Download app, show the driver to pay for bus ride
Passengers’ smart phone fare app that can replace cash and cards is now available system-wide throughout all fixed routes operated by Washington County Transportation Authority.
Introduced nearly a year ago for use on the Metro bus between Washington and Pittsburgh, mobile ticketing known as Token Transit also became an option this week on the authority’s local Freedom Transit runs.
The app allows riders to purchase, store, and redeem Freedom Transit bus passes on their phones.
The app will display a picture of the day, plus the date and time the fare is redeemed. Commuters will need to show the driver the daily app in lieu of cash or card.
The initial launch last year of the mobile ticketing app included only monthly passes. Freedom Transit is now expanding the Token Transit fare offerings to all fixed route fares and ticket options: single tickets, 10-trip tickets, 31 one-way trip tickets, and monthly passes.
Monthly passes are valid for 31 days from the date of purchase.
All other ticket options “you can have on your app indefinitely,” said Alexandra Sakalik, outreach and marketing coordinator for Freedom Transit. “There’s no plan to increase fares in the near future.”
Cash payment and ConnectCards will continue to be accepted as payment for fixed-route fares.
A 10-trip local Transit Token won’t be accepted on the Pittsburgh Metro run because of the price difference.
A passenger purchases a fare or fares by using a credit card on the Transit Token website and sending digital passes to his or her phone onto which the app has been downloaded.
After the mobile app was introduced on the Pittsburgh route, “we received a lot of demand for it on local ridership,” Sakalik said. “We have had riders ask if a driver will accept a credit card, but the answer is no.”
More information on the Token Transit mobile ticketing option is available at freedom-transit.org.
Meanwhile, Freedom Transit will be offering free shuttle buses Saturday, July 13, during the annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival between downtown Washington and Washington Park.
The festival bus stop will be at the corner of South Main and West Wheeling streets, with the first run departing after the conclusion of the parade around 11:15 or 11:30 a.m.
Three vehicles will be running every 20 minutes until events at the park wrap up that day at about 5:30 p.m.
“We’ve done this the past six years and last year we had around 1,200 passengers, so we do have a lot people who utilize the service,” Sakalik said.