Paper or plastic? The question is not exclusive to grocery shoppers.
Transit riders transferring to a second bus usually grab a hand-punched, paper transfer from the driver to avoid paying twice. Now, they can use a plastic card with a computer chip preloaded with cash that deducts the transfer fee after tapping the fare box.
By February, or March at the latest, the only option for a transfer will be plastic, namely a Transit Access Pass (TAP) card obtained through Metro, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for a buck and then loaded with cash by the passenger.
When the 24 related bus agencies in the county also change over, the paper transfer will be eliminated. Like the compact disc and the flip phone, these two-hour tickets to ride that have become so familiar to bus passengers for decades will be history.
“In about six months, we will do away with paper transfers. That’s the plan,” said Felicia Friesema, director of marketing and communication for Foothill Transit, which serves 14 million customers a year in 22 cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys.
Cash still accepted
The Foothill Transit board on Aug. 25 voted to change to TAP card transfers only, the first bus agency outside of Metro in Los Angeles County to do so, Friesema said.
Metro and Foothill Transit, for example, will still allow customers to pay for a bus ride with cash. But without a TAP card, the rider will not get a transfer, and therefore will have to pay full fare each time he or she boards a bus.
A bus ride on Foothill Transit costs $1.50, while a transfer costs 50 cents. Without a TAP card, a rider would pay $3 to take two buses to complete one trip instead of $2.
The changeover to TAP cards negatively affects 8 percent of the county population, particularly those living within walking distance of fixed-route transit options, according to a Metro study. In the San Gabriel Valley, these areas include San Dimas, Glendora and Azusa, Friesema said. Residents of downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, where Metro light-rail lines run, have access to TAP cards that are sold at train and subway stations.
How to get a TAP card
To fill the gap, Metro plans on distributing 1 million TAP cards in the next seven months at major transfer points, said Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales. He said customers from the Antelope Valley, Foothill Transit, Gardena, Montebello and Torrance use TAP cards less often and have limited access to TAP as compared to other neighborhoods in the Southland.
A card can be purchased and loaded by going to taptogo.net or at 400 vendor locations, such as city halls, senior centers, rail stations and convenience stores. Friesema said Foothill Transit would like to see the cards mailed to future customers.
For Foothill, the changeover involves converting 43 percent of its riders who currently pay cash to TAP cards. Also, Foothill will need to create its own paper transfers for its riders connecting to Omnitrans in San Bernardino County and Orange County Transportation Authority buses, because TAP is only valid in Los Angeles County.
The cashless economy
Many bus passengers in Los Angeles are working-class riders and are not as familiar with a cashless economy as train riders or car commuters, said Bart Reed, executive director of The Transit Coalition in the San Fernando Valley.
“There is a high propensity of people who don’t trust the system. They don’t embrace the technology so they don’t understand that they can get a better deal if they use a TAP card,” Reed said.
About 80 percent of the more than 500,000 Metro bus riders who take the systems’s 2,000 buses are low-income and 90 percent are minorities; about 60 percent of the riders make less than $15,000 a year, according to a Metro report from May 2014.
The high levels of low-income bus riders is one reason why Metro is not doing away with cash rides, only cash transfers. But paying cash would hurt low-income riders who need to transfer: About one-half of Metro riders transfer to a second train or bus to reach their destination, according to Metro.
Why bus drivers prefer TAP
The bus operators’ union supports the move to automatic TAP transfers.
“Anything that removes the operator from the fare collection system process is a good thing. The No. 1 reason for operator assault is the fare box,” said Andrew Gonzales, director of public relations for Smart Transportation division, the union that represents 5,000 bus and train operators for Metro.
Riders will like it because it will speed up boarding lines if drivers don’t have to hand out transfers, particularly at express bus stops that move passengers from Inland Empire park-and-ride lots directly to downtown Los Angeles.
“The TAP system streamlines the process. There is less bumbling; you just hang onto your TAP card and it makes boarding much faster,” Friesema said.
