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Ed Yeates ReportingAs we move more and more towards a "cashless" society, the Utah Transit Authority is about to let commuters pay their fares on buses with credit cards or smart cards. The pilot project here could serve as a model for "Touch and Go" systems around the country.
Imagine jumping on a bus and instead of fumbling for correct change, you simply touch a reader with your VISA, Master or American Express card and you've paid your fare. That's what riders on ski buses will soon be doing as part of a year long pilot project. After that, the readers could go system wide in all buses and more.
For months now in a makeshift lab, technicians have been experimenting with several cards and readers. Now the real test is about to begin on board. A company called ERG is working in partnership with UTA. Though it's developed transit smart card systems all over the world, credit cards on buses are something else.
Massimo Rolle, ERG Transit Systems: "None of them are off-line credit card transactions, and to us, this was amazing that UTA would to do this."
It's not just VISA, American Express or Mastercard. In cooperation with Utah ski resorts, the passes skiers use to ride lifts and stay in hotels will be encoded for bus fare payments as well.
In addition to ski passes, University of Utah student cards, even my own security card at KSL could be encoded to make payments. Now with a simple tap and go, you're paying my fare not only on a bus, but on commuter rail and light rail.
With that, UTA could begin setting up an actual distance based fare system.
Craig Roberts, UTA Fare Collection Technology: "Someone boards the bus and taps the reader. And when they exit the bus, they could tap the reader and that then would tell us how far they've traveled. And we could bill them just for the distance they've traveled."
All transactions are secured through encrypted codes.
Massimo Rolle, ERG Transit Systems: "It's between 200 and 400 milliseconds, so really, the speed of the transaction is how fast you get on the bus."
"Touch and Go" not only provides secure "cashless" transactions, it also keeps track in numbers only of how many people are actually riding a bus or a train at a given time.
