By end of day Monday, April 3, all Bay Area transit users – and especially people with technical expertise – have opportunities to encourage improvements to the Bay Area’s next-generation transportation payment system.    Read on for what’s happening and what you can do.

Other cities that are upgrading their payment systems – including Portland Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and Sydney, Australia, are taking the opportunity to streamline fares across transit services – so you no longer need to pay extra each time you take a different color vehicle.

Portland and Sydney are implementing “pay as you go pass” systems, with a capped total fare.  In addition to being more convenient for everyone, these fare structures provide more equitable access for lower-income riders, since you don’t need to pay up front for a monthly pass – and the total amount you pay has a limit, even if you use a lot of transit.

Portland TriMet Light Rail – the system is streamlining fares as part of a payment system overhaul

 

In the Bay Area, when the Clipper team asked technology vendors to comment on the project over the summer, the experts replied that we would get a cheaper, more reliable system if the region streamlined fares first (the current Clipper system has literally tens of thousands of business rules to determine fares).   Seattle, working on a similar system upgrade, got the same advice from the technical experts.

But so far, the Clipper team has not taken this advice, because it is a challenge to collaborate across agencies, and because agencies are afraid that – even though integrating fares is likely to increase transit ridership, according to a recent SPUR report – that any given agency might lose incremental revenue. Executives and board members often agree that fare streamlining is the right thing to do – but back down considering the challenges. 

The way other regions around the world handle this issue is to use a small pot of money as “insurance” to backstop individual transit agencies from the risk of incremental losses from seamless fares.   The region is currently considering a ballot measure to improve cross-regional transportation – the RM3 ballot measure might be a good fit for such funding.

To overcome these barriers, we need to get the support of the transit agency boards, and support an “insurance” solution that overcomes the fear of financial risk.

What you can do now

If you care about making Bay Area transit easier to use, and more accessible for low-income people, here’s what you can do now.

The next deadline for comments is Monday, April 3.

1. Everyone can make a suggestion on the Clipper site, at http://www.futureofclipper.com/.
2. If you have technology expertise – like so many of us in the Bay Area – you have an extra opportunity to help.  Clipper is taking feedback on their draft Request for Proposals. Take a look at this sample letter, review the topics in your area of expertise, and send your own comments. Those comments are also being taken at http://www.futureofclipper.com/.
3. Send a customized letter to the Transit Agency and Clipper Executive boards, letting them know you want to see progress on streamlined fares as part of the Clipper project.  The Clipper board members are transit agency executives, who take direction from their boards. Please customize the note, saying which agencies you use, and why you want to see streamlined fares.

After this, we have opportunities to speak to the transit agency boards, encouraging them to take these steps forward toward more streamlined and equitable fares.