Reloadable open payment cards for Monterey/Salinas; SFMTA joins RFP with parking in mind
In June, Monterey Salinas Transit purchased a system for reloadable open payment cards that can be used by low-income riders who are unbanked or underbanked.
MST will use these cards for the next generation of its GoPass transit pass, which is available with 1-Day ($6), 7-Day ($20), or 31-Day ($70) options.
Of interest in the Bay Area, SFMTA was one of 8 other California transit and transportation agencies who participated in the RFP for the reloadable open payment cards. SFMTA’s initial focus is to use the cards specifically for parking, to provide payment options for individuals who are unbanked at parking meters and garages.
Now that MST’s board has approved the purchase, we will be looking for more purchases to surface at the other transit agencies, including San Luis Obispo Regional Transit, Ventura County Transportation, Santa Barbara Metro Transit, Stanislaus Regional Transit, Nevada County Connects, Santa Barbara County, Santa Cruz Metro, Humboldt Transit, and Sunline Transit
Given that other agencies are planning to use the cards for transit, this is a logical direction for the Bay Area to think about future payment systems beyond Cubic, the vendor whose bumpy rollout created problems for thousands of customers.
Since 2021, MST has allowed customers to pay with open payment credit and debit cards, and mobile wallets on smartphones. However, as of last year, about 50% of MST’s customers continue to pay cash, while about 15% paid with open payment.
One of MST’s main goals is to replace the use of cash, which would allow the agency to save over $8 million in capital investments, and over $500,000 per year in operations and maintenance. Over 90% of MST customers are low income and 40% make less than $10,000 per year. Some riders continue to pay cash because they do not have bank accounts, or prefer not to use bank cards because low income people are charged high fees.
MST’s goal is to make these cards available at common retail locations such as Walgreens, CVS, WalMart, and others which offer other types of prepaid cards today. Currently, MST’s payment card is available at only 3 locations. Another opportunity is for these cards to be used for other transportation options such as Uber, Lyft, taxis, bikeshare.
In June, the MST board agreed to purchase these cards from Jawnt for 3 years, paying up to $2.1 million over 5 years, which is less than a third of the price it would have cost to maintain their current GoPass transit card. SFMTA and other agencies will make decisions separately about whether to purchase this system.
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