Port Authority's new fareboxes fully installed
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Port Authority has completed installation of new fareboxes on buses and rail vehicles and says it has overcome the problems that twice halted the project.
The next step in the run-up to a new high-tech fare collection system begins Monday, when 300 University of Pittsburgh staffers and students begin field-testing the system, to be followed by the entire Pitt faculty, staff and student body in the fall.
When the project is fully implemented next year, bus and rail riders will be able to pay with permanent plastic cards, called smart cards, that have embedded computer chips. Riders will tap the cards on a target on the fareboxes, and the amount will be automatically deducted.
They will be able to replenish the value of the cards at vending machines or online. Cash also will continue to be accepted.
Pitt is paying the transit authority $5.9 million this year and $6.8 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1 for unlimited rides for all university ID holders. The IDs have chips that are compatible with the new fare collection system.
Each week during the four-week test, the university will deactivate 25 cards to simulate students who have graduated or left the university. That will verify that those cards are no longer accepted by the new fareboxes.
Ultimately, that will put a stop to free rides for those who have left the university but continue to use their old IDs to avoid paying, authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said.
"It definitely occurs," he said. "Our operators do their best to try to detect that, but it's obviously very difficult. This change will make it a more precise system."
In a presentation to an authority board committee this week, project manager Tim Bach said the new fareboxes are operating properly at a rate of 98 percent and that problems with the machines jamming or rejecting dollar bills have been ironed out.
First Published May 21, 2011 12:00 am
