Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority launched new ticketless payment models Monday to make faster and more affordable.
Riders can now use Account Based Ticketing, fare capping and physical cards called Smartcards to pay for, and reduce the cost of, GCRTA fare.
"This is something that's been done successfully across the country, and we've been watching that," said GCRTA Senior Director of Customer Experience and Performance Management Nicholas Biggar. "We've seen the good things that some of our peer agencies have been able to do and wanted to provide the same benefit for our customers."
Account Based Ticketing allows riders to add funds directly to an account on the EZfare and Transit apps. After adding funds, riders can use a QR code to pay for rides directly through the app rather than pre-purchasing individual passes.
Riders can load money onto a physical Smartcard to pay for rides in addition to or instead of using the app.
"They're reusable cards," Biggar said. "When you're riding on RTA, you just tap and you go, and you have the ability to link your SmartCard to your EZfare or Transit with EZfare account."
Both of these new payment methods also includes fare capping. Once riders reach the maximum cost of a daily, weekly or monthly RTA pass, they won鈥檛 be charged for additional rides. Trips paid for using the Smartcard or the Transit and EZfare apps will automatically count toward the fare cap, Biggar said.
The goal, he said, is to save riders money.
"The all-day pass costs $5, so if you ride enough to hit the $5 mark, you're going to ride the rest of the day for free," Biggar said. "On a monthly basis, a monthly pass costs $95. So a daily rider who is paying by the day could be saving $10 or $20."
This is a shift away from GCRTA's previous model, Biggar said, which offered a discount to riders who paid in bulk for passes ahead of time.
"This is to the disadvantage of our customers who are daily riders, but maybe don't have the cash upfront to prepay for access," he said. "So what account-based ticketing and fare capping does is it levels the playing field."
Smartcards can be , and riders can opt into account-based ticketing through the EZfare and Transit apps.
