The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) launched a new way for riders to pay for transit fares. The RTA CLE app for mobile ticketing lets riders skip the lines and pay from their phones.

Mobile ticketing is a pilot program now available for use on all RTA services. The RTA CLE app is free to download from the iPhone App Store and Android Google Play. The pilot program is also free to RTA.

The new initiative is part of RTA’s overall mission to provide safe, reliable, clean and courteous public transportation to its riders. With sustainability as one of RTA’s guiding principles, this new paperless form of payment is an additional way to optimize transit’s impact on the environment and provide a greater convenience to riders.

The new app is powered by Passport, a mobile payments provider for transit and parking. Passport has launched mobile ticketing solutions in other cities, including Sacramento, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Columbia, S.C.

With the new RTA CLE app, RTA riders can easily plan and pay for their trip on their phone. Transit riders can even use the app’s interactive map screen to coordinate their RTA ride ahead of time.

Using their secure RTA CLE account, riders can add their credit card information to pay for their pass. Riders can then use their mobile ticket to board transit or store their ticket for later use with the app’s Ticket Manager feature.

“We are happy to introduce this convenient, new technology to our customers,” said Joe Calabrese, RTA’s CEO/GM. “This mobile ticketing solution gives our riders a more convenient option for fare purchases and a more efficient way to plan their trip ahead of time. We’re excited to continue to improve upon our rider experience and make traveling around Cleveland that much more convenient and better.”