Core Transit heads toward a cash-free future on buses
Core Transit/Courtesy photo
Core Transit is planning to system that currently allows customers to pay for their rides in cash when boarding the bus.
The regional transit authority is moving to a mobile fare system, in which customers acquire their tickets either on their mobile smartphones or obtain pre-loaded smart cards at specific locations. The smart cards can be purchased with cash.
Tanya Allen, Core Transit’s executive director, led a discussion with the Core Transit board on the farebox retirement plan at its Jan. 8 meeting.
The farebox question is one of the “thorny” remaining issues in the transition from ECO Transit to Core Transit, which officially occurred on Aug. 5, Allen said.
“This is a really important decision. It’s an impactful decision. It’s very impactful to many customers right now,” Allen said.
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Core Transit currently brings in about 60 percent of its revenue from the fareboxes, a combination of cash paid on board and magnetic swipe cards that riders can purchase with cash at another location.
Why retire fareboxes?
Before talks began about going fare-free, ECO Transit was in the process of modernizing its fare system. ECO Transit introduced the ability to pay fares via smartphone. The next step was to introduce a smart card, onto which passengers could preload fare money onto a plastic smart card.
The modernization process was entering its final phases, with just the smart card introduction remaining, when the ECO Transit to Core Transit transition took place in August.
The GFI farebox is the big box on the right when passengers board the bus. It stores the fares paid in cash, which are then deposited into a secure vault.
“GFI is a very expensive system in terms of hardware, and it’s a labor-intensive system in terms of upkeep. It was also a system that was past its useful life and ready for an upgrade within Eagle County,” Allen said. “The plan had always been to phase out that system and move to Masabi, which is our mobile fare vendor, as our primary fare collection.”
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In the transition talks, Eagle County agreed to pay the farebox system’s monthly fees 鈥� $15,000 鈥� through March 31. After that point, if Core Transit were to continue to use the fareboxes, it would have to both pay to update the system 鈥� an additional cost 鈥� and take over the monthly fees, which are not covered by what riders who use cash pay each month.
As a result, “we have been working on our strategy for retiring the farebox,” Allen said.
Core Transit moved the majority of its system to fare-free in May, and while riders going to and from Gypsum and Leadville still need to pay to ride the bus right now, that is not necessarily the ultimate goal.
“Recognizing that the long-term vision is to move towards as much fare-free service as we can, provided we can find the revenues to support that, investing fresh in GFI doesn’t seem to be a smart proposition,” Allen said.
Challenges and solutions of moving past the farebox
The biggest issue about retiring the farebox is that there would be no way for passengers to board the bus and pay for their rides with cash. There would still be other ways for cash-paying passengers to pay for their tickets.
Passengers with smartphones and credit and debit cards can load their fares onto their phones using the mobile Masabi app, as 20% of Core Transit’s paying riders already do.
For cash-paying riders, however, it is a little more complicated. These passengers will have the ability to purchase a prepaid smart card with cash at certain locations, including Core Transit’s Vail Transportation Center and Gypsum customer service centers.
Another proposed option for cash payments is the installation of a limited number of ticket vending machines where people can purchase prepaid smart cards.
“The issue that often comes up with those is where you put them, how you put them, how you maintain them, making sure they’re functional,” Allen said. “It wouldn’t be something where you would see a ticket vending machine at every possible stop, but it could be an option at some high-volume areas, or it could be an option, at, perhaps, specific facilities that might allow us to have a vending machine.”
In addition, Core Transit is looking at the potential to partner with businesses that riders frequent to potentially offer smart cards.
“Our thought is that the best thing we are going to be able to do is find smaller businesses that are open longer hours and maybe be able to stock them with some cards, so we’re not making someone go out of their way” to obtain a smart card, Allen said.
“Colorado does have a law 鈥� I call it the ‘must accept cash law’ 鈥� although it’s not enforceable and nobody has ever gotten a ticket from it,” said Nick Sunday, the Eagle representative and vice chair for the Core Transit board.
Offering the ability to put money on a smart card through a machine bypasses the law, Sunday said. “My issue is, how do you get it to the bus stop in Edwards? And how do you get power to that? If somebody is staying at the Inn at Riverwalk and wants to ride the bus, that’s where my issue is,” he said.
Sunday suggested handing out reloadable cards to Leadville and Gypsum riders before eliminating the fareboxes to allow people more time to understand the transition.
For customers who board the buses planning to with cash after the system has been updated, the plan 鈥� which is still in the works 鈥� might be to allow them to ride once for free and provide them with an explanation of how they can obtain a smart card or use the mobile fare system going forward. “We don’t want to refuse service,” said Dave Snyder, Core Transit’s director of transportation.
What are the benefits of moving past the farebox?
There are several benefits to moving to a smart card-based system, not only for Core Transit, but also for its riders, Allen said.
For one, eliminating the cash handling element of the bus driver and passenger interaction. “That can be both labor-intensive and an auditing issue,” Allen said.
But there is a bigger hidden benefit to the smart cards: They allow for “fare capping,” Allen said.
In this system, a person can pay ride by ride, and the card will track their fares as they add up throughout the month. If that passenger pays the equivalent of a monthly pass ($63), the system will stop charging them each time they ride for the rest of that month.
“That is something that many systems have found actually improves equity in the system,” Allen said.
While not all riders can pay $63 upfront for a monthly pass, many can pay $3 per ride, which adds up. “Very often, it ends up being more than the cost of that monthly pass or weekly pass that they’re paying, but it’s easier for them to pay in increments. With a smart card, if we can get people to use the smart card as a cash equivalent, that allows for that extra functionality,” Allen said.
Connecting with riders
Core Transit is trying to raise public awareness about the transition in the hopes of receiving input on what strategies are most helpful for its cash-using riders.
“What we’re in the process of doing right now is trying to understand who is most impacted by this,” Allen said.
Core Transit administrative staff is working with its more experienced operators running routes that stop in Leadville and Gypsum to learn from them about their riders who pay with cash, as well as creating avenues to communicate directly with customers.
Allen is looking to answer questions like, “What can we do to make this easier? Who can we help transition to the other payment system, and, in looking for ways to make this more accessible, what other outlets can we find or partner with?”
Allen asked that passengers who might be impacted by the transition reach out to Core Transit to provide feedback before any plans are solidified. “Please get in touch with us and let us know if you’ve got thoughts, ideas, concerns,” she said.
Core Transit staff aim to bring a final plan for the transition to the board’s February meeting.
Connect with Core Transit on its website, , or via email at info@CoreTransit.org.
