Bay Area Transit Operators Extend
TransLink® Pilot Program
New BART fare gates to be TransLink® compatible

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced today that all six of the Bay Area transit operators participating in the Phase I demonstration of the TransLink® regional fare payment system have agreed to extend the pilot program while their respective boards decide whether to proceed with Phase II, which would involve implementation of the TransLink® “smart card” system throughout the operators’ route and station networks. These decisions are expected within the next few months.

The six operators participating in the TransLink® pilot program include AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, San Francisco Muni, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

While the distinctive green TransLink® cards are not yet compatible with the new faregates BART has begun installing throughout its station network, cardholders will be able to enter the BART system via TransLink® equipment installed on older-generation faregates in nine test stations, or by tagging their cards at TransLink® readers and using the swing gates adjacent to the agent booth. Because the faregates are being replaced one station at a time, some passengers may end up using an agent booth card reader at one end of their trip and a faregate card reader at the other end.
Information on how to use TransLink® on BART will be distributed next week to all TransLink® pilot program cardholders, and can be accessed immediately online by visiting the TransLink® Web site at <www.translink.org>.

The agreement by the six transit operators to continue their participation in the TransLink® pilot program comes just weeks after the September release of an MTC-commissioned evaluation of the TransLink® demonstration. During the original six-month demonstration period that ended July 31, some 3,000 passengers tested the TransLink® system on portions of the Bay Area’s rail, light-rail, bus, and ferry network. The report shows that trial user satisfaction with TransLink® is very high, no insurmountable technical problems emerged, and that passengers and transit agencies alike found the accounting to be accurate.

“We’re pleased that all six operators want to keep the pilot program going,” said MTC Chair Sharon Brown. “The demonstration has been so successful that cardholders’ single biggest complaint by far is that the system isn’t available everywhere.”