Conway, SC – Beginning on September 26, 2022, Coast RTA will be bringing back fares and implementing a “Tap to Cap” pilot program that will make it easier and faster to ride the bus by providing customers with a way to “cap” their fares at a daily maximum of $3.50—no matter how many times a customer rides, when they tap to pay with their contactless debit or credit card or mobile wallet.
As part of this program, fares will be reduced to $1.00 per trip. Transfers will no longer be sold, and magstripe cards and passes will no longer be valid.
For a limited time, Coast RTA will continue to take cash fares, but cash payments will not be eligible for our “Tap to Cap” program.
To pay your fare when boarding the bus, simply tap the XXpole-mountedXX payment acceptance device with your:
- Contactless Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card. Cards that are contactless-enabled have this symbol on the front or back of them:
- Mobile wallet on your smartphone or other payment-enabled device (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay)
If you do not have a contactless card, you can link an existing bank card to your payment-enabled device—or you can order a contactless-enabled Cash Card, a free Visa debit card from Cash App: https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/14425-cal-transit
Customers who prefer to use cash can add paper money to a Cash Card at various retail locations for a $1 fee per $500 deposit into their Cash App account.For a list of retail locations that will will reload a Cash Card, visit: https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/6488-paper-money-deposits.
Customers who are eligible for reduced fares will be able to continue to ride for FREE during NON-PEAK times. As a reminder, peak times are 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“Coast RTA continues to make strategic investments that will enhance the customer experience and make using transit more efficient and affordable,” states Brian Piascik, Coast RTA General Manager and CEO. “We were thrilled to be one of the first transit systems in the U.S. to utilize this contactless payment technology in partnership with Cal-ITP.”
Cal-ITP—the California Integrated Travel Project at Caltrans, as California’s Department of Transportation is known—supported Coast RTA through the process of purchasing open-loop payment acceptance devices and fare calculation software from the State of California’s competitively awarded Master Service Agreements (MSAs), contracts that allow U.S. transit agencies to purchase hardware and software services directly from vendors without further competitive bidding.
Fare calculation software in each contactless payment acceptance device enables “fare capping,” giving riders the ability to pay-as-they-go to receive multi-ride discounts when riders tap to pay with the same contactless payment card or device throughout the day or within a 30-day period. At Coast RTA, customers can tap to pay $1 per ride up to a $3.50 daily maximum “cap.”
For more information or FAQs, please visit www.CoastRTA.com/fares.
Coast RTA provides reliable transit service to our growing, diverse, and visiting community to make life’s important connections.
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