Proposal for RTD ‘Debit’ Cards

Your Nov. 17 article about the so-called “debit” electronic fare system to be tested on RTD buses, “Transit Card Plan to Debut Amid Doubts,” raises some, but not all, of RTD’s reservations about this expensive--and highly questionable--experiment.

First, let me note that this has been foisted on the RTD by the bureaucrats at the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, who will counter any of RTD’s concerns with the charge that the district is resistant to technological change. Nothing could be further from the truth.

RTD applies hard-nosed, practical criteria before undertaking substantial and costly change: Will it facilitate better service for the average RTD rider? Will it increase or lower operating costs?

The system will actually slow, not speed up, transit buses. Nearly half of RTD’s current 1.3 million daily riders use a simple, low-tech monthly pass that is sold at more than 800 outlets. This speeds loading because the pass need only be shown by the passenger when boarding.

The debit system, on the other hand, will require not only the insertion of a card into an ATM-like device, but in many cases will also involve a transaction with the bus operator.

RTD already has spent millions refitting our buses with fare-collection boxes that allow paper money to be used.

The projected $25 million for testing and installation of this system represents only the beginning of the actual costs. There is as yet no estimate of the cost of installing the necessary point-of-sale card-dispensing equipment at the more than 800 retail RTD sales outlets.

Worse, there is no mention of the costs of maintaining--or even replacing--this typically temperamental equipment either on the buses or at the retail sales outlets. The Times noted that transit systems in San Francisco and Washington use electronic fare-card systems similar to the one now being tested here. They do--but those cities use these devices on their rail systems, not on buses. And there is a world of difference between bus and rail systems in this regard.

GORDANA SWANSON

RTD Director