The U and UTA have been friends with benefits for years, but, now that we’re facing a new electronic fare system, students might be hesitant to tap that.
On Jan. 1 the Utah Transit Authority launched a new tap on, tap off system requiring riders to tap their UTA Ed-Passes on a scanner attached to each station. The system allows UTA to gather fares electronically from credit cards, generate ridership statistics and validate rider passes such as the Ed-Passes U students pay for at a discounted rate with their student fees.
On its Web site, UTA says the information gathered “will allow UTA to analyze travel patterns and to improve service system-wide.” If students fail to tap off three times, their passes will be suspended.
The new system is a hindrance to riders who have already gone out of their way to use public transit. The most glaring problem is that there is only one scanner available at each TRAX station. This forces riders to wait in line before they can board a train or go to their destinations. Considering the congestion this can cause on a normal day, it is hard to imagine the commotion riders would face at a transfer point, or when exiting the train on the way to a well-attended downtown event.
UTA is daydreaming if it honestly expects the legions of shoulder-to-shoulder, seatless and crowded riders that pour out of the train in front of Rice-Eccles Stadium on a game night to stand in an orderly line so they can tap their cards.
If the aim of the system is to “improve service” by tailoring routes and lowering crowds, for now it will only cause the opposite by bottlenecking riders as they enter and exit the train.
Plus, discounted or not, students have already paid for their rider passes. Suspending a pass because a student neglected to tap off is punishing him or her for riding mass transit with a pass they paid for. Riding mass transit is already inconvenient enough, and the last thing students, and other riders, need is a reason to just drive their cars. Enforcing the rule might also prove difficult, because the only real method UTA has to check compliance is when a student taps on, but doesn’t tap off. So if you don’t want to tap off, don’t tap on.
If UTA wants tap on, tap off to work, it needs to streamline the system so it isn’t a burden to riders. Installing more scanners so riders don’t have to wait in crowded lines would be a good start. Better yet, why not gather information the old-fashioned way with a survey?
The current system will only lead to bigger crowds and drive frustrated riders away from TRAX.