Did you know that using a TAP card is the safest, most flexible way to pay for your transit fare?
If you normally pay with cash when you ride Metro, switch to TAP to save money and time. TAP is a reloadable transit fare card that you can use to pay for bus and rail.
Paying with TAP gives you perks that cash can’t
- Access to discounts, including reduced fares for senior/disabled riders, students K-12 and College/Vocational and those who make low incomes
- Load fare to pay on Metro and 25 additional transit agencies around L.A. County
- Special promotions like the current half-price promotion on Metro daily, weekly and 30-day passes require a TAP card
Where to get a TAP card
- At one of over 500 vendor locations near you.
- On the TAP app available for iPhone and Android. Search ‘TAP LA’ in the App Store or Google Play store to download the TAP app
- The TAP app also allows you to use your smartphone as a TAP card.
- At a Metro Customer Center
- At a TAP vending machine located at all Metro rail, J Line (Silver) and G Line (Orange) stations
- Online at taptogo.net or by phone at 866.827.8646. Online and phone orders will be sent via mail.
Paying with TAP is easy
Once you get your card, you can load a pass or Stored Value (cash) to ride on Metro and 25-plus additional agencies throughout L.A. County.
To get onboard and on your way, tap your card at the farebox each time you board a bus or train, and the correct fare will be deducted. You can reload your TAP card using a credit/debit card, PayPal or PayNearMe for cash customers. You can reload your TAP card at a vendor location near you, on the bus or at a Metro station, at taptogo.net or on the TAP app.
Questions about TAP? Please visit taptogo.net or call us at 866.827.8646.
Categories: Go Metro, Policy & Funding
Register your card at the TAP website. You can load the card for any amount of stored value betwen $1 and $300, to the penny, yes, to the penny. $3.00, $3.75, $6.77, $50.01, etc.
This is not fictional. You can ACTUALLY do this. I did.
Did they fix the flaw where you can add 25 cents to a TAP balance of $1.50 to make up for a $1.75 fare? This will save costs since adding in $1.00 increments wastes money.
The TAP machines did not let you put in 25 cents if you had a balance of $1.50 to make up for a $1.75 fare. Did this get fixed?
I can’t think of any agency, in the world, that would even let you do that. Your best bet at that point is to load $2 and congrats, you know half enough money for a round trip.
I could be wrong but I just can’t think of anyone that would simply let load a quarter.
Hit me up when I can use it to buy food at a convenience store, use it on transit outside of LA county (at the very least transit agencies should be doing this since it’s the same tech being used), pay your utilities, coffee and heck, even pay for your Lyft/Uber, all on my TAP card.
There’s so many possibilities with the cash value option yet many transit agencies are literally too busy chasing ideas that aren’t working ehh?
But yeah, world class transit system ehh?
this is a really old picture.
Found a newer one — good eye!
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Yep. The 2 hours of free transfers on TAP is a big money saver if you need to ride 2 or more lines to reach your destination – a round trip would be just $3.50.
With the proposed fare changes, it would reach the daily cap of $6 – so the increase is a bit higher than if you were to take one line each way (making the round trip $4). It effectively penalizes those with longer commutes – was this an unintended consequence of the proposal?