Transit Agency Thinks ‘Smart’

Call it the bus pass with a brain.

With one swipe, it can tell you the exact fare for any of Ventura County’s 102 public bus routes. After deducting the cost of the ride, it remembers how much it has left to spend.

Starting Jan. 2, riders will be able to use the “Go Ventura” card on buses run by the county’s six transit systems, from Ventura to Simi Valley. The cards go on sale throughout the county Monday.

Transportation officials say the $1.7-million project, already becoming a model for government agencies across the nation, will make fumbling for change at the bus stop a thing of the past.

“This is a quantum leap in technology and convenience,” said Brian Humphrey, chairman of the Ventura County Transportation Commission, which unveiled the card at a news conference Thursday.

“It makes it easier for our customers and makes our county’s bus system vastly more efficient.”

Though the system is popular throughout Europe, Ventura County will be the first metropolitan area in California and one of a few in the nation to have fully implemented the so-called smart cards, said Steve DeGeorge, director of technology at the Transportation Commission.

The cards work as monthly passes for unlimited use and as a kind of prepaid debit card that deducts the fare for each trip.

Regular monthly passes will run $40 for adults and students, and $20 for seniors and disabled passengers. Monthly passes that include connections for Warner Center in the San Fernando Valley or UC Santa Barbara will cost $75.

Each card has a microchip and a miniature antenna around the perimeter. Machines on each bus will be able to detect the card inside a wallet or purse, DeGeorge said.

At the end of the day, the data collected by the readers will be fed into computers at six bus maintenance yards.

A central computer at the County Government Center keeps track of the activity.

“It’s a lot of technology,” DeGeorge said.

The cards are essentially miniature computers that can keep track of up to 32 different uses, DeGeorge said.

Cal State Channel Islands near Camarillo is issuing them as student identification cards that school officials hope will promote the use of public transit.

Students will ride for free; the university will reimburse the transit agency for the costs.

And within two years, DeGeorge said, the Go Ventura cards will work on Metrolink commuter trains.

FYI

The “Go Ventura” cards go on sale Monday at 12 locations. They are: Ventura County Transportation Commission office, 950 County Square Drive, Suite 207; Camarillo City Hall, 601 N. Carmen Drive; Cal State Channel Islands; Fillmore Area Transit Co., 234 Central Ave.; Moorpark City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.; Moorpark College; Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way; Santa Paula City Hall, 970 Ventura St.; South Coast Area Transit Center in Oxnard, 200 E. 4th St.; Simi Valley City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road; Thousand Oaks City Hall, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.; Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St.