As of today, TAP is now available across the entire Torrance Transit system, which happens to 75 years young this year. Riders can enjoy this convenient option to pay their fare as well as other TAP benefits.
Instead of handling cash and tokens, riders can simply tap their valid TAP card on the bus farebox when boarding, and enjoy their ride.
Riders can purchase TAP cards with EZ transit passes and Stored Value at the Torrance Transit System located at 3031 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503, online at taptogo.net, by phone at 866.TAPTOGO (866.827.8646), at one of nearly 400 TAP vendor locations or from TAP vending machines at Metro Rail and Metro Orange Line Stations.
Metro is working toward a regional and seamless system of paying fares — and that means getting all the local bus agencies in Los Angeles County to use TAP.
Current TAP partners include: Antelope Valley Transit Authority, Culver City, Foothill, Gardena, Long Beach Transit, Los Angeles Department of Transportation (which runs DASH buses), Montebello, Monterey Park, Norwalk Transit, Palos Verdes Transit, Pasadena ARTS, Santa Clarita and Torrance Transit. Metrolink has its own TAP enabled tickets and the Big Blue Bus will begin accepting TAP cards later this year.
Categories: Go Metro, Policy & Funding, Projects
When is the Carson Circuit going to be on it?
Hi Aaron,
They are coming soon, but no official date yet. We will update when we get news!
Anna Chen
Writer, The Source
And has TAP fixed the problem where it deducts the correct Metro-to-Muni or Muni-to-Metro transfer fare when paying with cash value?
No, and they won’t do it any time soon. Automated Muni-to-Metro transfers require complex logic to determine retroactively whether you would have been better off taking the transfer (good for one ride only) or paying for Metro outright (if you transferred to another Metro line). According to a comment posted by Steve a few months ago, Metro won’t look into this until all agencies are on TAP.
You have to affirmatively request a transfer on your first ride (either by adding a transfer when you board a bus or buying a Metro to Muni transfer at a rail/Orange Line ticket vending machine when exiting rail or Orange Line). Transfers between Metro and Munis, or within a Muni, are not automatic the way they are on Metro.
“You have to affirmatively request a transfer on your first ride”
In this day and age, I’d rather let the system do all the work than wasting my time talking to a bus driver clogging up the line behind me. And whose to say the bus driver even knows how to do it? That’s an unknown variable right there, you either get a good bus driver or you don’t. I’m all for less chatting and less line clogging. There’s no reason why you can’t just program this into the TAP system and let the system do all the work automatically.
Alex K — The fare systems of the various agencies form a very complex system, which translates to a complex and expensive programming task. It has been done in London, whose fare system is probably as complex as the combined systems of L.A. County. The complexity of the system is actually a good reason to make it automated, but getting it right requires serious political will and financial commitment.
Switching to automated deduction of transfers would probably also require a financial analysis to determine the total revenue gained or lost. I just hope that such an analysis could take into account potential increases in transit use and overall economic productivity as a result of a seamless payment system that riders can trust to give them the best deal.
So, besides SMBBB and Metrolink how many does that leave that still hasn’t joined the 21st century?
I think the bus lines not yet part of TAP include Baldwin Park, Compton, Carson, Glendale, Burbank and Redondo Beach.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Steve, If you don’t know, perhaps you can forward this to someone who does. Can I have a stored value as well as a day pass on the same card (senior TAP card) at the same time? And if so, will it honor the day pass on Metro and the stored value on Torrance line? Thanks,Alan
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2015 19:40:38 +0000 To: alutz51@hotmail.com
Hi Alan;
The answer is ‘yes’ to all your questions!
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Yes, with a caveat: if you have a Metro pass on TAP, you can use stored value on other agencies, but not on Metro: the cards are set up so Metro deducts passes before any stored value. So if you buy a day pass today with the intent of using it tomorrow, then you can’t use your stored value for a single ride on Metro today (but on other agencies, no problem).
This is one of the reasons a daily cap makes more sense than day passes.
I too am in full support of getting rid of pre-purchasing passes altogether and just doing automated fare caps instead. The way you have to “plan ahead” today which one would give you the best deal simply sucks. The less thinking I have to do and just let the system do the job, the better. Come on man, we’re in 2015 already and why are we still doing things like it’s the 1980s?
What restriction is there today that this can’t be done? Just fill up your TAP card, once it hits the daily, weekly or monthly limit, it caps off and won’t deduct any further. It’s not so uber-complicated. Has Metro ever answered why this can’t be done?
Automated fare caps can be done when you have a fixed start or reset point such as a calendar day, week, or month. It is impossible with Metro’s rolling 7-day and 30-day passes, because each new ride can trigger an arbitrarily long chain of resetting the rolling periods.