How TAP ought to work (and hopefully will)

[James Fujita]

Earlier this month, I took a trip to San Francisco. Before I left, I ordered a TransLink card online, which was cheap and easy. They delivered the card to my mailbox, and I had the AutoLoad function set up so it would connect to my checking account and I wouldn't have to keep reloading the card.

When my train arrived at Jack London Square, I took the ferry across the bay to San Francisco. It was a little slower than taking BART, but it was a fun ride. (I paid cash, but the TransLink Web site says that eventually they want all transit organizations in the Bay Area, including ferries, to accept the card.)

A friend of mine was waiting at the Ferry Building, and we took an F-Line trolley down Market Street. I really like the PCC Cars. They are smooth and comfortable; historic and classy but still quite useful as public transportation. Our PCC car was crowded. (I paid cash because I hadn't activiated my TransLink card yet).

She showed me around the Mission District and the Castro. We had dinner and she dropped me off at Church Street Station. I activated my TransLink card, walked through the turnstiles, and soon I was on a Muni Metro LRV headed for the Embarcadero. I took the ferry to my hotel in Oakland.

The next day, I took BART through the Transbay Tube (using TransLink again) and met my friend for breakfast. She had to get to work, but that's okay... I was more than capable of exploring on my own. I won't bore you with the details, but:

F-Line along the waterfront to Fisherman's Wharf.

walking, and random Muni bus from the Marina District to Fillmore Street

Trolleybus from Japantown to Union Square. I loved that trolleybus. So smooth, so fast, so clean, so quiet...

Muni Metro from Powell to AT&T Park and back up the Embarcadero.

(walked to Pier 39.... a bad idea because I was already worn out, but I got to take the same PCC trolley I took yesterday back down to the Ferry Building...

where I caught BART back to Oakland and my train home.

When I got home, I asked TransLink for an audit of my TransLink card use, which gave the day and time, the station (if BART or Muni Metro, otherwise it just said "SFM Bus" even for the trolley) and how much I spent.

=

I won't say my trip was perfect... the TransLink reader was broken on one bus, so the driver let me on free. BUT!

I was not harassed for taking pictures and video inside subway stations, on light rail trains, on the bus, on Amtrak or on the ferry.

I used my TransLink card 11 times in two days (!) and it worked flawlessy 10 out of 11 times. I used my card on the bus, trolleybus, PCC, LRV and BART. I paid a flat fee on Muni and paid by distance on BART with no problem. My magic green card opened entrance and exit gates and the amount was automatically deducted from my account.

I didn't have to stand in line to buy tickets on BART. I didn't have to carry exact change or even know the fare. Stations had manned information booths, but I didn't need it.

Tthe turnstiles and fare gates didn't try to kill me or cut me in half. ;D

In locations without turnstiles or faregates, the TransLink readers were on the trolley, not on the platform. Made a lot of sense to me because you couldn't walk onto the train without seeing them.

[tonyw79sfv]

I recently took a business trip to the Dallas suburb of Grapevine; although I rented a car in order to get to the DART Red Line station to take Dallas' system for a spin. I have to say, I was quite surprise to see Dallas/Fort Worth has a ticket structure that not only includes local and rail only day pass, but a regional day pass that's akin to using EZ Pass here but with commuter rail (their commuter rail, Trinity Railway Express or TRE, is just one line linking Dallas to Fort Worth); in contrast, Houston's METRORail eliminated day passes in favor of their TAP-type system called Q. To ride their miniscule of a rail system, you'd have to purchase $1.25 for each ride as a visitor.

[James Fujita]

a couple of things to keep in mind here:

1) DART operates light rail, buses and commuter rail, so it's really not all that surprising that they have a day pass that is usable on all of their systems. compare this with San Francisco, where Muni, BART and CalTrain are separate entities.

Los Angeles, with its multitude of munis, the MTA and Metrolink, faces the transit equivalent of herding cats.

2) Houston's decision to drop the day pass is more inexplicable, since I can load a day pass onto my TAP card with no problem. The problem obviously isn't with the Q Card, it's more likely the people in charge of Houston Metro.

[erict]

I took the Houston metro last Spring and it seemed to me that no one was paying to ride it, and no one was checking to see if they paid. One guy on the train was shouting that fact onboard so we moved away from him.

[James Fujita]

you know, I can come up with many excuses why I would want to visit San Francisco,

but sadly, where Houston is concerned, I can think of none...

[erict]

I lived there for a year and HATED it. Although there are great local restaurants, overall you ain't missing much.
;D

[tonyw79sfv]

At least we can be proud of our more lively downtown compared to Houston; when I was there, with no home team sporting events, the streets were empty; it's quite a ghost town. Houston, being the larger of the Texas city, is an embarrassment when compared to Dallas. Kinda like how LA, the big city in Cali, is outshined by the San Francisco Bay Area when it comes to mobility. The San Francisco equivalent to our Orange County is Santa Clara (San Jose), where they do have light rail, while our OC doesn't.

BTW, the TRE commuter rail is a collaboration of Dallas' DART and Fort Worth's T, yet the DART ticket dispenser will give you a regional pass for full use of the TRE in both fare zones. Our Metro Rail TVMs only dispenses local passes and muni transfers, but not Metrolink, that's what our equivalent will be for what the DFW Metroplex has. However, it seems other cities, like what James experienced with the Translink for the SF Bay Area and my other experience in NYC MTA with their MetroCard are a step in the right direction to not burden visitors with so many different fare media.