Small conveniences make a difference

The next wave of public transit technology is at hand. Allegheny County’s Port Authority is joining transit systems in cities around the world in testing a new smartphone payment system for its buses, beginning with a three-month, 400-person pilot program. After a yearlong delay due to COVID-19, the authority is rolling out the program.

The app will link with a credit card, and riders will be able to purchase single tickets, monthly passes and transfers at their convenience.

And that’s the key word here: convenience. Utilizing technology in this way won’t revolutionize public transit or feed the hungry. But it will make life a little bit simpler for the thousands of Pittsburghers who take the bus. It’s a small victory worth celebrating.

A July study in Science Direct notes that an evaluation of the benefits of mobile fare payment technology from the perspectives of both the user and operator identified three key benefits to using mobile phones to pay fares: reduced time spent purchasing passes and collecting fares, reduced time for riders to board the bus and reduced cash usage for fare payments. All of this benefits both riders and transit systems in the long run.

This is particularly advantageous during a global pandemic, when everyone is concerned about crowding in small places or touching public surfaces.

Bus drivers also reported being less distracted by fair collection. Being able to maintain focus on the road could contribute to rider safety.

It’s a small thing, a few extra seconds here and there. But as regular commuters know, such precious moments add up over the course of weeks and months. If there’s a way to improve efficiency, why not hop on the train?

For those worried about dead cellphone batteries gumming up the works at inopportune times, Port Authority will continue accepting cash, paper tickets and ConnectCards. So there will be plenty of backup options available.

Other metropolitan areas such as New York City, Tallahassee, Fla., and Portland, Ore., also have been experimenting with mobile fare payments in recent years with strong success. Pittsburgh should expect to do the same and confront any issues that arise during the three-month pilot program with patience and ambition.

Looking even further ahead, the Science Direct study as well as Mass Transit magazine point out that the next step after mobile payments will be integrating other transit apps into a single program that includes functions like trip planning and real-time vehicle arrival information. Port Authority currently has an app that displays such information, but it will need to be merged with the mobile fare payment app down the line.

This is the wave of the future. Port Authority should keep the accelerator down on its tech usage.