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| MTA announcement of CharmPass today (Photo: Sean Winkler) |
The biggest innovation is that with CharmPass riders get a free 90 minute transfer without extra charge. The app is available for download and can be used starting today.
The MTA announced the innovation Thursday at 11 am in front of Penn Station. “This new mobile ticketing app is another way we’re working to improve our customers’ experience on transit,” said MDOT MTA Administrator Kevin Quinn. “CharmPass is an innovative tool that will eliminate the need for people to fumble with cash, which will help speed the boarding process and improve reliability.” He was flanked by MDOT's Ricky Smith, Tradepoint Atlantic's Aaron Tomarchio and Robin Budish of Transit Choices.
Depending on the city where you live, paying for a ride on public transit can be complicated. A single morning's commute can involve a confounding mishmash of cash, paper tickets and electronic swipe cards. And different parts of a transit system -- buses, subways, commuter trains -- can sometimes be independent from each other, frustrating riders who have to juggle multiple fare cards and different methods of payment. (Governing)With the help of the new app transit riders can purchase tickets right from their smartphones for one-way, 1-day, 7-day and 31-day passes; Tickets can be paid using a credit or debit card or PayPal. Transit riders can split charges between two credit or debit cards. The MTA says that reduced fare tickets for senior and students, for example can be purchased this way. The app streamlines repeat purchases and makes tickets available immediately to the user.
Mobile tickets are activated by the CharmPass app and must be shown to the operator, conductor or at Metro to the station attendant. Tickets that are activated become animated and contain multiple security features including security codes that change daily. Operators may instruct transit riders to tap the screen to verify that the ticket is valid. When tapped, the screen changes color. Expired tickets turn gray. Since tickets are stored on the phone, they can also be activated where the phone is not connected to the Internet.
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| CharmPass welcome screen |
The introduction of mobile ticketing is the latest round of reducing one of transit's persistent access hurdles, the ticket purchase. This hurdle is especially high for the occasional rider who is not familar with the complicated fare boxes, the fare structure or the types of tickets which are sold and loath to face all these complications while in line to board a bus. Additionally, cash transactions in front of the bus driver slow the bus down for extended periods of time, especially when dollar bills are repeatedly rejected by the fare collection machines.
Passengers on the Metra commuter rail in the Chicago region, which only started accepting credit cards in 2009, can now buy tickets and passes on a mobile app called Ventra. The app, which has been downloaded more than 2 million times, can also be used on Chicago’s subway system and on the suburban bus network. Passengers have bought more than $250 million worth of tickets on it in the two years since it launched. (Governing)The MTA is one of several transit agencies utilizing smart phones for tickets. However, Washington's WMATA abandoned its plans for mobile ticketing last year, Paul Wiedefeld, a past Administrator of the MTA said, that the market wasn't there yet. At the MTA, for now the option to pay by cash, have paper passes or use the electronic CharmCard remains as well, a panoply of options that is in itself confusing, especially for operators. Transit experts recommend that agencies would go cash-less as a simple way to accelerate bus service. One day a single mobile app will replace all other fare purchase options.
Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
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