Riders can tap sensors with specially marked credit or debit cards, cell phones or key chains to pay fare
The interior of PATH cars. NJ Transit, New York's MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are trying out tap-and-go payments.Some commuters who use a combination of PATH, NJ Transit or MTA trains or buses will no longer have to juggle multiple fare cards — as long as they have a MasterCard credit or debit account.
Under a "Tap and Go" pilot program that started today and is intended to make life easier for commuters, those with MasterCards bearing a PayPass logo on the back will be able to tap their card at turnstiles or on special receptors on buses and trains for rides from any of the three agencies.
The PayPass MasterCards automatically draw on cardholders’ credit or debit accounts, and commuters will not have to replenish them specifically for transit fares.
The three transportation agencies and MasterCard Worldwide announced the program today at the Exchange Place PATH station in Jersey City, where officials demonstrated the technology on a turnstile equipped to accept PayPass cards.
"It was easy, and I’m a real low-tech guy," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said.
The idea makes sense to commuters Liz Butler of Pennington, who rides an NJ Transit train from Princeton Junction to Newark Penn Station, then takes the PATH to her job as a marketing manager for a financial firm in Jersey City. Sometimes Butler rides the PATH into Manhattan to visit company branches, where she then has to dig an MTA Metro card out of her wallet after already using her NJ Transit rail pass and her PATH SmartLink card. She said a single PayPass card would mean two less things to worry about.
"More than anything, it’s the fear of losing them," Butler said of her three commuter cards.
Like SmartLink cards, PayPass cards do not require swiping — and often re-swiping.
Cathleen Conforti, a senior vice president with MasterCard Worldwide, said the company has set up PayPass service with transit agencies in metropolitan areas around the world, including Liverpool, England, and Istanbul, Turkey. But the "Tap and Go" program is unique, she said, in that it combines three separate transit agencies.
The first two months of the six-month pilot will be limited to MasterCard holders. MasterCard won the exclusive though public bidding, and will pay for the program, said Ron Marsico, a Port Authority spokesman.
A MasterCard spokesman, Tristan Jordan, said fares purchased under "Tap and Go" will be subject to any applicable interest charges. "It functions like any vendor," Jordan said of the program.
But Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni said it was not his agency’s intention that commuters should pay more for the convenience of a single fare card.
"One of the benefits of a pilot program is making sure we answer all of these questions," he said.
Previous coverage:
• Most PATH riders use SmartCards, as modernization rolls on
• Fares rise on PATH trains and N.Y. bridges
• NJ Transit approves largest fare hike in agency history
| NJ Transit fare hike protest turns into one man crusade |