CDTA is making the full switch to Navigator at the end of this week
A heads-up/reminder: This is the last week that CDTA will be accepting its paper swiper cards.
The transit org stopped selling the swipers -- er, "magnetic-striped fare media" -- at the end of December. But they've still been good for use through the end of this month as part of a transition period. That ends Saturday. So got an old change card with money left on it or something similar? Use 'em or lose 'em.
The swiper phase-out is part of the switch over to the plastic Navigator smart cards, which debuted to the general public a little more than a year ago. The free cards offer a bunch of benefits, including the ability to link them to an online account so they can be automatically refilled or to have the value transferred to a different card if the card is lost.
We've been using the Navigator card for the past year and really like it, especially the autobuy option. (Though we gotta admit it took us a while to get the hang of touching the card just so on the fare boxes.)
There's also now a Navigator mobile app that can function as a payment system for fares in the same way as the cards.
People who pay for a bus ride with an institutional ID -- because your school/employer/org has a "universal access" arrangement with CDTA -- will continue to be able to do so. And CDTA will continue accepting cash, though it stopped issuing change at the beginning of this year.
Earlier: There's a big change coming up soon with the CDTA fare system
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Why eliminate the value on existing swiper/10-ride passes? Why not let them phase out? Seeing as you've stopped issuing them, they'll naturally stop circulating. This way you're not going to be accused of stealing the promised value on these passes.
... said Steve on Mar 26, 2018 at 11:56 AM | link