On Nov. 1, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) transitioned to an affordable and cashless way of paying for bus fare called the Tapp Pay. It has been stated by the RTA that 90% of their customers are already using the new form of payment. Tapp Pay was introduced back in June 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, meaning COVID may have played a role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018In a sense it did, it helped us to accelerate what had already been put in motion before the pandemic,\u201d said Brandon Policicchio, Regional Transit Authority\u2019s Chief Customer, and Business Development Officer. \u201cI had intended to upgrade the system and have everything ready to go, it\u2019s just, it has got to be put in place sooner than we had intended.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The transit has stated that Tapp Pay cards can be purchased at any transit center such as the Wright State Plaza located downtown. People won\u2019t be able to buy one outside of the transit centers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018Right now, we\u2019re just selling them at the transit centers, the majority–I say 90% if not more–of our customers come through our transit centers every day,\u201d said Policcchio. \u201cSo as far as the transit system, the way we\u2019re set up, it was a perfect start from that perspective. That way we can answer questions about why we\u2019re there. As the system continues to roll out, we may look at selling them at other locations as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dayton isn\u2019t the only city adopting this form of payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018Columbus is getting–I believe it’s this coming month–they will unveil basically the same thing we have with their riders as well,\u2019\u2019 said Policchio. \u2018\u2018They\u2019re upgrading their system and Cincinnati won\u2019t be too far behind with a similar system.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tapp system was a long time coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018For us, we have been operating the same fare payment system for well over almost two decades now. The technology itself is very outdated, there are newer technologies available, more options like the ability for people to pay with their phones as well as the contactless tapping of cards and just other available options, so we thought it was the right time to update the system given the legacy of our existing system,\u2019\u2019 said Policicchio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new system will have its disadvantages and perks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018With this new system they can pay as they go but once they spent what is the equivalent of a monthly pass, it no longer charges them for the rest of the month, so it’s actually saving customers money. So that was one of the main drivers of getting this new system, as well as being able to provide equity to our riders who frankly needed it the most,\u2019\u2019 said Policicchio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is something Sinclair students who ride the bus can take away from the Tapp System. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u2018That it’s easy to use and that they\u2019re two options available: that they can either download the transit app, which is a great app to use also for trip planning, not only you can pay for your RTA ride within that app ,you can also see when the bus is coming, plan trips as well,\u2019\u2019 said Policicchio. \u2018\u2018Or if you prefer not to use a smartphone or don\u2019t have a debit or credit card, then we have our smart cards, which customers can load value to and utilize those as well and get the same benefits as those utilizing the phone.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Policicchio, the transit agency is already looking for ways to improve the Tapp system in the coming years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jamario Brown-Tolliver<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Intern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Nov. 1, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) transitioned to an affordable and cashless way of paying for bus fare called the Tapp Pay. It has been stated by the RTA that 90% of their customers are already using the new form of payment. Tapp Pay was introduced back in June 2020 in the middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":33004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3522,2110],"tags":[5222,598,5264],"class_list":["post-32956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dayton-news","category-local","tag-jamario-brown-tolliver","tag-rta","tag-tapp-pay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-8zy","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/thumbnail_IMG_3402.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32956"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33005,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32956\/revisions\/33005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}