Tag Archives: turnstiles

Metrolink posts details on TAP-enabled tickets for its customers

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Metrolink_Ticket_Stock_2013

As has been discussed previously on The Source, Metro is preparing to begin latching gates at Red and Purple Line subway stations beginning this summer, with gates at other Metro Rail stations to be latched subsequently. All Metro riders will need to ‘tap’ their TAP cards to get through the gates.

That, of course, is an issue for Metrolink passengers who get free transfers to Metro as part of their fares — Metrolink uses paper tickets, not the plastic “TAP” cards that have become the norm on Metro. In order for Metrolink passengers to get through latched gates, Metrolink and Metro have worked together to develop paper TAP cards for Metrolink customers.

The following has been posted to Metrolink’s website and explains the transition from the current ticketing system to TAP-enabled paper tickets. Bottom line: The TAP-enabled Metrolink tickets for destinations in Los Angeles County (the area served by Metro) will be available through Metrolink ticket machines and for those purchasing Metrolink monthly passes. Metrolink customers will have to ‘tap’ those tickets when using Metro Rail and will continue to show their tickets to bus operators on Metro bus lines.

Many more details below from Metrolink:

Metrolink to provide TAP-enabled tickets

Metrolink and Metro have worked collaboratively to create a Metrolink ticket that is compatible with the Metro TAP system. TAP-enabled tickets will be dispensed from Metrolink Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) to allow passage through Metro’s turnstiles leading to Metro rails lines and stations.

All Metrolink tickets with Los Angeles County destinations will be TAP-compatible, and all riders will be required to physically tap their tickets at the turnstiles and validators when transferring to a Metro Rail line. When boarding a bus, the current policy of simply showing the bus operator your Metrolink ticket will still be in effect. Tapping is not required on buses.

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Transportation headlines, Monday, May 6

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Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

For Los Angeles, the end of the free subway ride (New York Times) 

The old gray lady catches up with gate-latching at Metro subway stations and offers this intro to the story:

There is a startling new sight at the subway station at Hollywood and Vine these days, set amid the handsome trappings of vintage film projectors and movie paraphernalia: five subway turnstiles.

Their appearance amounts to an acknowledgment of the failure of the rider honor system that Los Angeles embraced when it began constructing its subway system nearly 20 years ago. This might not exactly come as a news flash to anyone who has traveled the subways of New York or the Washington Metro, but a gateless subway entrance is not the most effective way to motivate riders to pay their carriage.

Los Angeles transit officials say that millions of dollars in annual revenues have been lost because of riders who calculated, reasonably enough, that they could ride the subway free with minimal danger of detection, no matter the occasional deputy sheriff demanding to see a fare card and a $250 fine for violators.

“A lot of people — if not the majority of people — are not paying their fare,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a county supervisor and a member of the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “There is no reason for them to pay. The odds of them getting a ticket are slim to none.”

The article goes on to say no one really knows what the fare evasion rate is. One Metro official says that latching of the gates, to begin this summer, will help Metro find out.

L.A. full of road to ruins for cars (L.A. Times) 

The Times offers a very cool map showing the grades for roads throughout the city — as graded by city officials. The gist of it: the city has tried to evenly distribute both good and bad roads across L.A., meaning there’s pothole-ridden despair in both wealthy and low-income areas alike. According to the map — be sure to zoom in for detail — Wilshire Boulevard east of Beverly Hills gets grades ranging from A to F.

Readers and Metro riders: is there any part of Wilshire Boulevard you believe qualifies for an ‘A?’

Time for Big Green to go fossil free (The Nation) 

The nation’s big environmental groups often say they are leading the battle against climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels. But Naomi Klein found that many of the groups have been slow to divest their finances and endowments from Big Oil, meaning they are making money off the very groups they are allegedly fighting. Most troubling, some of the groups were somewhat evasive with their answers. Read this one, folks. A lot of these groups, I believe, do some very valuable work on behalf of the environment — but their investments, I also believe, threaten to undermine the message.

Gate latching tests to continue at some Metro Rail stations

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As many Source readers are keenly aware, Metro is preparing to latch the gates at Red and Purple Line stations this summer.
In the meantime, you may encounter testing of latched gates at some station or station entrances over the next few weeks. These tests have already been underway and have gone well. There’s nothing extra you need to do — just ‘tap’ your TAP card to pass through the turnstiles — just as you’re already doing! Metro staff will be on hand to help Metrolink ticket holders and others without TAP cards pass through the turnstiles.
As for Metrolink riders, there will be new TAP-enabled Metrolink tickets available before the gates in the subway are latched. In plain English, don’t worry Metrolink riders. You’re not going to be latched out!

Results of gate latching at Metro Red and Purple Line stations: many more people TAP

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Here is some interesting data gathered from recent testing of gate latching at the Normandie, North Hollywood and Western stations on the Red/Purple Line subway.

The takeaways: 1) one-way fares, stored value and pass sales significantly increased when the gates were latched; 2) Free entries — i.e. mainly those not paying fares — dropped significantly when gates were latched.

Metro staff continue to work toward starting to latch the gates in the Red and Purple Line subway this summer. As part of that effort, paper TAP tickets are being tested for Metrolink passengers who transfer to and from the Metro system.

Normandie1

Normandie2

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The latest on getting Metrolink into the TAP system

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Many of you have been following this issue. A short recap: in order to lock the gates at Metro Rail stations — expected to happen in mid-2013 — Metro needs Metrolink customers to have some type of TAP fare media to get through the gates.

The above report spells out the two options. The preferred one is that Metrolink adopt a paper-based TAP card to provide its customers. The not preferred one is that Metrolink customers no longer would be able to enjoy free transfers to Metro.

As would be expected, the Metro Board's Executive Management Committee expressed some serious concerns about the second option, with Board Member Don Knabe saying basically it's not an option — he wants interconnectivity maintained between Metrolink and Metro.

The Metrolink Board is taking up the item at its meeting tomorrow. Metro's Executive Management Committee moved the item to the full Board of Directors without a recommendation; it will be taken up at the Board's meeting next month.

 

Metro converting ticket machines to TAP only

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As some Purple and Red Line riders have noticed in recent days, Metro is in the process of converting ticket machines at stations to TAP only. That means that all paper tickets will disappear except for Metro to Muni transfers.

The conversion has taken place at ten subway stations and will continue in coming weeks to include all Metro Rail stations, as well as the Orange Line and any other Metro ticket vending machines in the area.

The bottom line: If you don’t currently have a TAP card, you will need one in order to pay fares at Metro Rail and Orange Line stations. (Please see below for more information for Metrolink riders).The ticket machines are being converted to TAP as a prelude to locking the turnstiles at some Metro Rail stations. The first gates are expected to be locked later in 2012.

 

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Gate locking test today at Wilshire/Normandie station

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In order to prepare for the upcoming locking of gates at subway stations, the turnstiles have been locked until 8 p.m. today at the Purple Line’s Wilshire/Normandie station (photos above and below).

In addition, the ticket machines at that station have been converted to TAP only — that is, they are no longer dispensing paper tickets with one exception: Metro-to-Muni transfers. The ticket machines will remain that way and other ticket machines in the subway will be similarly converted in the weeks ahead.

Metro staff will be in the Wilshire/Normandie station throughout the day to ensure that everyone can get through the gates. Free TAP cards are being handed out to station patrons who don’t already have them.

The gates at Wilshire/Normandie may be locked intermittently in the coming weeks — and they may be locked permanently sooner if the Metro Board of Directors decides to accelerate gate locking (staff report, pdf). Once the gates are locked, the station will always be staffed to help those with Metrolink tickets, EZ passes and Muni-to-Metro transfers get through the gates.

Metro has developed a solution for EZ Pass commuters — the passes will be a paper smart card that can be electronically read by TAP validators when boarding Metro buses and trains as well as muni operators that use TAP. The new EZ passes will also have monthly stickers on them so that agencies without TAP can visually inspect the passes. These new EZ passes are expected to be available in mid-August.

About the same time, bus operators issuing Muni to Metro transfers to Red/Purple subway will sell paper TAP cards that are good for one entry to enter the gates. These paper TAP transfers are NOT valid on Metro buses; these are for exclusive, one-time use to get through gates. Alternative options are under discussion for a longer term solution to accommodate all Munis and Metro transfers in the future.

Metro continues to work with Metrolink to get that agency into the TAP program.

 

Mayor calls for working group to advance gate locking in subway stations

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A Metro staff report on the plan to lock gates in subway stations beginning this summer was briefly discussed by the Board of Directors’ Executive Management committee on Thursday morning.

The gist of it: two of the Board Members on the committee — Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa and Director Richard Katz — expressed concern over the cost and time involved in finally locking the gates, in particular the possible need for additional staff to help patrons get through the gates.

“After all the money, effort and time and discussion, it’s just not acceptable,” Villaraigosa said at the meeting. The Mayor called for a working group to be formed to figure out how to accelerate gate locking and conversion of fare media to TAP.

The issue of the timeline to lock the gates will likely come back to the Board in June.

The following is the latest Metro staff report on the issue. Here is a pdf version for download.

Gate Locking report

 

Report to Board of Directors on gate locking process

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The Metro staff report posted below explains the process that Metro will take in locking the gates at Metro Rail stations. The report is to the Board of Directors on a receive-and-file basis; no action is required. The Board voted in February to begin the gate-locking process this year.

The biggest change which could happen the soonest: the conversion of paper tickets to paper TAP cards this spring. As for the gate locking, the plan is to begin at the Normandie station on the Metro Purple Line subway and then lock the gates at the remaining Red and Purple Line stations over the rest of 2012.

Here’s the report — it’s only two pages.

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Agenda for Metro Board of Directors meeting on Thursday

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Here is the agenda for the regular monthly meeting of the Metro Board of Directors on Thursday at Metro headquarters adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. (The html version of agenda is here).

The big item for this Thursday is the consideration by the Board of the Regional Connector’s Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report. A discussion on locking the turnstiles at some Metro Rail stations is also the on agenda.

Feb Agenda