How to purchase a single senior ride using a TAP card

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We received a good question from a reader last week: he was returning home from the Hollywood Bowl and encountered a Metro Rail station in which the ticket machines were no longer issuing paper tickets. This was a problem for the man as the rail station he used to reach the Bowl was still issuing paper tickets and his wife didn’t have a TAP card but now wanted to purchase a senior fare.

Here’s how you do it on the TAP only ticket machines: 
1. Select button A:  “Purchase New TAP card + fare”

2. Then select button F:  “TAP($1 Fee) and Metro Pass”

3. Then select button I:  “1-Ride, Sr/D 1-Ride w/ID, 9a-3p, 7p-5a 25 cents”

The total price for the transaction is $1.25 — $1 for the TAP and 25 cents for the senior non-peak fare. The TAP card is good for three years, so the woman’s next single ride will only cost 25 cents.

It’s important to note that such purchases are not being done on the honor system. If a sheriff’s deputy checks your fare, you may need to have an ID card to prove you qualify for the senior discount.

Of course, seniors who ride Metro frequently should get a senior TAP card, so they’re eligible for the $14 monthly pass — a very good deal. Click here to learn how to apply. 

19 thoughts on “How to purchase a single senior ride using a TAP card”

  1. Beleve it or not, many people cannot read in any language. I’ve seen people staring at the vending machine screen for the longest time, trying to figure out how to pay with the TAP card. Also, if one expects to pay the discount off-peak fare, that person can be overcharged if he hasn’t previously validated your TAP card. Yet, the vending machine doesn’t tell you that to validate the TAP, you must find the cylindrical metal thing somewhere on the platform and TAP that! Clearly, the TAP system is not user-friendly. It would be helpful if the vending machines used graphics and/or spoken instructions to guide passengers through the process.

  2. When will Metro admit they made a mistake and start fixing TAP? Or do we have to endure this for years and years to come? Is there something wrong in admitting mistakes?

    Metro should not be afraid to admit their mistakes. Admit that you botched it up, we’ll understand. But keeping it silent with excuse after excuse only makes problems worse.

    I mean, what is so hard about
    1. Getting rid of the expiration date?
    2. Make any remaining funds fully refundable?
    3. Abandoning the current fare structure?
    4. Doing tap-in and tap-out with the pay-by-the-distance model?

    It clearly works everywhere else in the world. Does LA have to be so different and make things so confusing for everybody, including tourists?

  4. 1. As others have said: I suspect the number of people who can not read any language; or do not understand spoken English or Spanish is a lot more than most of us can imagine.

    2. There are other non-driver license ID–including the California ID card [which looks like a drivers license].
    And lets give the Sheriffs some credit–a lot of old people look old.

    3. And now the problem that bugs me. Why can you not buy Senior day passes at the TAP machine?? To make Senior and Handicapped occasional-riders into never-riders just does not make sense. If using a normal TAP card for a senior fare is possible, not allowing it for use as a Day Pass is one of policy and not technology.

    Please–make it possible to get a senior/handicapped day pass at the machines!

  5. Hi Robert;

    From home screen go to “fare products,” then “already have a TAP card,” and then you will see a box at bottom right to add stored value. Click there.

    Steve Hymon
    Editor, The Source

  6. The MTA will not listen. It seems to be run by the worst kind of bureaucrats. L.A. deserves better, by which I mean, quite simply, administrators who have done their homework by looking at other systems in the U.S. and abroad, and implementing sensible and fair solutions.

  7. Pingback: Metro Diary: Planes, Trains, and Confusing Transfers with TAP | Streetsblog Los Angeles

  9. Gah. I just realized that Metro doesn’t have free transfers between rail lines.

    That is *crazy*. I did not realize this last time I was in LA, because it’s the only metro system in the *world* which doesn’t have free transfers.

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