In case you haven’t already heard the news, Metro fares are changing starting September 15. The new fares include a free 2-hour transfer to other Metro lines, but you’ll need a TAP card in order to take advantage of the transfers.
Metro is providing a roving sales unit through October 7 that will visit high volume intersections throughout Los Angeles County to sell TAP cards with Metro passes or stored value. The roving sales unit will target morning and evening peak travel times to make TAP cards as accessible as possible to as many riders as possible, particularly those who have been paying with cash.
TAP cards can also be purchased one of four ways: online at taptogo.net, by phone at 866.TAPTOGO, at one of nearly 400 pass sales outlets and at TAP vending machines located at Metro Rail and Metro Orange Line stations.
Click here to see the roving sales unit’s schedule or keep reading after the jump.
|
Locations |
Date |
Day |
AM |
PM |
| Roscoe/Van Nuys |
9/8/2014 |
Monday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Olympic/Soto |
9/9/2014 |
Tuesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Sepulveda/Ventura |
9/10/2014 |
Wednesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Fairfax/Wilshire |
9/11/2014 |
Thursday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| 3rd/Fairfax |
9/12/2014 |
Friday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| MLK Blvd/Vermont |
9/13/2014 |
Saturday |
8:30 – 1:30 |
N/A |
| Florence/Crenshaw |
9/14/2014 |
Sunday |
8:30 – 1:30 |
N/A |
| Westwood/Wilshire |
9/15/2014 |
Monday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Roscoe/Van Nuys |
9/16/2017 |
Tuesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Harbor Gateway Transit Center |
9/17/2014 |
Wednesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Manchester/Vermont |
9/18/2014 |
Thursday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Slauson/Pacific |
9/19/2014 |
Friday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Fairfax/Wilshire |
9/20/2014 |
Saturday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Harbor Gateway Transit Center |
9/21/2014 |
Sunday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Normandie/3rd |
9/22/2014 |
Monday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Vernon/Western |
9/23/2014 |
Tuesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Westwood/Wilshire |
9/24/2014 |
Wednesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Venice/Broadway |
9/25/2014 |
Thursday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Vernon/Broadway |
9/26/2014 |
Friday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Fairfax/Santa Monica |
9/27/2014 |
Saturday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Manchester/Vermont |
9/28/2014 |
Sunday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Victory/Van Nuys |
9/29/2014 |
Monday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Fairfax/Santa Monica |
9/30/2014 |
Tuesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Harbor Gateway Transit Center |
10/1/2014 |
Wednesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Westwood/Wilshire |
10/2/2014 |
Thursday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Slauson/Western |
10/3/2014 |
Friday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| MLK/Vermont |
10/4/2014 |
Saturday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Slauson/Pacific |
10/5/2014 |
Sunday |
8:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
N/A |
| Harbor Gateway Transit Center |
10/6/2014 |
Monday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
| Westwood/Wilshire |
10/7/2014 |
Tuesday |
5:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
3:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
Categories: Transportation News
And another thing… There’s always an outcry about how to get more people to use Metro… well how about making payment / access to Tap cards and refilling them accessible to a larger group of the people Metro wants to have ride Metro. Like the commenter above, places like Walgreens, Rite Aid, and the like ought to be used to sell and refill Tap cards.
How about FIXING the Tap website so that one can add value to one’s card?
Also, how about NOT deducting $1 every month for non-use?
We are not in the 1990’s
I have a tap card and use the 190. This route goes to Mt. SAC and California Poly Pomona. My suggestion to you is to visit these schools to tell them the advantage of a tap card. I leave my stop at 6:35 and the driver is stopping at every stop. These kids use cash and we have to wait for them to pull out their money plus try to get the dollar bill in or ask people for change. Monday the 15th, a good majority didn’t even know about the fare increase, not much better by Friday. Most of these kids go to school at least four days, $1.75×2 X2 x4.3. It adds up and a tap card is cheaper. Please think about talking to these two schools.
Aside from putting way more TVMs away from rail stations, Metro needs to partner with a major retailer, something like a pharmacy. It’s not ideal but in the Bay Area it’s widely known that you can go to any Walgreens and buy a Clipper Card there and refill it there. Not sure if this is part of their training, but Walgreens employees are even helping with customer questions and tips. 400 locations to buy a Tap card is always mentioned, but if someone has to use taptogo.net just to find some random check cashing place that’s really not that convenient.
Metro should just strike a deal with Apple Pay. In the end, it’ll be cheaper to do that than installing TVMs everywhere.
It’s so ridiculously antiquated that loading up money onto a TAP card has to go through all the hassles that is involved today.
As the person above said, they don’t even have a decent website, Metro never gives us status updates to upgrading that website, and something that should be so easy as loading cash onto the card over the internet is so darn complicated to do.
There needs to be a way to load value by text, ticket machines need to be in more places (at the very least, start with Metro-owned facilities like Harbor Gateway Transit Center and LAX City Bus Center), and contactless credit cards or NFC phones need to be allowed to be used for payment. Chicago Ventra, also a Cubic fare system, has implemented transit passes on contactless fare cards, and has a much easier web site to boot.
Why stop at October 7th? The poorest riders “particularly those who have been paying with cash”, need this service.
Perhaps determining where the most cash riders should initiate the next month of roving sales.
Thanks for posting the schedule below, but the original link is dead.
Hi Dayle,
Thanks for the heads up, link is fixed!
Anna Chen
Writer, The Source
This is very important since stored value cannot be loaded by the fareboxes on Metro buses. People boarding hoping to pay base fare and get the two hours can buy a card on the bus but will have to get off and find a TVM, customer center or vendor to load value on to the card before they can avail themselves of the two hours.