RVTD testing ‘eFare’ option

Bus fares by phone. Cartoon image created with Bitstrips

Rogue Valley Transportation District (RVTD) seeks regular bus riders to help test an eFare option, which will allow riders to pay fares by phone or reusable card.

The system may be available to all riders by September if trial and testing are successful.

In its July 15 email newsletter, RVTD invites prospective participants to answer questions about their riding times and frequency, types of fares they usually purchase, where they make their purchases and reduced-fare eligibility.

RVTD asks that interested riders respond by Wednesday, July 20.

As a rider who logs about once-per-week trips aboard RVTD, I don’t ride often enough to merit being part of the eFare test (RVTD specifically asks for riders who take the bus at least five days per week). But I offer my enthusiastic interest in an eFare service.

With the Bay Area “Clipper Card,” my husband and I often traveled between San Francisco and Berkeley aboard Bay Area Rapid Transit. We could use that same card to access several other Bay Area transit systems.

It’d be great to have an eFare option for riding RVTD, and would especially be valuable if local and regional systems were linked by a common eFare program.