by JDC
Update on Metro's progress towards NFC payment: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tra ... story.html
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
Railroad Forums
Metro awards contract for new fare payment system
- Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua
by JDC
In light of funding constraints and continuing lower ridership, which impacts the budget, Metro's Board is considering a 6-year capital improvement plan pegged at $6 billion. There were also 7 and 8 billion dollar options. The 7 billion dollar option included pursuing the new electronic fare payment program. See pg. 17 of the pdf. http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_ ... Budget.pdf. What is not clear is whether ditching this component means that Metro will not be upgrading its fare machines and gates as well.
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
by JDC
After spending $25 million dollars on the program, Metro has decided to cancel it and stick with the current faregates - though it has budgeted 125 million towards upgrades and improvements. http://www.nbcwashington.com/traffic/tr ... 39441.html
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
by JDC
This WP article clarifies that Metro will still spend approx. 150 million to upgrade the fare gates, it's just that they will not have NFC in them. So they will still only accept RFID SmarTrip cards. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... story.html
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
by afiggatt
Will WMATA management regret this decision to drop the NFC features in a few years? Chicago Ventra has it, SEPTA will be (finally) deploying its new system soon.
I think the real reason for canceling the fare technology upgrade is due to all the funding, spending and maintenance problems. Too many issues on the plate with no strong support for replacing Smartrip cards from the board or local governments. Add in a weak response to the pilot test program, which may have been done a year or so too early with respect to the availability of chip enabled credit cards and people using their smartphones for payment. All of my credit cards have been replaced with new chip enabled cards in the past 6-7 months and I gather that is the case for many US cardholders. If the pilot test had started in mid to late-2016, there would have been greater awareness of the options and benefits of NFC payment.
Given that by getting rid of the paper fare cards, they fixed the fare gate getting jammed problem, and Smartrip cards work reasonably well, combined with all the other problems, I can see the reasoning behind killing the fare payment project for the present. Whether it is a penny wise or pound foolish decision, we'll see in 5 or 10 years.
I think the real reason for canceling the fare technology upgrade is due to all the funding, spending and maintenance problems. Too many issues on the plate with no strong support for replacing Smartrip cards from the board or local governments. Add in a weak response to the pilot test program, which may have been done a year or so too early with respect to the availability of chip enabled credit cards and people using their smartphones for payment. All of my credit cards have been replaced with new chip enabled cards in the past 6-7 months and I gather that is the case for many US cardholders. If the pilot test had started in mid to late-2016, there would have been greater awareness of the options and benefits of NFC payment.
Given that by getting rid of the paper fare cards, they fixed the fare gate getting jammed problem, and Smartrip cards work reasonably well, combined with all the other problems, I can see the reasoning behind killing the fare payment project for the present. Whether it is a penny wise or pound foolish decision, we'll see in 5 or 10 years.
Last edited by afiggatt on Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
by JackRussell
afiggatt wrote:Add in a weak response to the pilot test program, which may have been done a year or so too early with respect to the availability of chip enabled credit cards and people using their smartphones for payment. All of my credit cards have been replaced with new chip enabled cars in the past 6-7 months and I gather that is the case for many US cardholders. If the pilot test had started in mid to late-2016, there would have been greater awareness of the options and benefits of NFC payment.The funny thing is that my credit cards tend to not have NFC. But the one card I have which *does* have NFC is the Metro card that I got when the silver line opened. The older cards do not have this feature.
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