Core Transit prepares to go cashless in March
Gypsum and Leadville riders will be able to pre-purchase fares on Masabi app or via reusable smart card
CoreCash-VDN-021425-2
Core Transit is planning to retire the fareboxes that allow bus passengers to pay for their rides in cash upon boarding.
With just two destinations on Core Transit’s routes requiring cash payments 鈥� Gypsum and Leadville 鈥� this change will not impact a majority of riders. But for those riders who do pay cash, the transit agency aims to communicate early and often until everyone has a plan.
The Core Transit board of directors approved the official farebox retirement date during its meeting on Wednesday. The retirement date is set for March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.
Why retire the fareboxes?
During the board’s January meeting, Tanya Allen, Core Transit’s executive director, said the fareboxes are expensive, labor-intensive and out-of-date. ECO Transit’s plan before the creation of the Eagle Valley Transportation Authority, which became Core Transit, was always to phase out the fareboxes.
A couple of years ago, ECO Transit introduced the Masabi app, allowing riders to purchase their bus tickets on their phones.
Support Local Journalism
As of January, 20% of Core Transit’s paying riders were already using the app, while 60% of fares were collected through the fareboxes 鈥� via either cash transactions on board or pre-paid magnetic swipe cards.
Most of Core Transit’s routes went fare-free in May. Currently, only riders traveling to and from Gypsum and Leadville have to pay for their rides 鈥� $3 one way for Gypsum and $7 one way for Leadville. Riders can also purchase a 30-day pass for $63 for Gypsum travel and $200 for Leadville travel.
How can people pay for their rides without the fareboxes?
When the fareboxes are retired, riders will still be able to pay cash for their transit, they will just need to purchase their rides differently.
Riders who have credit or debit cards can purchase bus tickets on the Masabi app. The app has a built-in feature that lends itself to equity for frequent riders: A rider can pay the daily rate each time they ride, and once they have paid the total price of a monthly pass within 30 days, the rest of their rides that month will be free.
Those who plan to continue to pay cash will need to pre-purchase and load reusable smart cards. Riders can pre-load funds onto the smart cards with cash or credit cards and then tap the cards upon boarding to pay for their rides. The smart cards are already available at the Vail Transportation Center in Vail and the Maintenance Service Center in Gypsum.
Paper tickets for single rides and day passes will also be available for purchase at the Vail Transportation Center and Maintenance Service Center.
Core Transit staff has also begun conversations with partners throughout the community that might be able to sell the smart cards. The aim is to place the cards near where cash-paying riders live and work, improving accessibility. As of Wednesday, no specific partners had been identified.
“We need to make sure we’re doing that in a smart way, and that we’re picking businesses that work, that are available outside of our regular business hours, that really expand the reach of that program,” Allen said. “The challenge we face in choosing the right partners is we know some of the most convenient locations aren’t ones we may be able to work with very easily.”
Communicating with riders
Core Transit staff is trying to reach regular cash-paying passengers early to provide each person with a solution that works for them ahead of the transition date, including talking to riders at the Vail Transportation Center, on buses and, eventually, at bus stops frequented by cash-paying riders.
While people who are riding for the first time or new to the area may still be impacted by the transition, Core Transit staff aims to have regular riders ready in advance.
“There will be a group of people that we’ll need to address, but hopefully most of our regular customers will be well-informed and ready to go by the time we get to that transition date,” Allen said.
Core Transit staff is working on creating “a safety net approach” to handle those who try to pay upon boarding with cash following March 17, Allen said.
“We want people to get where they’re going and we don’t want to impede them from getting where they’re going because of an issue with communication or understanding around that cash policy,” she said.
Potentially, operators will carry a small number of cards with one fare on them, allowing the rider to get to their destination and make plans to purchase a smart card.
