Transit
Can SmarTrip work for riders with the lowest incomes?
WMATA's goal is to get as many riders as possible to use SmarTrip. The approved FY2011 operating budget increases the fare difference between SmarTrip and cash rides, giving an increased incentive to use SmarTrip. But does this hurt riders with lower incomes?
Photo by Erica Wissolik on Flickr.
Advocates for riders with low incomes believe that significant barriers to purchasing and using SmarTrip cards continue to exist for these riders.
Potential barriers for riders with low incomes include physical barriers, economic barriers, and situational barriers.
Physical Barriers
The first physical barrier concerns the rider's ability to get to a location where SmarTrip cards are sold.
I ordered my first SmarTrip card online and purchased replacement cards at the Commuter Store in Rosslyn. In addition, SmarTrip cards are available at various CVS, Giant, and other locations throughout DC, MD, and VA, including Metrorail stations.
Some people are unable to purchase a SmarTrip card online since doing so requires a credit card and not everyone has a credit card. Not everyone who rides the system goes to rail stations or nearby the commuter stores, where SmarTrip cards are sold. And while SmarTrip cards are available for purchase in some CVS and Giant locations, WMATA should expand the number and type of retail locations where SmarTrip cards are sold.
The second physical barrier is one with which I have some personal experience. SmarTrip card readers on buses are not accessible to people who are blind or who have low vision. Due to a visual impairment, I cannot read the balance displayed when I swipe my SmarTrip card. Nor can I read the balance that is displayed when I add money to my card on the vehicle. The truth be told, I simply swipe my card and hope for the best. If the machine (or bus operator) tells me I need to add value to my card, I add value.
This physical barrier is not too much of a problem for me because I always have an extra $5 or so to put on my card. But for riders with very low income AND low vision paying trip-by-trip, this can be a significant barrier and source of frustration. Of course, the solutions involve making the equipment more accessible and, in the meantime, training bus operators to provide the needed assistance to passengers who are blind or who have low vision.
Economic Barriers
The primary economic barrier to purchasing and using a SmarTrip card is the initial cost of the card. The WMATA Board recently voted to reduce the SmarTrip card purchase cost from $5 to $2.50, minimizing this initial financial barrier. WMATA also distributed thousands of SmarTrip cards to social service agencies. Of course, not all people with low-income are clients of social service agencies.
WMATA staff and the WMATA Board have clearly taken action to minimize the financial barrier to purchasing SmarTrip cards. This is commendable. However, there are riders that have such limited financial resources that they can only afford to pay for one or two rides at a time. Once many of these riders actually get SmarTrip cards, they simply load $2 to their SmarTrip cards each time they get on a bus (excluding those times when a transfer applies and they do not need to add any money).
This process is not only burdensome to the rider, but also brings obvious albeit ironic operational implications: it actually slows down the boarding process:
- The rider boards the bus and swipes his/her SmarTrip card.
- The bus operator indicates that there is not enough value on the card.
- The rider indicates he/she wants to add more value.
- The bus operator pushes a button.
- The rider swipes the SmarTrip card again.
- The rider pushes two dollars into the machine.
- The rider swipes the SmarTrip card again to record the added value.
- The rider swipes the SmarTrip card a second time to pay the fare.
In this scenario, using SmarTrip likely takes longer than paying by cash would. Using SmarTrip saves the rider 20¢ per trip and makes free transfers possible. Therefore, the rider willingly endures the inconvenience of adding money each time he/she boards the vehicle to save money. But the unintended consequence is that the dwell time at the stop increases.
Situational Barriers
The final set of barriers to purchasing and using SmarTrip cards relate to a person's individual circumstances or situation. For some individuals, using SmarTrip might not be practical or realistic. For example, I've heard that people with mental health issues are often hesitant to use SmarTrip cards due to fear of losing the cards.
Also, I've heard that some undocumented immigrants are fearful of using SmarTrip because they are concerned about agencies knowing their status. Finally, I've heard that individuals living in abusive relationships are hesitant, or literally unable, to use SmarTrip cards because they cannot safeguard any of their possessions.
These are just three examples. However, it is important to note that many people living under these circumstances are probably also riders with low incomes.
I am not suggesting that WMATA needs to revolve its fare policy around outlier data or individual scenarios. WMATA should continue to encourage as many people as possible to use SmarTrip cards and should make them as easy as possible to purchase and utilize.
However, WMATA also needs to remember its remaining regular customers who do not use SmarTrip cards or are struggling to use SmarTrip cards. There are social and operational implications to recent fare policy decisions worthy of further conversation.
Penny Everline has served on transportation advisory groups at the local, regional, and national levels including the WMATA Riders' Advisory Council, the Fairfax Area Disability Services Board Transportation Committee, the Transportation Planning Board's Access for All Advisory Committee, and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) National Work Group. She recently left her job with Easter Seals Project ACTION, a national training and technical assistance center funded through the Federal Transit Administration, to focus on advocacy work at the local/regional level. She holds an MSW degree and teaches at George Mason University.  |
Comments
@ggwash
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Or a number of agencies already have a variety of lists in place listing residents & populations which may be unable to afford a SmartTrip card... perhaps using those lists to arrange directly mailing free cards, subsidised by increasing the base cost for other users. I'd wager that for the vast majority of riders, $5 for a one-time cost really isn't shabby at all... even $10 might be do-able if I didn't already have two cards.
Without running numbers I can't say if this is a good idea or bad idea... it's just an idea I'm putting out there. Cheers!
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 1:43 pm • link • report
The problem is keeping money on it. If you're short of money, pretty stupid to put cash on the card. Can't be removed once it is there. You can't get you balance so you don't know how much is there. And it is a pain to put it on. The bus recharge is a bit tricky -- and you have people behind you waiting in line. And going to a rail station can be difficult.
So yes, it hurts. But it isn't that bad.
by charlie on Jul 15, 2010 1:57 pm • link • report
by stevern77 on Jul 15, 2010 2:01 pm • link • report
by Phil on Jul 15, 2010 2:07 pm • link • report
Metro has become an agency that discriminates against users: those who wish to or can only use cash.
The bus fare boxes are MUCH worse than they used to be at accepting money. Much.
Bus passes are a thing of the past. There's the basis for discussion.
by Jazzy on Jul 15, 2010 2:11 pm • link • report
by spookiness on Jul 15, 2010 2:24 pm • link • report
Where I agree with you is that Smart trip cards should be sold in more places than at the moment.
by Vincent .flament on Jul 15, 2010 2:45 pm • link • report
by joe on Jul 15, 2010 3:02 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 3:10 pm • link • report
by Catherine on Jul 15, 2010 3:32 pm • link • report
Thanks for the link, it is a great article. However, I think it's a bit different... SmartTrip is a one-time charge & is also the same price wherever it's purchased. For the price of a loaf of bread, someone can have a transit card which is functional for as long as it physically still works... and I've had my card for 6 years now and it still works just as well as it did the day I got it. Or perhaps I'm just lucky? Is there any issue with SmartTrip cards failing, necessitating people to regularly purchase new ones?
This is why I don't particularly think Issue #2 from this initial GGW article is necessarily the toughest issue... rather, I could see Issue #1 being more of an issue given that in that case: yes, you are spot-on with that WaPo article. It can be more costly for lower-income folk to get to where they need to purchase the card in the first place. Hence my first thought up above.
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 3:42 pm • link • report
The screens on all of WMATA equipment are horrible; why arent the displays large so people who have vision problems can see them; that is a valid question and WMATA should give an answer. At least make the damn font half the size of the display.
People adding one or two dollars at a time due to low income. How many people on this website are low income or have been for an extended amount of time (over a year)if not dont comment on the subject.
Adding money on the bus taking forever: WMATA should put machines at the busiest 200 stops so you can add money to the card on the street other places have this why cant WMATA.
Places where can be purchased: How about trying to get machines or being able to purchase them in about 1/4 the CVS's, Riteaid's, Giant's, Safeway's, Govt offices, Malls, Walmart's, McDonalds in the area.
Allow refunds on value on smartrip cards
by kk on Jul 15, 2010 3:45 pm • link • report
My own example - back before they did away with the thirty five cent transfer, but after they did away with the paper version of it, you could only get it on your smart trip card. Keep in mind that first you could only add value to it inside metro stations. That's an extra hardship right there. TIME. And then, you gotta keep that thing loaded in order just to get the .35 transfer. And as the article points out, poor people do not always have more than three dollars cash on hand.
So yes, this article explains things nicely.
by Jazzy on Jul 15, 2010 3:57 pm • link • report
Ahh yes, now that I agree with... but isn't this also an issue with paper cards, too? Higher cost & also the time needed to keep getting new paper cards &/or refilling them. I haven't used paper cards in ages, so I could be forgetting how exactly they work.
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 4:10 pm • link • report
They crack due to being cheaply made, pull out any other other rfid card, credit card, id etc they have give and the smartrip cards dont. You can bend other cards to a certain degree and they wont break you bend a smartrip card it will break.
I have dealt with many rfid cards and these are the f**king cheapest ones I have ever dealt with. I haves cards that are 3x the thickeness of these cards and work for 12 years without problems but these smartrip cards cant last 5 years.
The crap you have to go through to register/report if card is defective/broken/lost.
I have had cards that have lasted 3 months and others 1 year not my fault stopped working on their on but just brought another cause I didnt want to deal with their s**t about getting them replaced (i only put $5-10 on a card at a time).
by kk on Jul 15, 2010 4:13 pm • link • report
And that is what we are talking about, right? Poor people?
I also thought the big reluctance was paper transfers...very easy to abuse...they take them away, then narrow the window down to two hours...
by charlie on Jul 15, 2010 4:27 pm • link • report
Ahh, touché... like I said, I haven't used paper cards since the days when I was a tourist, which were also the days when mom did everything for me, which was also before I discovered buses. So my experience with paper cards largely consists of watching other people try and figure out how much fare to put on them to ride the rails. I'm definitely a bit blinded by being "swipe and forget" for many years now... or make that "swipe, swipe, swipe, and then forget".
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 4:31 pm • link • report
Are the newer cards less substantial then the older ones? I've had mine since 2003 and it works fine.
by Wheatoner on Jul 15, 2010 4:46 pm • link • report
I was talking about riding the bus, rather than the train (subway). Many poor Washingtonians who grew up here, and many poor people who moved to Washington rely on the bus system more than the subway system. The smart trip cards therefore impacted them much more than the impacted subway riders (I would guess).
I've had my smart trip card for years, at least since 2002, maybe longer. I have no issue with their quality.
by Jazzy on Jul 15, 2010 5:31 pm • link • report
Good old bait and switch : get everybody hooked on smartrip for 3 hour transfers then turn around after smartrip has started and reduce back to 2 hours.
Don't forget the reason why parking lots are smartrip only customer were supposedly getting over on WMATA while infact it was their staff.
@ Wheatoner
I dont know if the newer cards are less substantial than older ones.
I know that the cards all of them are cheap compared to other rfid cards that I have used all over the world with transit systems, and in secure environments
If you have a credit/debitcard with a rfid chip or a HID Proximity card (many id's are made on these) and compare it to a smartchip card, the credit/debitcard is flexible and can be bent a little while the HID card is strong enough that it wont break in your wallet, pocket or if you sit on it. The smartrip card is neither.
The smartrip card looks like it is made by attaching two thinner cards together; if you look at the edges you can see a small groove going around the entire card which looks like it is where two cards have been glued together.
by kk on Jul 15, 2010 7:17 pm • link • report
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Transport/Akbil.html
It was such a great size & worked great... though I'm unsure of its technical specs & whether or not that's been a limiting factor for the transit agency with data collecting/processing... but from a user standpoint: I loved it.
by Bossi on Jul 15, 2010 10:36 pm • link • report
by Amy Louise on Jul 15, 2010 10:43 pm • link • report
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1C_UQHwd8M
by SCS on Jul 16, 2010 2:09 pm • link • report
In the case of Smartrip on AVERAGE it does speed up bus boarding so we want more people to use it. On the other hand, if you make it too easy and cheap to get and use a Smartrip card, then you lose on revenue. In Miami, where they even give away paper smartcards (while supplies last.. they only distribute so many per month) the base fare and passes are very expensive to reflect that it is easy and cheap to use a smartcard.
Finally, the low vision barrier will become less of an issue as Smartrip upgrades will allow registered users to view their balance, add value and trip history online where accessibility is less of an issue for those with low vision.
by Dharm on Jul 17, 2010 1:36 pm • link • report
"the low vision barrier will become less of an issue as Smartrip upgrades will allow registered users to view their balance, add value and trip history online where accessibility is less of an issue for those with low vision."
How so, low vision users typical use computers less than normal vision users. Using the software that is available to blind and people with very bad vision is hard and sometimes does not work.
The fix should be make the damn font larger on the screens; if they can not than they were being negligent in the process of purchasing them without thinking of people with low vision and they should be sued.
The screens show almost nothing; you could increase the size of whatever is on them 5 times and still have plenty of room.
by kk on Jul 17, 2010 5:00 pm • link • report
Thanks for an informative write-up. You definitely expanded my thinking into areas that hadn't occurred to me before.
@Catherine
Thanks for the WaPo link. Very informative--some things I knew about, some I didn't. I found it interesting that each time terrible transit service in poor communities was mentioned, the implied solution seemed to be car ownership rather than improved transit. Did anyone else get that impression?
by Matthias on Jul 20, 2010 10:02 am • link • report
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