'Smart Card' Technology Proving Troublesome To Bay Area Transit Operators

"Frequently touted as the future of Bay Area transit -- allowing commuters to move seamlessly from bus to train to ferry with one plastic fare-card that is paid for by cash or credit -- Translink has seen costs essentially double every four years -- before the system has been put into widespread use, expected to be around 2009.

In 1999, the budget stood at $38 million. By 2003, it had gone up to $79 million. Now, it stands at $150 million."

"'No one is happy we're having this kind of delay, but part of the problem is the fact we're trying to integrate more than two dozen transit operators, and some of them haven't ever had a modern fare collection system,' said Randy Rentschler of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a planning and funding body that has taken the lead in implementing Translink."

"A pilot program in 2002 -- a year later than originally planned -- proved immensely popular for 4,000 test commuters, so officials agreed to expand the Translink system to all Bay Area transit systems."