Port Authority to test mobile phone payment system in February
After a delay of about a year due to the pandemic, Port Authority is ready to begin a three-month pilot to test its smartphone payment system.
The agency announced Tuesday it will accept applications on a firstcome, first-approved basis for 400 riders to test the system called Ready2Ride on the authority’s buses. The program is open to regular riders who pay their own fare rather than having it paid by their employer, school or university or government program.
Applicants will have to answer a series of questions to make sure they meet the criteria for the pilot program. The smartphone app will be free and can be used with any Apple or Android phone.
Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said contractor Masabi LLC has had the back-end support system ready for some time, but it has been difficult to install devices known as validators on the buses because the agency didn’t want a large amount of outsiders in its garages due to social distancing during the pandemic. The devices have been installed on about 600 of the 720 buses.
The devices won’t be installed on the light rail system until later this year because they have to meet special federal fire safety standards because they will be used underground.
Mr. Brandolph said it is a good time to test the system because ridership is still down substantially due to the pandemic, so buses won’t be overrun with riders using a new system. The pilot program will begin in early February, and riders will receive two online surveys during the trial to assess how the system is working and allow the authority to make changes.
“We think this gives us a good opportunity to pilot this now,” Mr. Brandolph said. “It allows people to test it out on their own time.”
To use the system, riders will link the app to a credit card for payment. They can purchase a ride — single ticket, weekly or monthly pass and transfers — in advance or at the bus stop. When they enter the bus, they’ll hold their phone over the validator.
One advantage of the system during the pandemic is there is no
contact with the driver or validator. If a rider uses a bus that doesn’t have a validator yet, they show their phone with the app to the driver.
Mr. Brandolph said the system also is compatible with the popular Transit app, which many Port Authority riders use to find directions to ride the system.
Once Ready2Ride is operating, Transit users can use that app to pay their Port Authority bus fare.
Retail outlets also will sell tickets to riders once the system is in general use.
Masabi won a three-year contract in May 2019 worth $2.85 million to provide the system, which also is used in Los Angeles, Denver and Boston. The company also will receive a maximum of 5.95% of each ticket sold with the percentage declining as sales increase.
Ready2Ride will expand the payment options for riders, which include cash, paper tickets or prepaid ConnectCards. The authority also signed a contract in September with Electronic Data Magnetics Inc. worth $134,535 to provide 15,000 rubber ConnectBands with electronic chips for payments, but Mr. Brandolph said the provider is having supply problems due to the pandemic, and the bracelets won’t arrive for several months.