Bus pass system to change

Starting Aug. 1, Pitt students and faculty will see a change in the way they board Pittsburgh… Starting Aug. 1, Pitt students and faculty will see a change in the way they board Pittsburgh Port Authority buses.

People with valid Pitt IDs will tap their card on a fare box next to the driver when they walk on the bus while a scanner reads a microchip embedded in the card. This system will mark a change from the previous system where cardholders would simply show the driver their card when boarding or leaving the bus.

“This type of smart card collection system is widely used by major metro systems,” Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said in an email.

Along with being a better way to keep track of passengers, the new system will guard against people with expired Pitt IDs from taking advantage of the old system by getting a free bus ride.

The Port Authority conducted a four-week pilot program earlier this summer to test their new system and they considered it to be a great success.

Around 220 students and faculty were in the pilot and there was a 99.5 percent acceptance rate among the cards read by the scanner, Ritchie said.

During the first week of the trial, all of the IDs were checked to make sure they were working properly. Over the next three weeks, Ritchie said Pitt deactivated 25 cards per week to simulate students or employees who had left the University.

“We’re pleased to report the smart card pilot program achieved a near-perfect test score,” Ritchie said.