TriMet Announces Changes to Tickets and Ticket Machines


TriMet issued a press release today with information about their new tickets (mostly for use at MAX stations, but also buses on the mall if that practice is revived when the mall re-opens) and modifications to older ticket machines.

Starting in November, we’re introducing new fares that are easier to use:

  • All tickets and passes are now credit-card size, so they’re easier to read, convenient to carry and easy to insert into fareboxes and validators.
  • Expiration time and zone information are now printed in a consistent location on all fares.
  • Advanced security features help prevent fraud.

This new format is also helpful for bus operators and fare inspectors when they’re checking for valid fare. Plus, tickets are now less likely to jam a farebox or cause a vending machine malfunction.

For the complete release, see:

http://trimet.org/fares/newtickets.htm

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21 responses to “TriMet Announces Changes to Tickets and Ticket Machines”

  1. “but also buses on the mall if that practice is revived when the mall re-opens”

    Lots of people (like me) currently use unvalidated tickets to pay bus fare. I purchase 10 at a time at MAX ticket machines, then mostly use them on the bus. It’s a lot more convenient than having exact change.

    I’m not sure what you meant by this statement; I didn’t read anything that said this existing practice would be changed.

  2. what in the world are they doing announcing this on Election Day? are they just stupid? if this is a good thing (and it seems like it is) they should wait for a day with less going on. this Thursday, next Monday — but today it gets buried. and then they have thousands of people who need this info & don’t get it. i only saw it because i’m looking at local blogs today (Election Day. remember?)

    this is a case study in how not to do a good thing well.

  3. Oh joy! More time to wait at the machine while the printer takes longer to print a ticket that’s now triple the size of the narrow ones!

    I can buy three sodas out of a vending machine faster than TriMet can print one measly ticket.

  4. I wonder when they are going to get rid of the outdated and confusing zone system based on the false premise that most riders’ origin or destination is downtown.

  5. Max wrote: I’m not sure what you meant by this statement; I didn’t read anything that said this existing practice would be changed.

    I think it has to do with the experiment of the TVM that was placed on the Transit Mall (back when it was bus-only) and whether TriMet will consider installing TVMs at bus stops on the Transit Mall (which, IMO, is a no brainer, it would make bus boarding so much faster if TriMet implemented off-board ticketing on the Mall unless there was a TVM failure in which Operators would then take fares/issue transfers as needed).

  6. I dont think vending machines would speed things up on the mall much, as it is in fareless square and a majority of riders aren’t paying.

    In Seattle, the drivers having signs which say PAY AS YOU LEAVE or PAY AS YOU ENTER depending on the relationship of the route to their free zone. Portland could simply do such a thing and vastly speed up boarding and alighting in the fareless zone.

  7. I wonder when they are going to get rid of the outdated and confusing zone system based on the false premise that most riders’ origin or destination is downtown.

    This is the real answer to the problem, not new sized tickets, sheesh.

    However, if the ticket machines have a 90+% reliability rate, then that is a positive development.

  8. And Obama’s win is monumental because it breaks a racism barrier, but I am suspicious as to what will actually change in America.

    It “looks” good, but we all know how great the behind the scenes power brokers have gotten at fooling the public.

    Don’t forget, all this mess that has occurred since Bush has been in office, has been accomplished with the complete complicity of the democratic party.

    The sad part of all this is that 47% of Americans actually voted for the tottering old fool Mccain and his bimbo Palin.

    The south still fights on in its civil war.

  9. MRB wrote: I dont think vending machines would speed things up on the mall much, as it is in fareless square and a majority of riders aren’t paying.

    It would still make a difference; a cash paying customer can still delay a bus by one minute easily. Multiply that by a three or four stops and you’re off schedule.

    In Seattle, the drivers having signs which say PAY AS YOU LEAVE or PAY AS YOU ENTER depending on the relationship of the route to their free zone. Portland could simply do such a thing and vastly speed up boarding and alighting in the fareless zone.

    That’s another excellent idea. This concept allows riders in Fareless Square to board at any door (not just the front door). However it is complicated for someone who is not used to it, and that the system only works for buses that go to downtown (all non-downtown routes in Seattle are still “pay as you enter”).

    Of course, Seattle also only allows bicyclists to load their bikes only at the first and last stops within the fareless zone. THAT would never fly in Portland…

  10. Erik is correct, I was referring to having TVMs on the transit mall at bus stops. I know there used to be one in front of Meier and Frank (now Macy’s). I mentioned it because of that, but I haven’t heard anything from TriMet one way or another whether TVMs will be placed at bus stops when the mall reopens — I hope they will.

  11. Just an FYI, TriMet tried having people pay as they leave on outbound trips, as well as allowing people to board all doors and be responsible for paying if they need to, but found that people having to go up to the front to pay and get off caused delays on crowded buses, and also contributed to fare evasion and security problems. Full report here (30 MB)

  12. There are a lot of differences between the failed “Self-Service Fare” system that TriMet attempted in the early 1980s, and what King County Metro does.

    In Seattle, all-door boarding (or deboarding) only occurs downtown. En route to downtown, buses are still “pay as you enter”, you must enter at the front door, pay or show your fare (or swipe your ORCA Card). Leaving downtown, you do the same as you exit the bus – pay your fare or show your card. The rear doors won’t open.

    On non-downtown routes, buses are “pay as you enter” regardless of direction.

    Portland’s “self-service fare” system was much more an honor system, in which it was trusted that if you didn’t have a pass that you would pay for one with the Driver who would then print a ticket for you. However the enforcement of having a fare came with Fare Inspectors doing random checks – in fact the report that Jason cites shows that this was a prelude to what we have on MAX today (and guess what? Fare evasion is a big problem 25 years later, and the report cited unreliable fare collection systems on the buses which we now have on MAX 25 years later!)

  13. Erik Halstead Says:

    In Seattle, all-door boarding (or deboarding) only occurs downtown. En route to downtown, buses are still “pay as you enter”, you must enter at the front door, pay or show your fare (or swipe your ORCA Card). Leaving downtown, you do the same as you exit the bus – pay your fare or show your card. The rear doors won’t open.

    It was a long time ago, and I’m relying on memory, but I’m quite certain that TriMet used to operate the same way, back in the early 70s (without the fareless zone downtown). Outbound, you paid when you got off and inbound you paid when you got on.

  14. Pittsburgh PA was the same way, except after “dark”, (which was always a confusing rule because when exactly is “dark”? Parts of rush hour are dark in the winter…) And if you wanted to cross downtown you had to get a crosstown transfer, (which always took at least a minute to buy because they didn’t sell very many of them, and there were a lot of zones.) The biggest complaint I heard from people about the system was that it was confusing, which it was. Even with articulated buses with 3 doors, everyone squeezed through the front door because they were never quite sure of the rules in effect right then…

    Their light rail system also had the driver selling tickets/checking fares (you could only board/exit through the front doors, subject to the same rules as the buses,) which really slowed it down too.

  15. MARTA went to a system that relies entirely on smart passes and tickets. You can board a bus with cash, but when you do you will buy a “ticket” that the driver then charges with the value you’ve added and then you use that to pay your fare (which includes, IIRC, two transfers). People leaving rail stations automatically have transfers added to their cards when they tap them to exit. No paper at all and, except for those people paying cash (for a reuseable “ticket”) nothing but electronic fares.

    Of course, it cost about a bazillion dollars.

  16. I’m quite certain that TriMet used to operate the same way, back in the early 70s

    Yep. TriMet tried different boarding/payment procedures in the 70’s/80’s, including self-service and Pay As You Leave. In addition to the SSFC report I linked to, see the Fareless Square history:

    “However, PAYL did not work well on crowded buses where passengers struggled to get past standing passengers so they could pay their fare as they disembarked. PAYL resulted in travel time increases due to delays in passengers exiting the buses. This required additional buses and operating expense during the evening peak hours. Bus operators felt the PAYL system did not eliminate fare evasion. Determined evaders simply walked off the bus at the end of their trip without paying their fare.”

  17. Jeff F. wrote: MARTA went to a system that relies entirely on smart passes and tickets.

    Sounds like what New York does (MetroCard).

    NYCMTA is the largest transit agency in the U.S., one of the largest in the world, the busiest in the U.S., and NYC has the largest percentage of trips taken by transit (about 50%).

    I would trust NYCMTA over a “small town transit agency” anyday…if their fare system breaks down, it becomes national news. In comparison, nobody cares about TriMet.

    It should be noted that in Europe, coin pay phones all but disappeared in the early 1990s replaced with smart cards.

  18. I would trust NYCMTA over a “small town transit agency” anyday…if their fare system breaks down, it becomes national news.

    Wikipedia on MetroCard fraud:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetroCard_(New_York_City)#Fraud_and_scams

    New York Times story from 1999:
    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E7D61130F93BA35752C0A96E958260

    Those issues represent a fraction of revenues which is probably minor in percentage terms compared to problems around Portland, but MetroCard has not been without fraud/evasion problems.

    Boston’s RFID pass system was recently revealed as unsecure by MIT students, who found ways to duplicate cards including duplicating and altering stored monetary values.

    It appears that MBTA has responded not by fixing the problems (yet), but by silencing and sueing the whistleblowers.

    See:
    http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4278892.html

  19. Bob, we’ve been over this before.

    It is difficult (yes, not impossible…) to commit the types of fraud that you link to – it requires specialized equipment and training. The effort and cost used to duplicate an RFID card for transit use is not even financially worth it.

    Anyone with access to a color copier and some card stock can defraud TriMet. Given that color copiers are now standard equipment at any FedEx Office (formerly Kinkos), UPS Store, OfficeMax, Office Depot, Staples, many libraries and schools, and many offices, I can defraud TriMet out of a $86 monthly pass for less than $1 and less than three minutes of time all for opening the lid, sticking a valid pass in the copier, closing the lid, and pressing a green button.

    Security isn’t necessarily about making something “impossible”, but to create such a high deterrent that only the most dedicated individual will bother to try and defeat the security system, which the smart cards do quite effectively. Nothing is absolutely secure – so if we are to insist on “absolute” security, are we to go to only accepting coins as transit fare?

    If that’s the case, then there’s going to be a big problem riding WES.

  20. Erik, you never replied before about the MetroCard fraud. It doesn’t require special equipment, just a hole punch.

    I’ve already said that on a percentage basis the problems TriMet faces are greater, so I don’t understand what your point of disagreement is.

    Regarding the new RFID exploits, the “specialized equipment” is an RFID reader and a laptop computer and some free software. Perhaps your average scofflaw isn’t going to bother with this, but the exploit can easily create a black market where one person with expertise duplicates a great many cloned RFID passes.

    People already sell magnetic-stripe MetroCards on the street in NYC, so why not RFID MBTA cards in Boston?

    My point is NOT that TriMet shouldn’t improve, my point is that no technology is a panacea, and just because a very large transit agency does something, doesn’t mean there aren’t flaws which shouldn’t be analysed. That’s all.

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