ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Next stop: a smart fare system on LANTA buses that will automatically charge riders the best option upon boarding.
ValleyRide, LANTA's new fare collection system, will go live Tuesday on all routes.
Officials with the Lehigh Valley's transit authority said it will allow passengers to set up accounts where it can pre-pay and ensure riders get the best deal available.
Under the new system, riders can use an app or permanent smartcard that will track the customer's ride history, Darryl Lightner, manager of communication and strategic initiatives, said during a virtual meeting Monday morning. The system will then adjust how much the passenger is charged based on their usage, capping the payment at the best deal, he said.
“This eliminates the thinking out of it. You get on the bus and it deducts as appropriate."Darryl Lightner, LANTA
For example, a person using ValleyRide who catches two LANTA buses during their morning commute will only be charged $2 for a three-hour pass. But if the same person catches rides in the afternoon and evening, the rider will only be charged a total of $4 for a full-day pass. Under the early system, the person could have been charged up to $6 if they didn't purchase a full-day pass to begin with.
Similarly, the ValleyRide system will limit a rider's payments to $60 if their usage qualifies them for a 31-day pass. The current system would require the rider buy the pass in advance and potentially cause them to lose money if they didn't make all of the anticipated rides.
“This eliminates the thinking out of it. You get on the bus and it deducts as appropriate,” Lightner said.
LANTA has stopped selling tickets under its Token Transit app, and it will stop honoring Token tickets in September, Lightner said. Moving forward, riders can purchase a temporary pass for single day usage or a permanent smartcard at any LANTA transit center, or use the Transit app.
Passengers can also pay cash for a $2 single-use ticket or 25 cent transfer ticket.
Passengers who acquire a permanent smartcard are not required to register their account, but Lightner strongly recommended it. If an unregistered card is lost, the customer would essentially lose all the money in the account attached to it unless they could provide their card's serial number. Losing a registered card, on the other hand, would amount to a $5 replacement fee, he said.
Passengers who have existing reduced fare cards will eventually need to visit a transit center and have their card replaced, Lightner said. However, the system will continue to accept those cards for the time being, Lightner said.
With ValleyRide's launch, LANTA is eliminating its 10-day passes, though it will honor existing passes, Lightner said. The passes amounted to less than 1% of all LANTA ticket sales, he said. LANTA also intends to eliminate transfer passes in the future, he said.
In addition to LANTA centers, passengers can add money to their existing ValleyRide accounts either through the app, at a LANTA transit center or at partnered retailers, including 7-Eleven, Rite-Aid, Game Stop, Dollar General and Sheetz, according to LANTA's presentation. However, those retailers do not sell the transit cards themselves.
Lightner said the changes have been brought on by the need to replace LANTA's aging fare boxes. The devices were installed on LANTA buses years ago and have reached their end-of-life use, he said.
The boxes account for 20% to 45% of all of LANTA's road maintenance calls, and their manufacturer is no longer providing support, he said.
Tuesday will mark the first phase of the ValleyRide system rollout. In January, LANTA buses will accept payment via credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, Lightner said.
