Plastic Card Is Latest Ticket to Bus Fare Box : Transportation: The SmartCard system will be installed in all buses throughout the county under a state-funded pilot program.

Ventura County’s fleet of public buses will begin rolling onto the information superhighway next week as the Ventura County Transportation Commission launches a plan to computerize bus passes.

There will be no more rustling through pockets for exact change, or sifting through wallets for a crumpled transfer pass.

This coming year, savvy bus riders from Thousand Oaks to Ojai will carry the SmartCard, the Ventura County Transportation Commission’s new computerized fare-box system.

“We’re getting calls from all across the country,” project director Jacki Bacharach said. “This is really the beginning of what’s going on in public transportation around the country.”

Instead of using cash or a monthly bus pass, passengers on Ventura County’s buses will be able to use a plastic card that uses a low-frequency radio signal to subtract the bus fare from a previously arranged account balance.

SmartCards will be used on the county’s six different bus systems, as well as the Ojai Trolley.

“It makes it very easy for the public to use mass transit,” said Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the Transportation Commission.

“We hope to one day extend it to trains, parking--almost anything that’s transportation-related,” she said. “We’re kind of on the cutting edge.”

The pilot program is funded through an $800,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation, Bacharach said. Ventura County was selected because it is urban, but not too crowded to implement such a system.

The credit card-like passports will be sold at each of the city halls in the county except Oxnard, where the cards will be available at the South Coast Area Transit offices.

Two types of cards will be available after Tuesday: monthly passes and debit cards, which will be offered in $10 increments. Single fares will be deducted from a debit card until the balance is used up. Passengers will be able to begin using the cards as soon as equipment is installed on each of the buses, expected to be completed by the end of January.

Passengers also will be able to add credit to the debit cards by presenting any bus driver with a check or money order. In addition, buyers will earn an extra $1 credit for every $10 they spend.

“This is going to simplify a lot of our accounting,” said Adam Martinez, information manager for the county Transportation Commission. “Besides that, we’ll be able to track stolen or lost cards.”

Although the cards are not transferable, the computer will not be able to discern between students, seniors and full-fare adult passengers. “Somewhere along the way, you have to rely on people’s honesty,” Bacharach said.

Ray Rebeiro, president of Echelon Industries of Diamond Bar, which will install the new fare-box technology on the county’s public buses, said the system will be capable of much more than just keeping track of fares.

The same technology can be used to check fuel emissions, change traffic lights when buses approach intersections and alert drivers when oil levels are below standards, Rebeiro said.

“It is the ultimate bus control system,” he said. “For the first time, bus systems will be in a position to make money.”

Also, the computerized systems will one day transmit advertisements, telling passengers which stores or restaurants are coming up on various routes.

That will allow transit systems to make even more money, Rebeiro said.

“For every dollar spent on [public] transportation, the passenger pays between 15 and 25 cents,” he said. “So there is a great need to reduce the cost of transportation and make it more efficient.

“The way to do that is through technology,” Rebeiro said.

Transportation officials in Torrance last year completed a similar pilot program. Traffic analyst Bob Meyers said he hopes to launch a full-scale SmartCard program before the end of 1996.

“There’s got to be a universal fare medium that can be used on any system,” Meyers said. “It’ll promote ridership because you won’t have to have money with you each time. It gives you better flexibility.”

FYI

SmartCard passports will be available Jan. 2 at the Ventura County Transportation Commission office at 950 County Square Drive in Ventura, and the South Coast Area Transit office at 301 E. 3rd St. in Oxnard. They also will be sold at each of the city halls in Ventura County, except Oxnard. For more information about the program, call 642-1591.