TransLink on BART Not Expected To Launch Until June, 2010

BART needs to get its story straight and get its act together. This foot dragging has gone on long enough. The joke in all of this of course is that Puget Sound area's ORCA card (made by the SAME PEOPLE WHO MAKE TRANSLINK) is up and running across over 4 counties, several transit agencies and so on.

It's hard to look at this and wonder what is wrong with BART. We know that Director James Fang is a moron, and has been actively using BART funds to undermine the system for his own ends, but surely that kind of FAIL is not part of the can-do spirit BART usually has. WTF, BART?

ORCA is an incredibly rad name for a transit card. Is there a whale on it?

I promise to try my Translink card every day on BART and report when it starts working!

illumiBARTi club member number 3! (Matty is #1, I am #2).

BART's IQ keeps going lower and lower. Not releasing the test date will make the public more determined to try their cards every single day until they do.

It doesn't make any sense. Anyone can get a Translink card, and anyone can use the systems that are participating. Muni is considered only "testing" but allows ALL cardholders to use the program, regardless if you registered to be a volunteer for Muni.

In BART's situation, it will be the same. Once Translink is turned-on, any cardholder can use BART.

Theoretically, once Translink is turned-on for a particular agency, it's basically fully ready to go.

I had to read the article again...

The official response from Translink about BART is that there will be a separate e-cash purse that is specifically made for people who want to take advantage of the high value tickets, but it's not fully clear if all BART passengers who use Translink must get high value tickets or can have the "universal" cash purse to ride. I'm just a casual passenger of BART and high value tickets are not much of a value for me.

I'm not sure if Johnson didn't really know about the e-purses or is telling the whole truth, but the facts are here:
https://www.translink.org/TranslinkWeb/pressRoom.do

It's a stylized rendition, but basically the answer is yes.

http://www.orcacard.com/ERG-Seattle/common/images/orca-card.png

FACT: Orcas are dolphins, not whales. FACT.

Matty, please remind me to make an addendum to the Comment Policy that anyone who correctly corrects me is fucking banned.

Once BART begins accepting TransLink, any TransLink cardholder with e-cash value on his/her card can ride BART and pay with e-cash. (BART receives money from the regional "Float Account" as the cardholder takes rides; this is the same arrangement as any participating transit system.)

In addition, a cardholder who sets up the Autoload feature may load the TransLink equivalent of a BART High Value Discount ticket onto the card (e.g., pay $45 for $48 in BART value). When a cardholder loads a BART High Value Discount ticket, the value is good only on BART. The High Value Discount ticket is available only to cardholders who set up Autoload, which means its impossible to run out of the High Value Discount ticket value (unless the Autoload is canceled). (BART receives all funds resulting from the load of the BART High Value Discount ticket immediately.)

Where a customer has both e-cash and the High Value Discount ticket and the customer rides BART, the system will charge the BART High Value Discount ticket, because the system is designed to always charge the customer the lowest fare for which the customer qualifies.

It's not simple, but it's the implementation that BART required. Once customers figure it out, it will become habit, but there will be problems as customers figure it out.

Thanks for your interest in TransLink.

Would you know when BART will flip the switch to allow Translink?

If Linton Johnson doesn't want to tell, what's the answer from the folks at Translink and MTC?

I handle commuter benefits at my company so I load e-cash on multiple Translink cards each month. I noticed at the end of June on ONLY one of the Translink cards that there's a greyed out option to add a High Value Discount Bart ticket. Can't click on it. I haven't seen this same greyed out option on the other cards I load. Seems shady.