Tapping new PATH to N.J.
WTC station joins pay system using phones, cards
PATH commuters should be seeing shorter lines at station entrances as the World Trade Center station joined five other stations Wednesday with a tap-and-go fare system.
The system allows riders to select turnstiles at the six PATH stations to pay for their ride by smartphone or a tap-enabled credit or debit card.
“The need for a touchless payment system has been a consistent piece of feedback from our customers,” Clarelle DeGraffe, head of PATH, said Wednesday.
“With this quicker way [to pay], there’s the potential of decreasing lines or crowding at the ticket vending machines where [passengers] previously needed to refill their SmartLink card or purchase a MetroCard,” she added.
PATH officials introduced the first five card readers into the system as a trial run in December. So far the system is used an average of 20,000 times each weekday, DeGraffe said.
Dubbed TAPP — for Total Access PATH Payment — the system shares many features with the MTA’s OMNY fare payment system. Both were manufactured by Cubic Transportation Systems and have similar hardware.
Unlike OMNY, PATH’s TAPP does not have a cash-only option for those without smartphones or bank accounts, though Port Authority director Rick Cotton said that could change as the system develops.
Similarly, TAPP does not currently accept MTA’s own prepaid OMNY cards.
At present, the bulk of PATH turnstiles will still accept MetroCards which can be purchased for cash at station vending machines.
In addition to the World Trade Center station, PATH TAPP readers are currently installed at the 33rd St., Hoboken, Harrison, Journal Square, and Newark Penn stations.
The system is expected to be installed at all of the system’s 13 stations by the end of the year, DeGraffe said.