By Daniel C. Vock, Governing Magazine; November 13, 2017
Depending on the city where you live, paying for a ride on public transit can be complicated. A single morning’s commute can involve a confounding mishmash of cash, paper tickets and electronic swipe cards. And different parts of a transit system — buses, subways, commuter trains — can sometimes be independent from each other, frustrating riders who have to juggle multiple fare cards and different methods of payment.
That’s all starting to change. Responding to riders’ demands, many of the biggest transit systems in the U.S. are modernizing the way they collect fares. The agencies are upgrading their ticket-taking operations with technology that can take away the need for a ticket altogether. Riders will pay with regional fare cards or their mobile phone instead.
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