Location | South Florida metropolitan area, Florida, United States |
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Launched | 1 October 2009 |
Technology | |
Operator | Miami-Dade Transit South Florida Regional Transportation Authority |
Manager | Miami-Dade Transit |
Currency | USD ($150 maximum load) |
Stored-value | Cash value |
Credit expiry | After card/ticket expiration date |
Auto recharge | Automatic replenishment |
Validity | |
Retailed |
|
Variants |
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Website | transitstore.miamidade.gov |
The Easy Card (stylized as EASY Card) system is a series of linked contactless smartcard systems used by Miami-Dade Transit and South Florida Regional Transportation Authority in the South Florida area. The Easy Card allows for electronic payment on multiple public transport systems including Miami Metrorail, rapid transit rail system; Tri-Rail, commuter rail system; and Metrobus. Other public transportation agencies in the South Florida area which may eventually join the system include Broward County Transit as well as Palm Tran. [1]
While both the Miami-Dade Transit as well as the SFRTA fare collection systems were installed by Cubic Transportation Systems, combined they are the first multiple agency regional system in the United States that interoperates through the American Public Transportation Association's Contactless Fare Media Standard.
While the system as a whole is referred to as the "Easy Card" system, there actually is more than one type of contactless smartcard media in use:
In addition to the above, SFRTA uses their Easy Card ticket machines to print out purely paper tickets that lack any smartcard media for same-day and/or weekend usage. If a paper ticket user wishes to transfer to Metrorail, they must obtain an Easy Card or Easy Ticket at either the Tri-Rail and Metrorail transfer station or the Miami Airport station.
While Miami-Dade Transit ticket machines provide both Easy Cards as well as Easy Tickets, SFRTA/Tri-Rail ticket machines provide only Easy Cards. Ticket agents at attended Tri-Rail stations are able to provide Easy Tickets. [3]
Easy Cards and related smartcard media can be used on the following systems:
Miami-Dade County is working on an interoperability agreement with Broward County Transit and PalmTran of Palm Beach County; however these systems do not yet accept Easy Cards for payment. [5]
An Easy Card or Ticket purchased from any participating agency or at a ticket machine at any Metrorail station may be used on any participating system, provided it is loaded with the proper fare or has a sufficient balance in it.
Easy Cards and Tickets are used by scanning ("tapping") them at card readers built into Metrobus fareboxes, Metrorail faregates, and standalone validators on platforms at Tri-Rail stations. Metrobus users only have to tap their Easy Card or Ticket once when boarding. Metrorail users must tap their card or ticket at the faregates when they enter and leave the system. Tri-Rail users must tap their card or ticket at a validator before boarding and after exiting a train.
Systems which require entry and exit taps must see the exit tap of a card in order to issue a transfer. [6] Transfer discounts within Miami-Dade Transit as well as from Tri-Rail to Miami-Dade Transit are only available when an Easy Card or Ticket is used to pay the fare both on the system/vehicle being transferred to, as well as the one previously used. [7]
In addition to the Easy Card system, Miami-Dade Transit implemented a system called Easy Pay for download via App Store or Google Play which allows payment of transit fares, and soon college easy ticket, using a smartphone. Once a fare has been purchased and activated, a QR code is generated containing the fare that can be scanned at selected turnstiles or shown to bus drivers.
Additional features that are in the application include 7-day, 1-day, eventually college easy tickets, and monthly passes, along with the ability to reload and view balance of an Easy Card.
Implemented in August 2019, riders are able to use their Visa, Mastercard, or AMEX contactless credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay at the fare gates on the Metrorail. As of February 2020, contactless bank cards and digital wallets are also accepted on Metrobuses.
The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport for London (TfL) and can be used on travel modes across London including London Buses, London Underground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, Tramlink, some river boat services, and most National Rail services within the London fare zones. Since its introduction in June 2003, more than 86 million cards have been used.
Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) is the primary public transit authority of Miami, Florida and the greater Miami-Dade County area. It is the largest transit system in Florida and the 15th-largest transit system in the United States. As of 2022, the system has 60,734,900 rides per year, or about 254,400 per weekday in the first quarter of 2023. MDT operates the Metrobus with their paratransit STS systems run by LSF. MDT also operates two rail transit systems: Metrorail and Metromover.
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail line linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida DOT. The 70.9-mile-long (114.1 km) system has 18 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, and to Metrorail at the Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer station and at Miami Intermodal Center.
SmarTrip is a contactless stored-value smart card payment system managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) uses a compatible payment system called CharmCard. A reciprocity agreement between the MTA and WMATA allows either card to be used for travel on any of the participating transit systems in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Unlike traditional paper farecards or bus passes, SmarTrip/CharmCard is designed to be permanent and reloadable; the term "SmarTrip" may refer to both payment systems unless otherwise noted.
Government Center station is an intermodal transit hub in the Government Center district of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is operated by Miami-Dade Transit and serves as a transfer station for the Metrorail and Metromover rapid transit systems and as a bus station for Metrobus, Paratransit, and Broward County Transit buses. The station is located near the intersection of Northwest First Street and First Avenue, a part of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center Building. It opened to service May 20, 1984, next to the site of a former FEC railway station which is now MiamiCentral.
The CharlieCard is a contactless smart card used for fare payment for transportation in the Boston area. It is the primary payment method for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and several regional public transport systems in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
Proof-of-payment(POP) or proof-of-fare(POF) is an honor-based fare collection system used on many public transportation systems. Instead of checking each passenger as they enter a fare control zone, passengers are required to carry a paper ticket, transit pass, transit smartcard - or open payment methods such as contactless credit or debit cards (if applicable) - after swiping or tapping on smart card readers, to prove that they have paid the valid fare. Fares are enforced via random spot-checks by inspectors such as conductors or enforcement officers, to ensure that passengers have paid their fares and are not committing fare evasion. On many systems, a passenger can purchase a single-use ticket or multi-use pass at any time in advance, but must insert the ticket or pass into a validation machine immediately before use. Validation machines in stations or on board vehicles time stamp the ticket. The ticket is then valid for some period of time after the stamped time.
Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the Miami city limits near the Grapeland Heights neighborhood. The facility was constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation and is owned by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.
Metrorail is a rapid transit system in Miami and Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Metrorail is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), a departmental agency of Miami-Dade County. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only rapid transit metro system, and is currently composed of two lines of 23 stations on 24.4 miles (39.3 km) of standard gauge track. Metrorail serves the urban core of Miami, connecting Miami International Airport, the Health District, Downtown Miami, and Brickell with the northern developed neighborhoods of Hialeah and Medley to the northwest, and to suburban The Roads, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and South Miami, ending at urban Dadeland in Kendall. Metrorail connects to the Metromover in Downtown, which provides metro service to the entirety of Downtown and Brickell. Additionally, it connects to South Florida's commuter rail system at Tri-Rail station, as well as Metrobus routes at all stations. In 2022, the system had 11,951,400 rides, and about 47,300 per day in the first quarter of 2023.
A transit pass or travel card, often referred to as a bus pass or train pass etc., is a ticket that allows a passenger of the service to take either a certain number of pre-purchased trips or unlimited trips within a fixed period of time.
The go card is an electronic smartcard ticketing system developed by Cubic Corporation, which is currently used on the Translink public transport network in South East Queensland, Australia. To use the go card, users hold the card less than 10 cm away from the reader to "touch on" before starting a journey, and must do the same to "touch off" the service at the end of the journey. The cost of each journey is deducted from the go card balance.
The Transit Access Pass (TAP) is a contactless smart card used for automated fare collection on most public transport services within Los Angeles County, California. It is administered by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), and the card and fare collection systems are manufactured by Cubic Transportation Systems.
The Freedom Card, stylized as FREEDOM Card, is a contactless smartcard fare collection system used by the PATCO Speedline in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Opal is a contactless smartcard fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area and most other urban areas of New South Wales, Australia. Operation of the Opal system is managed by the New South Wales Government's transport authority, Transport for NSW. First launched in late 2012, Opal is valid on Transport for NSW's metro, train, bus, ferry and light rail services that operate in Sydney and the neighbouring Central Coast, Hunter Region, Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Southern Highlands areas. Opal equipment was designed from the start to support a variety of cards, but launched with the captive Opal cards.
The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass transit (Metrorail), commuter rail (Tri-Rail), automated guideway transit (Metromover), highways, two major airports and seaports, as well as three county-wide bus networks, which cover the entire urbanized area of South Florida. Census and ridership data show that Miami has the highest public transportation usage of any city in Florida, as about 17% of Miamians use public transportation on a regular basis, compared to about 4% of commuters in the South Florida metropolitan area. The majority of public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), which is currently the largest transit system in Florida and was the 14th largest transit system in the United States in 2011.
MetroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the Adelaide city and suburbs in South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services.
Hop Fastpass is a contactless smart card for public transit fare payment on most transit modes in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area including MAX Light Rail, WES commuter rail, Portland Streetcar, The Vine, and all TriMet and C-TRAN buses. An initial release to the general public began on July 5, 2017, with the official launch on July 17. The program is managed by TriMet.
The Metrobus network provides bus service throughout Miami-Dade County 365 days a year, operated by Miami-Dade Transit. It consists of about 93 routes and 893 buses, which connect most points in the county and part of southern Broward County as well. As of 2022, the system has 14,854,200 rides per year, or about 183,600 per day in the first quarter of 2023.
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