(Image: Sound Transit)
The card thousands of riders use to tap in and out of Capitol Hill Station every day is finally getting a much needed upgrade. Next month, Sound Transit will begin rolling out changes to the ORCA card that will add functionality that it’s difficult to believe the light rail system has lived without plus open the door to important upgrades including tap payment by smartphone in 2023.
For riders who already have ORCA cards, Sound Transit’s message is simple: Keep using it. But you’ll also have some work to do. Starting May 16th, riders need to set up an account on the new myORCA.com or with the new myORCA app to unlock the new features and move existing cards into the new system. Existing account funds and new cards will work in the meantime.
Rollout will bring a weekend of free rides. Fares will not be collected between 3:00 AM Saturday, May 14th and Monday, May 16th 2:29 AM on most area transit while ORCA transitions to a new system.
Sound Transit and provider INIT have plenty of work to deliver on the near-$100 million program to overhaul the system. There are 6,000 pieces of payment equipment to deploy and upgrade and some 5 million accounts to transition, officials told media at a press conference Monday.
The new system will also add 250 retail locations where people can buy and manage cards. Sound Transit is also working with companies who provide employee passes to transition the accounts while the low income ORCALift program rates will continue.
Single-ride and pass prices will remain the same and you will continue to be able to pay with cash or a credit/debit card at the system’s vending machines.
Sound Transit has already started deploying new machines and equipment and replacing some older equipment. New machines will also be adding more vending machines and readers in its stations and transit hubs.
To start, the biggest win for the new ORCA is de-clunkifying the current account payment process which currently takes days to fulfill. The new system will recognize added funds immediately. The launch of the myORCA app — available May 16 for Apple and Android — will also ease payments and autopay.
Making the system easier to use and pay for should also help address non-payment concerns that have complicated Sound Transit’s efforts to address inequity and racial bias in fare enforcement. CHS reported on new policies approved last month for Sounds Transit’s light rail trains and buses that will increase warnings and reduce fines, and, importantly, move enforcement from security officers in efforts intended to address concerns over equity and racial disparity.
(Image: Sound Transit)
Meanwhile, the city’s light rail system is prepared to make the jump across Lake Washington with the East Link expansion and its new Judkins Park Station now slated to open for service in winter 2024.
After the complicated rollout, the new ORCA is hoped to settle in and provide added enhancements over coming years with tap payments on smartphones lined up for 2023.
The future? Some transit systems around the world utilize similar cards and apps to pay for parking, access to other transit including bike and scooter shares, or even dining at cafes and restaurants — fun if Sound Transit every adds platform retail but maybe a future revenue stream for Glo’s in the meantime.
While ORCA is about to make some major changes, some things, thankfully, will remain the same. Riders will still hear the familiar boop — boop boop when they tap with the new system.
What you need to know — May 16th:
- New ORCA website. myORCA.com will feature real-time card loading, mobile phone accessibility, more payment options and the ability to manage multiple cards.
- Smartphone app. Customers can manage their ORCA account from any location 24/7 and with the same functionality available on the new website. The app will be available on Apple’s app store and the Google Play store.
- Business account website. www.myORCA.com will replace www.orcacard.biz as the place where employers manage their ORCA programs.
Sound Transit is holding an open house for transit riders Wednesday May 4th at noon and 7 PM. Visit myorca.com/orca- open-house to learn more.
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How?
Making it easier to pay is a welcome development, but it only benefits those willing to pay in the first place.
You’d think that the recently released plans around fare enforcement might mention how the new ORCA system could be leveraged in the future to deal with the non-payment problem. But no.
As long as ST continues to believe that some riders are too benighted to pay (with a reduced fare or otherwise), there won’t be meaningful fare enforcement and fare revenue will continue to erode.
Sounds like they have yet another proprietary app rather than support the apple wallet (as currently is working in San Francisco)
Some people have a conscience against Apple.
Starting next year riders will be able to add their cards to their smartphone wallets, like Clipper in SF.
ORCA card: the “One Regional Card For All” Card. Please help stamp out un-needed and repetitive redundancy. Just call it “Orca” as in “tap your ORCA there”; “I’ve lost my ORCA”. Won’t lead to any confusion.
The acronym has been dropped – it is now just ORCA.
So 13 years after release, we need to spend $100mm to replace all the tech in the system? If any of the previous decision makers are still working for ST, they should be removed, or at least not allowed to make procurement decisions anymore.
“Sound Transit’s efforts to address inequity and racial bias in fare enforcement.”
There is nothing racist about checking EVERYONE’S fares. Please tell me how applying rules to everyone the same, to pay $1-$3, is racist or targeted. I’ll wait here for that or the revision.
CRT is simultaneously nowhere and everywhere at the same time
In other news, Sound Transit continues to be stymied by that modern, state-of-the-art innovation—a functional escalator.
I HAVE to register? I cannot just keep using my unregistered card and top it off at the vending machines every now and then?
Show me your papers!
I think you still can do this. The article says cash will be accepted..but I guess we’ll find out
They removed the ability to cancel a Link trip by “tapping off” at the same station you “tapped on” at. Now, it displays a message that you’ve already paid, and charges max fare.