have a DASH card can pay 50¢ per ride, half the regular adult fare. The DASH Card is valid for up to three years. There is no charge for the card. Senior DASH Card holders account for about 600,000 of the 12-million rides the MTD provides annually. Seniors have been able to ride free on this MTD’s buses since 2002.

Seniors ride free in Peoria area, too While many Illinois seniors lost their free rides in 2011 when the state limited them to those

with low incomes, seniors age 65 and over in the Peoria area continue to ride on its CityLink transit buses at no charge, except during weekday peak travel hours. CityLink is the name of the Greater Peoria Mass Transit District's bus system. No special CityLink-issued ID card is necessary. Any state-issued ID, such as a driver’s license, is sufficient evidence of age.

Chicago Transit Authority riders used metal fare tokens like these from 1950 to June 1999.

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FARECARDS AND TOKENS AROUND THE USA .

Illustration credits: NY MTA: SheepsHeadBites from Roosevelt Islander; Oran Viriyincy, Flickr.

Left: New York MTA MetroCard vending machine. Center: New York City bus farebox into which MetroCard is inserted and retrieved. Right: MetroCard being “swiped” thru New York subway station turnstile card reader.

New York MTA hopes to have contactless farecards someday For more than four years, the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Administration) has been

trying to switch from its present flimsy mag-stripe MetroCard to a sturdy and versatile so-called “contactless” plastic “smart” farecard. As envisioned, riders would tap this on a bus farebox or subway-elevated turnstile card reader, as Chicago and Los Angeles riders now do.

New York City area bus and subway-el train riders began using mag-stripe farecards in 1993. After metal tokens were eliminated in 2003, most paid this way. Bus riders insert the card into a farebox card reader. Subway-el riders swipe it on a card reader at a turnstile. A magnetic stripe on the card deducts proper fare amount and “remembers” how much fare remains on the card.

In every instance – insert, swipe or tap – it comes into physical contact with an electronic card reader device. Thus, tap cards aren’t contactless. But that’s what card experts call them.

MTA issues a Senior Citizen MetroCard Photo ID Pass version. Grampa got his in 2007.

New York one of few big cities still mag-stripe So-called contactless fare cards are used by transit riders in Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong,

London, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, etc., etc. When the Philadelphia area's SEPTA bus and subway-el lines go “contactless” in 2014, the

New York City area will become one of a shrinking number of major metropolitan areas still using magnetic-stripe fare cards.

MetroCard was supposed to be gone by 2012 Jay H. Walder, MTA chairman from 2009 to 2011, came to New York City from London Transport in England, where he had introduced the famous Oyster contactless fare card. He left MTA to join Hong Kong’s MTR transit system, which uses an Octopus contactless card.

While MTA chairman, he often mentioned the Oyster card’s flexibility, such as allowing different peak and off-peak fares. He supposed that for about $250-million the MTA could replace its present mag-stripe MetroCard with a “smart” Oyster-type card.

While he was MTA chief, maintaining MetroCard got ever more expensive. An MTA pamphlet dated 2010 says it cost 15¢ of each collected fare dollar “just to sell or collect that fare.” In 2011, it spent about $10-million to buy mag-stripe cards. Its 2,200 vending machines require constant and costly repair and maintenance, due to wear, accidental damage and vandalism.

Experts predict that by 2019, perhaps sooner, costs of keeping the MetroCard are likely to exceed the cost estimates for every contactless system proposed from 2000 to 2011.

Walder now heads Motivate, a ten-nation bicycle sharing enterprise.

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. FARECARDS AND TOKENS AROUND THE USA . . Sources: Jeremy Steinemann in 2nd Ave Sagas; PATCO; Maryland Dept. of Human Resources.

Internet commentators seem to like these three names best for a new SEPTA electronic farecard.

Key Card name called unimaginative and pretty lame When critics heard Philadelphia’s transit system decided to name its new “smart” farecard

SEPTA Key Card, they seemed underwhelmed. Declaring it “a pretty lame, generic name,” one wondered why SEPTA hadn't chosen the Independence name that appears on its one-day unlimited rides passes. “Key is so bland you may as well just call it the SEPTA Payment Card or Fare Card,” declared another.

Independence is a word much affiliated with Philadelphia. The city’s top tourist attraction is Independence Hall, where on July 4, 1776 our nation's Declaration of Independence was signed, and where in 1787 was created the Constitution of the United States.

Soon after word of the name first leaked out last April, a SEPTA and PATCO Forum on Railroad.net buzzed with disappointment. “Being a transit agency in Philly lends itself to so many good names that Key is just lazy as all get out,” said a critic. “There are definitely better names out there,” another agreed.

“I would've loved to see these cards called Liberty Cards,” lamented another. He wasn’t alone. Many suggested Liberty, along with Independence and Freedom.

One liked the Key name if it were for a farecard for use statewide. Pennsylvania’s nickname is “the Keystone State.”

Some thought SEPTA should solicit names from the riding public, which inspired such sarcasm as: “Why get a name for free when you can pay a consulting company to come up with something so unimaginative?”

Moderator of the SEPTA and PATCO Forum is Alex Charyna.

Seniors shun Michigan capital’s transit bus tokens Capital Area Transportation Authority, aka CATA, based in Lansing, the state capital, sells

tokens good for a one-way ride on CATA fixed-route buses and Spec-Tran vehicles. Fixed-route tokens come in convenient packages of 10 for $10. Spec-Tran tokens sell for $2.50 each.

However, seniors age 62 and above qualify for a lifetime CATA Club card that allows paying a 60¢ cash fare. This card also allows purchase of a reduced fare bus pass. To get a card, a senior must apply in person and be approved. Though called a “lifetime” card, it is valid only up to ten years. If lost or stolen, there is a $5 replacement fee.

Note: “Anyone showing a valid Medicare Card qualifies to ride at the discounted rate of 60¢,” says CATA's fare web page. “Medicare cards can also be shown to purchase a Value Pass.”.

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