E-Fare possible for Detroit?

Not too long ago, Grand Rapids just did what most metro areas around the United States have done:

"The bus system will be adding e-fare, which comes with two pass options.

“One thing is a smart card. You can use that to board – that’s going to be a lot quicker for people because you’ll be able to just tap it when you get on the bus, you don’t need to insert your card in anything. It doesn’t have to read anything, it’s just a quick tap and then you can sit down,” said Jennifer Kalczuk with The Rapid.

"The transit organization will also allow riders to pull up their ticket on their cellphone so drivers can scan the bar code."

http://woodtv.com/2017/04/17/e-fare-...-rapid-riders/

I wonder if those here who have been to other cities believe that this can be possible for Metro Detroit.

Please respond with your comments.

This needs to happen. Even better, it needs to happen where you can use the pass on DDOT, SMART, People Mover, and QLine, maybe even for the tolls in the tunnel. Any modern public transport has this, it makes it faster, more usable, and cuts down on waste. I would be 1 million percent for this. Sure it would take money, but I feel like it would encourage riders and encourage everyone to pay on the QLine.

The downside is the negative effect on employment. There are people who depend on their jobs at D-DOT who collect, transport, count coin fares. This doesn't include the related economic activity of maintenance of the coin boxes. Any reduction in their use will reduce Detroit-based employment and have a downward draft on the neighborhoods as these newly unemployed workers have less to spend in local stores.

The current fareboxes under DDOT, have been broken for years, yet they haven't been repaired, upgraded or replaced.

Improvements should have been made to those fareboxes years ago. It's time to come to the present.

I agree that a modern fare collection system should be implemented here. And it should be integrated, in my opinion, to include all SE Michigan transit systems, including People Mover, Q-Line, DDot buses, SMART buses, Ann Arbor buses, future BRT, etc. Ideally, it would be statewide, so you could use it in Grand Rapids or Lansing or Flint, etc.

And employment of no-longer-needed public employees should never be a factor in these decisions. That's why the Water Department employed a horse-shoer for 70 years after it last employed a horse!

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Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

I agree that a modern fare collection system should be implemented here. And it should be integrated, in my opinion, to include all SE Michigan transit systems, including People Mover, Q-Line, DDot buses, SMART buses, Ann Arbor buses, future BRT, etc. Ideally, it would be statewide, so you could use it in Grand Rapids or Lansing or Flint, etc.

And employment of no-longer-needed public employees should never be a factor in these decisions. That's why the Water Department employed a horse-shoer for 70 years after it last employed a horse!

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Detroit did a wonderful job with the parking meters, the same idea should be used for transit fares.

When you invest in infrastructure that saves time and resources, don't you also increase productivity and GDP?

If the unions really care about their members well-being, they would allow job elimination with the stipulation that the laid off employee gets severance pay, training, or help finding another job.

Of course it's possible, and the use of such fare systems in nearly every major city on earth shows that it is. But with the generally backwards thinking around here about public transit and inter-governmental and inter-agency cooperation, whether we have the ability [[will, vision) to actually do it is really the big question.

Frankly, I'm pretty certain we don't.

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Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Of course it's possible, and the use of such fare systems in nearly every major city on earth shows that it is. But with the generally backwards thinking around here about public transit and inter-governmental and inter-agency cooperation, whether we have the ability [[will, vision) to actually do it is really the big question.

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EastsideAl, I agree with most of what you wrote, but you have left out an important piece of the puzzle: Detroit's history of corrupt and inefficient government. When the Orr team "took over" the city during the emergency management phase, they were shocked to find decades old or older equipment, computers and procedures in place for doing everyday business in many offices, despite taxpayers having paid for upgrades repeatedly. But, hopefully, we are in a new era, where blatant theft by politicians and bureaucrats alike will get noticed and reported. Vision in the past was clouded by that kind of government. I bet today we could get a vision executed on a project like this. I think the RTA should make this a priority every bit as much as pushing new and expanded service. What better way to demonstrate your ability to manage big projects than to markedly improve what you're currently managing?

Note, in my previous post, when I referred to "Detroit" I also meant Wayne County, mass transit agencies, and other agents of power in SE Michigan.

The Washington, DC Metro subway system has a "Smart Card" that you swipe when you enter and again when you exit. That's how fares are calculated. You add value at kiosks or online. For such a system to work on the Q line depends on available technology. If it doesn't have that capability now, it could be costly to add after the fact.

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Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

And employment of no-longer-needed public employees ...

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Well. How 'bout you and your hoity-toity-isms.

'YOU ... YOU there. You're no longer needed. Get the F out!!!'

Might not think that way if it was your job or that of someone in your family. [[Where the hell do these people come from???)

Let's get back to what this thread is about: The use of E-fare on Detroit transit.

Genfare, the company that provides the fareboxes for the SE Michigan transit authorities.

The major type being used is the Odyssey Electronic Validating Farebox.

The farebox has the capability already to accept smart cards, and could be easily upgraded to accept payment via online apps in the future.

We don't have to get rid of employees because they have been doing the same thing and we now want to upgrade the equipment. All we have to do is to train the current employees that have little understanding of new technology.

Meddle, oo you actually think the government should spend taxpayer money on employees even when their services are not needed or obsolete? If so, I assume you voted with the majority in Detroit for the past half century. The government doesn't have to be overly cruel; jobs are not usually rendered useless overnight; attrition and reassignment can be used to regularly thin the ranks of government employees.