Los Angeles moves closer to paperless fare system

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has signed a five-year, $31.5 million contract with Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) to operate its smart-card services. ACS will establish a regional Transit Access Pass (TAP) service center and provide services such as cardholder registration, card inventory and distribution and point of sale network management. Customer care services for TAP will be available through a Website, interactive voice-response phone system, live customer service representatives, mail and fax. The TAP cards, which work like a debit card on MTA bus and rail lines, will enable riders to use a single smart card for transit fares on all regional buses and rail systems in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The MTA’s move to a completely paperless system will be done slowly over the course of several years.