Transit Card Plan to Debut Amid Doubts : Transportation: Some see electronic fare system as boon, others as unnecessary expense.

Transit officials touted an experimental electronic fare system Monday that they say could one day prevent bus riders from having to fumble for exact change.

The fare debit card, which contains a magnetic strip similar to a credit card’s, will eventually replace tokens, tickets and passes--an action that could modernize the Los Angeles transit system, some officials say.

The card is fed into a device that automatically deducts the cost of a passenger’s trip and returns the card to its owner. The system will be tested in a pilot project beginning in January, and Los Angeles County Transportation Commission officials hope that it will be used aboard buses as well as the rail network, creating a uniformly recognized transportation card.

Yet even before the newly minted LACTC project has hit the streets, some Rapid Transit District officials blasted the endeavor, saying it would cause delays on bus lines and amounts to nothing more than an expensive, impractical toy during a time of scarce funds. Facing a $59-million budget shortfall, some RTD officials questioned whether it makes sense to contemplate shelling out $25 million to implement a new fare system.

“The debit fare card is a nice high-technological idea that sounds good when you don’t have to wed the reality of it to people getting on a bus,” said Marvin L. Holen, president of the RTD board. “Every time someone interacts with a driver, everything stops . . .. The (bus) pass is by far the fastest.”

Holen and others say the device will slow service because drivers will have to push buttons on a panel when a passenger requires a transfer or a trip that involves more than one fare zone.

Problems could also be posed by users who do not speak English. Those riders would no longer be able to simply wave a pass, but would have to tell the driver if they have special needs, he said.

Still others advised that the county move with more caution in implementing the device.

“We are dealing with a highly experimental device. We are going into it pretty fast--before we find out if there are secondary problems,” said Alan F. Pegg, general manager of RTD.

In January, officials will begin testing the device on RTD Line 484, a heavily traveled route that starts at the Ontario Airport, travels to Pomona, passes through El Monte, and terminates in Los Angeles.

Initially, 10 buses will be equipped to handle the debit card. About 30 passengers, selected as regulars on the route, will be given passes and asked to test the system, said Jim Lair, an LACTC transportation development specialist.

Transit officials will monitor the equipment and whether customers like the system. In its second phase, the experiment will be expanded to include buses in Culver City and Foothill transit districts. Two hundred Foothill buses are expected to be equipped with the scanner in June.

The LACTC will spend $4.6 million to pay for the testing and equipment. To implement the system countywide would cost about $25 million, Lair estimated. At the earliest, it could be installed systemwide in 1994, he said.

Similar systems are in place in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. And other transit agencies, such as New York City, will soon launch experiments with debit cards, which some transportation experts see as the wave of the future.

LACTC officials hope that the debit card will solve a number of problems, including helping to eliminate fares lost because of counterfeit bus passes. In addition, they say, the card will make it much easier for passengers to transfer from one bus to another, or from rail to bus.

In the Los Angeles area, where several bus companies operate, the debit card will allow each to collect the fare for the service they offer. The cards can also be programmed to handle different fares to be charged at different times of the day and week.

“It can be tailored to specific transit needs,” said Roger K. Chapin, executive director of Foothill Transit. “You don’t have to worry, ‘Do I have my 85 cents to ride today?’ ”

Chapin and other transit officials claimed that the debit card offers a variety of advantages to the current piecemeal fare system.

“There’s the issue of security, think of the older women opening their wallets and fumbling for change--they won’t have to do that anymore,” said Neil Peterson, executive director of LACTC.

The card will also provide transit officials with a plethora of ridership information. They would be able to determine how many passengers were riding which routes and at what time. Such information could help tailor routes and service to passengers’ needs.