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Date Posted: 25/07/03 3:13:11am
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/6372664.htm
Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2003 S.F. MUNI, BART stall TransLink By Lisa Vorderbrueggen CONTRA COSTA TIMES BART and San Francisco MUNI have balked at a plan to permanently roll out TransLink, the long-awaited universal fare card that users declared a rousing success after its trial run last year. MUNI says the transaction costs are too high, and BART fears TransLink will not offer its discount fares or be compatible with its ticket machines. "I think TransLink is important, but under no circumstances should it reduce the options available to our customers," said BART Director Dan Richard of Walnut Creek. "For example, it's unacceptable to me that our customers will not be able to put a TransLink card into a BART ticket machine and add value to it." As two of the Bay Area's largest transit operators, BART and MUNI hold considerable power over TransLink's future. If either refuses to participate, it could reduce the allure and drive up costs for remaining operators. AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans have joined an operator consortium to govern TransLink. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is likely to sign in August. The group has scheduled Golden Gate Transit to become the first agency to offer full TransLink service. TransLink allows a commuter to wave a card with an embedded computer chip over a reader, which deducts the fare from a prepaid account. Until BART and MUNI join, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is reluctant to notify contractor ERG to begin the installation. The commission, which orchestrated the pilot project, has sent counterproposals to the hesitant operators in recent weeks. It has also worked to cut costs, MUNI's primary concern. "TransLink is of such interest to so many people, operators should see this as a benefit to their customers," said commission deputy director Ann Flemer. "The issue is to preserve the flexibility of TransLink, so it can be used anywhere in the region, and also layer it with the operators' needs." Not everyone will get everything they want. Flemer says she has offered BART a solution to the fact that TransLink cannot mirror the rail agency's high-value fare discount that allows riders to buy a $32 ticket for $30. TransLink cannot hike the dollar amounts in riders' accounts to cover a discount because customers may use the cards on other transit services. But the system can be programmed, Flemer said, to give BART riders a per-trip discount. The consortium has denied BART's request to retrofit ticket machines to allow patrons to add money to TransLink in its stations. The group opted instead to promote the use of a system employed by FasTrak, the automatic toll-collection system on Bay Area bridges: When a customer's balance drops to a preset level, he or she can authorize an automatic payment from a credit or debit card. "Given the cost and complexity of BART's ticket machines, we want to see how it goes first," Flemer said. Flemer said she hopes to resolve the disputes in two to four weeks and to issue the work order by the end of August. BART has scheduled a board workshop on the issue today. Meanwhile, the commission continues to fight a lawsuit filed by Cubic Corp., ERG's competitor and the supplier of BART's new faregate equipment. Cubic alleges that the commission has mismanaged TransLink. It has offered to drop the lawsuit in exchange for a share of future TransLink work. ERG's technology performed well in the pilot project, and the commission has no plans to alter its contractual arrangement, Flemer said. The agency has said it would pay 80 percent of the $14.5 million cost if BART agrees to retrofit its new faregates to accommodate TransLink.
Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers transportation and growth. Reach her at 925-945-4773 or lvorderb@cctimes.com.
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