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LA Metro wants your opinion on possible changes to TAP cards
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FILE: TAP cards can be purchased from Metro vending machines.
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Los Angeles County's transit agency wants to hear from the public about some proposed changes to how people pay to ride buses and trains.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has suggested three changes to the fare system, all intended to improve transit performance by making boarding and transferring faster and easier. The proposals would:
- Do away with the sale of Metro day passes on board buses and instead offer the more popular option to add stored cash value to a TAP card, the universal transit payment card. The day pass costs the same as four regular base fares and it would still be available for purchase from TAP card vending machines, online and by phone – just not on the bus.
- Phase out the sale of Metro tokens, which can be used for a one-way fare and to transfer to some non-Metro transit. The tokens used to be discounted but not anymore. So officials hope to transition all riders to TAP cards with stored value, which can be used to cover the difference on non-Metro transfers.
- Standardize the cost of each TAP card at $2 – which means those who buy the cards at TAP vending machines and on buses will no longer get a discounted rate of $1. Metro says the discount was intended as a pilot to increase TAP card use.
Members of the public can weigh in by emailing customerrelations@metro.net or at a public hearing at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 17. It will be held at Metro Headquarters, 3rd Floor Board Room, 1 Gateway Plaza.
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