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Port Authority expands ConnectCard to 50 Giant Eagle stores
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Sales of the Port Authority's new ConnectCard have been expanded to the nearly 50 Giant Eagle supermarkets that currently sell cardboard passes and paper tickets.
Beginning today, those who already have ConnectCards can add cash value to them at the stores. Renewals of weekly passes begins Thursday. And monthly pass renewals start March 16.
First-time buyers of cards can get a weekly pass starting Thursday or a monthly pass starting March 16. Cards that have cash value only, as opposed to weekly or monthly passes, are not yet available at the stores, but will be soon, authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said.
ConnectCards also can be purchased or renewed at the Downtown Service Center on Smithfield Street. Renewals or addition of cash value to the cards can be accomplished at the service center or at several vending machines in bus or rail stations throughout the Port Authority system.
Each plastic card has an embedded chip that stores information about what the rider has purchased. When a rider taps the card against the farebox it either acknowledges the rider's weekly or monthly pass or deducts the appropriate cash fare from the rider's cash balance.
First Published March 6, 2013 12:47 pm
