Transit updates its smart cards
Number of new features available for users
With Porterville Transit’s updated smart cards, users now have the ability to have their photo on it and are able to replenish their balance online or at the transit center.
Mike Hamar, a shift supervisor with Porterville Transit, said having a photo ID enables the smart card to be specific to the user, which he said prevents somebody else from using the card, preventing potential fraud.
“I think that is a pretty neat feature,” Hamar said.
Richard Tree, manager of the city’s transit center, said the photo ID also serves as a convenience for students, veterans and those who are disabled, who are eligible for discounted rides. With the old cards, Tree said they would have to provide their smart card and a driver’s license or a state ID. Now they only have to show one card.
However, Tree said the new and improved smart cards offer much more.
In addition to giving transit customers more convenience, Tree said the cards are also account based, allowing transit riders to register an account and manage it online.
“If you lost your smart card you can request a new one and your balance is always protected because it is monitored in real time,” Tree said.
Tree said that is a unique feature that the previous cards didn’t have. If a customer lost one of the older smart cards, Tree said there was no way of knowing the balance.
“We had to take customers’ word for it,” he said, adding that some had receipts, but, “A lot of the times they had no documentation.”
As far as new features for the updated smart card, Tree said that’s just the beginning.
Tree said users can also use what’s called auto pay, which he said will automatically purchase bus fare when the card runs out. He said users can also enable alerts on their smartphone that will alert them when their balance is running low on their card.
For those who are tech-savy, Tree said they can now use their smartphones to pay their bus fares.
Tree said he is also working on getting a loyalty program for the cards, which he said would allow users to get free coupons to restaurants and stores in the city when they reach a certain limit of bus rides.
“Let’s say if you ride 10 times in the month of September you will get a free coupon to have a coffee at Stafford’s Chocolates,” Tree said, adding, “Not only can we give our regular riders an incentive to ride, but we can do offers for local businesses as well.”
Tree said he is trying to start another similar program that will, instead of giving the user a free coupon, give someone, who may not have enough money to ride on the bus, a free bus ride.
“We are super progressive here in Porterville,” Tree said, adding that is why, “We are the second transit agency in the country to have this new smart card technology.”