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Port Authority ConnectCard is now available (free) without a pass

I didn't see any announcement about this, but when I went into Giant Eagle to buy some more bus tickets, I was told they didn't have any - but I could get a ConnectCard smart card. They've been out for a while but last I heard you had to buy a pass to get one - not anymore. You can put from $0.50 to $200.00 on it and if you register it with PAT (which unfortunately takes a phone call at the moment) you can get the balance back if you lose it. I don't ride the bus a whole lot but it's definitely nice to have the option (in case of breakdown, intoxication, hot weather, laziness, etc) without having to worry about having cash/change.
salty
2013-04-28 21:31:09
So, to be clear, the dollar value you put on it doesn't expire? I'm also an infrequent rider (mechanical difficulties mainly) so it would take an indeterminate number months to go through even a very nominal amount. But I don't always have cash (at least, not exact change), so it sounds like a nice insurance policy.
byogman
2013-04-28 21:59:34
correct. it is a non-expiring rechargeable card. so you can load a few bucks on it and carry it for emergencies. the amount placed on the card stays until used. you can recharge @ giant eagles, the port authority station on smithfield, or the self service machines in the subway stations. the rechargers take plastic or cash. i've been using one since december, its actually really nice. the registration option is really cool too.
pbeaver
2013-04-28 22:06:47
There was something in the brochure saying it becomes inactive after a year of no use, and then you have to call to reactivate it or get a refund. That seems like a bit of a PITA, although at least you don't lose the money.
salty
2013-04-28 22:36:47
I'm going to get one of these this week. Thanks for the heads up, Salty.
scott
2013-04-28 23:44:04
That is awesome! I've been waiting for this, I'd love to have a card with a small amount on it in case of emergency. ( Either a mid-ride break down or the "too tired/late to bike home" moments.) Tonight is grocery night, so I'll have to pick one up.
myddrin
2013-04-29 08:05:12
It doesn't look like you can add value to the card online. I've been using tickets because I buy them through work and they get mailed to the office. I would much rather convert to the card, but if I have to physically visit an office or machine to load value, this will make it impossible to load with a business card. It says that will happen eventually, but for now that is a drawback.
edmonds59
2013-04-29 08:20:53
I was just lamenting the fact that this wasn't available yet. Great news.
rsprake
2013-04-29 08:55:04
I'll add, as someone who's been forced to used the card since December, that the number of ATM networks supported is quite limited. I had to run my card as credit instead of debit. And my experience adding money to the card at T stations has been pretty iffy at best. About 50% of the time they don't seem to work. I miss the tickets already, too. Mostly because of the ridiculous surcharge for peak T hours. They do have a pilot program for online recharging but it's limited to a small number of routes.
mrdestructicity
2013-04-29 09:33:34
FWIW, I've added money to my ConnectCard pass with balance 3 or 4 times using a credit card, and it's gone through fine. (Only problem was with the printed receipts. They tend to get stuck, and you may get the receipt of whoever used the machine just before you. That happened to me once. They say they're working on it.)
steven
2013-04-29 10:42:51
I was Person #1 to purchase a ConnectCard back in Feb 2012, putting an annual pass on it. I've since renewed the annual. I also lost my wallet last October, and getting a replacement CC was quite simple, though I had to go to the Smithfield St Service Center to do it. Yes, this is non-expiring fare. My son has one, too, and uses it sporadically. An ideal situation for sticking $20 or so on it and just keeping it around for the reasons salty mentioned in the OP. Also, you can already purchase weekly and monthly passes and have them encoded on the card. One tip: If you plan to make a transfer, you have to tell the driver on both legs of the trip, or else you get charged full fare for both trips. @edmonds59: The last set of people they are going to convert to the card is those who buy their fare through their employer. Kinda sucks, IMHO; seems those would be the easy people to convert.
stuinmccandless
2013-04-29 12:50:04
Love it. Though be forewarned, you have to wait for the little light on the farebox to turn green before you put your card down (flat against the box, not on the corner like the video shows). If you do what I did the first time, and jump the gun, it will get angry and have to reset. And those extra 2.5 seconds piss off everyone around you.
pinky
2013-04-29 13:57:24
So, this has definitely increased the number of bus trips I've taken - I'm down to $15 or so from my initial $50, in a little over a month. Part of that is because my wife has been riding the bus more as well, we've been taking the bus and/or walking pretty much everywhere lately. I did run into an unanticipated situation the other night, taking the 67/69 outbound at night (so it's pay when you get on), I got charged $3.75 for a 2-zone fare even though I was staying in zone 1. I noticed it right after I swiped the card - I'm not sure if getting a refund was an option but the bus was already late so I didn't want to get into a big thing with the driver. I guess you have to tell the driver if you're only going one zone in that situation and they can adjust the fare. It would be nice if that could happen without any driver intervention, although I'm not sure exactly how it could work unless you had to swipe when getting on and off, which would be worse. Also, I was disappointed that when I went to the kiosks by the Negley Ave busway station, they were not operational - the screens weren't on at all and no amount of swiping/button pushing woke them up. Do they shut off at some point (seems nonsensical, it was around 10pm) or were they just broken?
salty
2013-06-03 23:45:55
I'd guess that kiosk just isn't fully hooked up yet. They were still working on the one at Lytle station too a few weeks ago. Maybe others. You can call them up and get a refund for the incorrect fare charged. Some T stations will get "validators" (those gadgets that resemble fancy parking meters), which let you swipe your card before you board without standing in line at a booth. They appear to have a switch so you can tell it how many zones you're riding.
steven
2013-06-04 02:13:46
This card thing is awesome, it was way more convenient than dealing with a monthly pass, tickets, or cash. I just tap my wallet on the reader and keep walking. It still needs a way to load value online, but that's about it. No real complaints otherwise. Haven't tried this with the T or transfers yet, but it's nice to always have it in my wallet in case of a flat or too many beers. Combine this with bus arrival information via GPS and I feel like we're actually moving in to the 21st century.
benzo
2013-06-04 08:36:03
I like having one of these cards, Its a good thing to have for an emergency (like a random flat or rain.) Its nice that you dont have to carry a random allotment of cash / stop at a store to break a larger bill. When using one for a transfer, you need to inform the bus driver before you tap the card, then they are supposed to charge you for the trip & transfer at the same time, so you avoid paying a second full fare.
pbeaver
2013-06-04 09:17:31
I was charged 3.75 for a zone 1 trip in January. I tweeted "@PGHtransit I think the 3218 p1 outbound at 7:13pm just charged my connect card $3.75. I thought it should be $2.50. Can we sort this out?" We got in touch, they called me, and I got my refund.
joeframbach
2013-06-04 09:23:12
pbeaves wrote:When using one for a transfer, you need to inform the bus driver before you tap the card, then they are supposed to charge you for the trip & transfer at the same time, so you avoid paying a second full fare.
Do you still get a paper transfer ticket?
benzo
2013-06-04 10:30:46
Yes, you still get a paper transfer slip, although they're supposed to eventually automate it. Having a button to select 1 or 2 zones would be great.
salty
2013-06-04 18:40:09
Sometime in the not-distant but not-near future, they're supposed to publish a new fare policy. I still don't know what it is, but the earliest we might see it is January, maybe July of next year. They've changed the fares and zones any number of times, but structurally it's pretty much the same thing it was 25 years ago. Myself, I dropped the big wad and got an annual pass. The nicest thing about that is never having to think about what it costs to ride the system. I have my card; I ride. I ride it four times a day, or I go four days without a ride, no difference. It's a state of mind. I just wish I could get 50,000 more people to think like me.
stuinmccandless
2013-06-04 22:32:59
StuInMcCandless wrote:It’s a state of mind. I just wish I could get 50,000 more people to think like me.
I tried to use T outbound on May 17th (bike to work day) after FLOC ride. It was 22:05 when blue line came and driver claimed that it carries too many people even I boarded and put bike along drivers cabin in the second car. So his proposal was to wait for another train. With this level of services I don't think I am going to use PAT service too often. If I would use it at all. PS Three years ago my daughter and I were using T and buses to get from zone 2 to downtown (me) and another zone 2 (my daughter). And then they cut 56C and PAT lost 2 riders right away. Since we were going with monthly passes and parking at SHVG around $2,600 then and about $3,600 now.
mikhail
2013-06-05 15:43:52
Ignorant drivers do not help matters.
stuinmccandless
2013-06-06 05:32:29
This weekend I had a connect card and attempted to use it to get home from the library T stop as I had just rode the montour trail and wanted to get back downtown. Unfortunately, the connect card I had was marked as inactive. It just told me the card was inactive and wouldn't let me proceed with any actions. The machine told me that the last time it was used was in January 2014, so it's unlikely that it should have been deactivated due to being unused for a year. The ticket machine would not let me add money with a credit card. and the people on the port authority help line couldn't do anything nor could they tell me why my card was no longer active. Their solution was that I was supposed to go downtown to the service center, which opens after I get to work and closes before I leave work everyday and is not open on the weekend at all. I was frustrated and didn't have cash. This is not convenient. I'm not going to buy another connectcard until they get a help line that can actually do something like activate a card or a website that allows me to manage my card balance online and could do something like notify me when my card is being deactivated so that I could actually be prepared to deal with this ahead of time instead of having to deal with it at the time I'm trying to board a bus or train. I do have my card registered for balance protection, so at least I might be able to recover the balance if I ever make it downtown during their limited business hours.
benzo
2014-07-21 10:18:28
Sorry this happened. I just checked the back of my card and it says, "This card will become invalid if inactive for 1 year". That said, it's a stupid policy. I have value loaded on a card in an event I have a way to get to work in the event of an emergency mechanical or similar. If that's true, I just burned $25 if there isn't a protocol to use to ensure that it stays active, even if I don't use it. I put in an inquiry with Port Authority to see if there was a way to keep it active and will report back once I find out something.
ka_jun
2014-07-21 12:26:38
The fare card machine indicated that my card was used january of this year (I don't remember whether this is the truth or not, I don't ride the bus often). If the machine was right, then there is no reason it should have been deactivated.
benzo
2014-07-21 13:33:36
Or maybe it means that if I didn't put money on it in the last year it gets deactivated. Because then it's a problem, because I just dumped $50 at a time on to it to cover travel expenses when I had a broken hand. I just kept whittling down the balance slowly after I recovered and started riding daily again.
benzo
2014-07-21 13:34:57
Keep 'em coming, folks. I pass them along to PAT staff at ACTC meetings, and it keeps me informed as to what others run into. I ride much less than I used to, but rarely go a week without at least one ride, so I don't see this sort of problem. On some of the other things mentioned in earlier posts, the electronic transfer is likely going to be the next thing implemented, probably by year's end. (Why this is taking sooooo long to roll out, I don't know. They started the process in 2009 by getting the Pitt and CMU ID cards converted, but even then it wasn't until mid-2011 they actually used them.)
stuinmccandless
2014-07-21 21:09:25
Thanks stu. I'm glad my internet ranting might actually be more than just blowing off steam...
benzo
2014-07-22 07:57:04
Man, that does blow. I don't remember when I bought my card, but I haven't used it since. Not sure if it was before or after January. I'll be in the same situation since I don't use my card at all essentially, just have it as a backup. This crap of having to go downtown is also annoying. Not everybody in the county feels like going downtown to get a piece of plastic.
sgtjonson
2014-07-22 15:13:09
You don't have to go downtown just to get a ConnectCard. They're available at Giant Eagles and some other stores. And PAT can fix some ConnectCard problems over the phone (if you get overcharged, for instance), but seemingly not a card that's been deactivated for no apparent reason. Benzo, it sounds as if the rep you spoke to was planning to treat your card problem like a lost or stolen card, and figured the downtown service center would just give you a replacement. It's possible a different rep would know how to reactivate your existing card over the phone, especially if you originally called PAT over the weekend. I think their ConnectCard-specific customer service reps only work weekdays. Pierce, you might consider checking your card from time to time at one of their ConnectCard machines, located at many T and busway stations. Eventually their web site will let you do that too, and even tell you when you last used or refilled it.
steven
2014-07-23 00:56:29
I just called Port Authority about re-activating my ConnectCard (which I haven't used since I left Pittsburgh in May of 2013) for my upcoming visit, and the person on the phone claimed that all I need to do is add money at one of the machines or a store, and it will automatically re-activate and add the new amount to what was left on the card. I will try this in a week at the airport and see how it goes.
jeg
2014-07-23 07:18:52
I was not able to add value at the machine :(
benzo
2014-07-23 07:45:46
Yes, after reading this thread I called to make sure, and am still dubious. Either the people on the phone don't have the whole story, or something else happened to your card (maybe the magnetic sensor or whatever they use got damaged?). Luckily I will probably have a ride from the airport!
jeg
2014-07-23 10:45:29
I haven't heard back from Port Authority, yet, but from what @jeg is saying, I have to add value to "re-activate" a card that hasn't been used for a year? If so, that's lame.
ka_jun
2014-07-23 13:19:36
I think I have a farecard that hasn't been used in six months (my wife's). I will borrow it and try a few things. I need for it to be working, if only for my own peace of mind. It normally sits for months at a time, but is expected to work with zero notice. If this is the way they're supposed to work, that's a problem.
stuinmccandless
2014-07-23 13:54:57
It sounds to me like Port Authority's fare card system is about as functional (or dys- as the case may be) as ATM cards from 1983.
edmonds59
2014-07-23 17:50:30
Right, no transit organization wants a liability on their books that perpetually increases with no limit. And if you look at it as a dormant-account maintenance fee, paying (say) $5 a year with a full $5 credit toward fare to keep an account active is pretty cheap as such things go. But if the card says one year, it needs to be one year, not six months (and two or three years would be better, and still address the unbounded-liability problem well enough, I'd think). PAT should be communicating the details in more places than the back of a card. Expiration rules should be on their web site. Once the online ConnectCard site goes live, it should send an email reminder. And if you swipe your cash-balance card (at a fare box, ConnectCard machine, Giant Eagle, or other places that refill cards) it should show the expiration date. (In fact, it would be nice if just checking your balance was enough to show the card was still active, and give you another year or two.)
steven
2014-07-23 21:47:30
FWIW, the back of the card has wording which makes it sound like generic placeholder text: "This card will become invalid if inactive for one (1) year. Please consult your participating regional transit authority regarding its replacement or reactivation policy." There's not even a number on the card to call
sgtjonson
2014-07-24 12:28:53
@steven "And if you swipe your cash-balance card (at a fare box, ConnectCard machine, Giant Eagle, or other places that refill cards) it should show the expiration date. (In fact, it would be nice if just checking your balance was enough to show the card was still active, and give you another year or two.) " ^this. I checked my card at the Smithfield service center and I can see the balance on there, but have no idea if it's "inactive" or what. It would be a less than optimal outcome to one day need it like @benzo and then find out it was no good.
ka_jun
2014-07-24 14:16:20
The card was supposed to be used by multiple regional transit agencies, hence the generic messages. But as far as I know, PAT is the only one using it so far. Westmoreland County Transit just got all new fareboxes (not turned on yet though), and they don't appear to have any provision for ConnectCards. Maybe one of the others in the area has plans for it.
steven
2014-07-25 02:22:07
Turns out my wife's pass was fine after having not been used since October, so at least it's not six months to invalidation. Much as I feel that automatic invalidation is a stupid idea, I can kinda see their point. Simple solution: Ride a bus every once in a while! Also, to Steven's point, I believe the plan is for all area transit agencies to use the same system, though it may look differently in other systems. Pitt and CMU ID cards are essentially ConnectCards, with other, university-specific information encoded on the embedded chip.
stuinmccandless
2014-07-25 05:16:17
I just can't wait for the website. I may break down and buy a connect card with $10 or so at giant eagle so I have something for now and then see if I can get them to transfer my balance from my old card (which was registered for balance protection) to my new one. I have no clue when I'll actually get downtown to do it since the port authority service center hours totally suck, it's kind of not even worth it to take off early from work to make it downtown in time recover my $5 or $10 balance.
benzo
2014-07-25 08:21:58
It's irritating that they can't do that over the phone, particularly for a registered card.
stuinmccandless
2014-07-25 09:14:13
Speaking from ignorance (and an inability to locate the info on PAT's webpage): do the tickets that you can purchase in a ten-ticket trip book expire? If not, then the ConnectCard is a significant step backwards, at least in one respect. (Not to say that there aren't plenty of benefits that outweigh this sole detriment, but it does call into question the need for PAT to force expiration of electronic tickets, when the paper tickets cause them to carry the same financial liability of "there are X dollars worth of prepaid fares in the wild which we must honor".)
reddan
2014-07-25 10:11:54
They (paper) do expire. I have a partially used ticket book I bought in 2007 or 2008 just to have them if my daughter needs them (at the time she used T from time to time and before she became a PSU student). In 2011 they refused to accept them motivating that fare raised a couple of times and I did not find a way to get cash back.
mikhail
2014-07-25 11:44:09
Thanks for the info, Mikhail. Good to know.
reddan
2014-07-25 11:54:29
They expire when fares change.
stuinmccandless
2014-07-25 12:04:22
I don't think the liability issue warrants cancelling the value of the cards. Are people using prepaid cards from a year ago going to cripple the system? Assuming the Port Authority raises rates along with inflation, they shouldn't stand to lose anything
sgtjonson
2014-07-25 13:53:57
@Pierce: I agree, but suspect they're trying to keep the bits in the database from getting frozen in place if they're stationary for too long. ;-)
reddan
2014-07-25 14:00:12
Well, I got to the airport, found the ConnectCard machine and (as I feared) it said the card was inactive, there was no way to re-activate or add money, and the customer service hours were already over. Great. It also said the card was last used on May 9th 2014, which is false. I suspect it was actually last used on that date in 2013. Good thing I had a ride. Will call Port Authority tomorrow. :/
jeg
2014-07-30 20:46:04
Here's PAT's answer. "Thank you for contacting Port Authority.We apologize for the inconvenience. When the year is almost up take your card to the Service Center at 534 Smithfield St, Pgh, PA 15222. Your funds will be transferred to a new connect card. Thank you for taking the time to write, Port Authority appreciates it and takes all comments into consideration." Doesn't particularly seem responsive to my question, seeing as I haven't seen any means to assess "when the year is almost up" via either the kiosk, the service center rep I asked on Smithfield, or online. That said, I used it the other day and had no issues.
ka_jun
2014-08-11 21:54:53
Regardless of the reasoning behind invalidating inactive cards, I still think it's wrong. @jeg's case is a perfect example. You head overseas for a year, you fly back to Pittsburgh late at night, there is still one 28X you could catch (assume there is, for this discussion), you know you still had sufficient funds on the card, you expect that it Should Just Work. At the very least, make it possible to re-activate the card at a kiosk. The alternatives are a $50 taxi ride (a guess, anyone want to correct that?), dragging a friend or relative out of bed to drive to the airport to rescue you, or jettisoning altogether the idea of using transit in the first place because the system is not reliable.
stuinmccandless
2014-08-12 04:22:34
Took me a trip to Giant Eagle, 2 trips to the downtown service center, talking to 3 customer service people who could not help me, and finally calling and seeing a manager to get my $17.50 transferred to a new card. If I hadn't been on vacation and visiting people/doing stuff downtown already, this would have been a huge pain and I would have spent more than half of that just getting there... They claimed my particular card wasn't in the system at all, so could only be re-activated by a manager, all of whom had conveniently gone home by 4 pm the first day I was there. Since I got the card at a Giant Eagle soon after they began offering them with cash balances, this could have legitimately been due to an error made at purchase. Of course, I'm not a typical customer (will probably be in Pittsburgh for ~2 weeks a year for the next few years), but after this experience I don't think it's worth keeping a ConnectCard just for emergencies if you don't regularly ride the bus. Just keep up with fare changes and have exact change set aside for this case. I'll be giving mine (2 of them, since two people can't use the same card under any circumstances) to local friends and buying a new one or using cash next time I'm in town. Also, they really should sell ConnectCards at the airport!
jeg
2014-08-12 08:46:17
^"since two people can’t use the same card under any circumstances" What? That is the most stupidest thing I've heard about these cards.
marko82
2014-08-12 09:28:00
You cannot use it to pay for two or more people at the same ride. But you can ride, pay, and give it to another person to ride, pay, and give it...
mikhail
2014-08-12 11:12:55
I think one reason two people can't use the same card is to prevent accidental double-charging. They're also supposedly working on automatic transfers which would get messy with multiple people involved. So, there are reasons for it - although it would be cool if there was some way to override it. As far as getting "stranded", take a $20 bill (or $5 or whatever) and stick it in some corner of your wallet for emergencies. You can likely find someone to make change for you, and I've had the driver let me ride for free before in a pinch. It probably helps if you're nice to the driver and avoid going on a big "PAT sucks" rant and stuff.
salty
2014-08-13 02:29:16
If you want to ride for free, your best bet is to just carry a $2 bill and a 50-cent piece on board (and nothing else), and try to feed the farebox with it. It will accept neither, but drivers usually are easier on people who actually have the fare on them and actively do try to pay.
stuinmccandless
2014-08-13 05:12:42
Yeah, I should have clarified "for the same ride." And I must say, although the experience was frustrating, everyone with whom I spoke was friendly and tried to be helpful. @StuInMcCandless LOL!
jeg
2014-08-13 07:16:22
In addition to not allowing a ConnectCard to be used for more than one person on the same ride, they also forbid subtracting partial fares. I got a flat one night and had my trusty Card with me, but it only had a balance of $1.50. Since I had $1 in my pocket I thought I could apply the card balance and then use cash. The fare box would not accept the transaction that way, nor would it accept putting the cash in first and then tapping my card to pay the difference. Luckily, I was able to dig out more cash from my bag, but it was a pain in the ass. The ConnectCard seems like a great concept at first, but the execution has been far less than ideal.
jaysherman5000
2014-08-13 08:06:21
"Port Authority to accept online payments for ConnectCards" Awesome, I frequently need to check my balance BEFORE I get to a station as I sometimes don't have enough on the card for a single trip. Thankfully, T stations have kiosks, but someday I'm going to be a a bus stop where that isn't a luxury.
rustyred
2015-04-10 18:06:45
Nice to see this is happening, but it was in process in February 2008. The cards themselves have been in the general public's hands since February 2012. The glacial pace of progress is just maddening.
stuinmccandless
2015-04-12 10:40:35
Fareboxes on buses and railcars will download online purchase information while at the garage, so a purchase made late at night after the download won't be recognized at the farebox the next day, authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said. Likewise, a purchase at mid-morning might not be recognized until the vehicle returns to the garage. A weekly pass purchased on Monday morning might not work until Tuesday.
It sounds like BS since you can add cash value at "vending machine" and suddenly it available at any bus and T without those to go to a garage. So those vending machines and buses/T-cars communicate with each other. What prevents communication of office computer and the same buses/T-cars?
mikhail
2015-04-12 16:56:11
Those of us who work in software know that distributing updates over a network is a solvable problem, one that has been solved for a long, long time. Structurally, this is no different from a corporate virus detection server which checks for updates every 15 minutes, and pushes that update to every PC in the company in a matter of a few minutes, including the laptops scattered hither and yon over WiFi connections on the company VPN. Why this isn't already part of the radio system (that they had to replace in 2012), I do not know.
stuinmccandless
2015-04-12 18:34:58
So those vending machines and buses/T-cars communicate with each other. What prevents communication of office computer and the same buses/T-cars? I'm guessing the vending machine info gets to the farebox by means of the card. When you have to tap your card again, after putting money on it, the vending machine records your new purchase, and later the farebox reads your purchase off the card. That suggests the farebox has no real-time communication at all. It only knows what it downloaded at the garage that morning, and what it sees on the cards. I can see some sense in wanting to keep money-related data off radio. You have to worry more about the system getting hacked, if anyone in radio range can do it remotely.
steven
2015-04-13 11:15:52
Security through absurdity. I mean obscurity.
benzo
2015-04-13 12:40:08
@benzo, I don't think it's absurd. The vending machine verifies that the funds transfer has taken place and writes the card. It also has to communicate the update back to the server but that doesn't have to happen in real-time, just say daily so that if the card is lost and was registered the balance can be recovered. From the web, the transaction can be verified, but it has to be sent to all buses for the card to work. They probably don't have a city-wide network for updating the fare collection machines -- they probably just communicate with them at the garages. So the fare update from the web can't happen until the bus has been at a garage.
jonawebb
2015-04-13 13:50:27
I'm actually pretty fine how the cards will work when this website is implemented. I'm surprised it took them so long to get this launched. I guess I'm still sore that I got one of the first batches of connect cards that deactivated itself despite using it and having funds on it, and not wanting to leave work early to go down to the service center downtown to get a new card.
benzo
2015-04-13 15:35:11
I doubt that card holds it. It would violate a lot security principles. Plus vending machines accept credit cards and bank do not have any info on strips (by the same security principles). If vending machine does not wait until bank transaction is written then I would become reach really fast with my expired credit card (I would specifically buy non registered connect card and load them with money from my expired card). So vending machines do have connection to an internet (probably not the Internet, but I would doubt it again). I think (I'll try to check it at work) Connect Card is a regular RFID card.
mikhail
2015-04-13 20:30:28
@Mikhail, not to belabor the point, but it's not a question of whether the vending machine is connected to the network; it's a question of whether the design can assume a 100% reliable network connection to the fare terminals on the bus. If not, the card has to hold value.
jonawebb
2015-04-14 07:37:07
BTW I added some money to my Connect Card using the website (which, BTW, is a really horrible IT design). It DID NOT WORK at first. I used my card the next day and the reader said my card was Expired (not zero funds -- expired. I'd had a positive balance before adding more funds). Then a few days later everything was OK, card read, balance OK, etc. So I would be cautious about using the site. Maybe carry some cash in case the card doesn't work at first and you have to pay.
jonawebb
2015-04-24 12:58:19
Regarding the new online account management feature, note that if you had registered your ConnectCard for balance protection prior to the new online system being available, you'll have to call the customer service line so they can set up the online account for you. It's mentioned on the website, but impatient souls might not read that far. This is silly but it doesn't take long to do, though I suppose this will cause registered card users to complain that the website "doesn't work" when they try to create their online account. Also, as Jon said, the IT design is not very good. Baby steps, I guess
chrishent
2015-04-28 10:38:43
Maybe allegheny county needs to get their own I&P department going, to help dig themselves out of the dark ages of technology.
benzo
2015-04-28 11:13:48
FYI, the Port Authority recently launched a website for collecting user input on their services: http://wheretonext.portauthority.org/ Once you register, you can submit ideas and can also answer questions regarding their current fare structure under the "Discussions" tab. The website, of course, is a work in progress
chrishent
2015-08-11 15:12:42
Kind of reminds me of the BikePGH website @Benzo No money for I&P, willing to bet 95% chance it was just dumped on already swamped IT department :)
sgtjonson
2015-08-11 17:03:20
Would be awesome if the bus was an animated gif where the marquee switched
sgtjonson
2015-08-11 17:04:24
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I didn't know where else to ask this: My ConnectCard stopped working in the last couple months. Every time I tapped it, I got a "TRANSACTION NOT OKAY" message. I would have to wait for it to reload, then tap again, and I would be fine. Today, I spent half an hour waiting in line to get a replacement ConnectCard, which I was planning on using on the bus home today, and tomorrow as well. When handing me my shiny new ConnectCard, the guy at the Port Authority window told me that I had to register my card. So, I get back to my office and look up how to register my card. The Port Authority website tells me that I have to call (412) 442-2000 to register my card. Okay! So I do. First problem: the menu tree that you go through when you call that number does not include a prompt for "register your ConnectCard." Seems kinda poorly thought out, but whatever. I get a hold of a customer service rep and tell him that I'm calling to register my card. Second problem: I'm told that "You have to wait 24 hours to register a card." That... can't possibly be right, right? I can't use my new ConnectCard right away, I have to wait 24 hours? That's kinda terrible, no? To bring this back to bikes: my plan on days that I did not bus/bike in was to drive to a cheaper downtown lot and then use the free 15-minute bike ride to reach my destination. That will be very cool.
doublestraps
2017-10-02 16:11:05
sounds like you need to call if you are replacing an already registered connect card with another one-- Online: Click here to go to the ConnectCard Management System. Choose one of the following links: " Create Online Account" - allows new customers to set up an account. If you registered your ConnectCard for balance protection earlier with Customer Service, but did not set up a web account at that time, DO NOT use the "Create Online Account" button. Please call Customer Service at 412-442-2000 for assistance.   http://www.connectcard.org/faqs.aspx   Also, re: the connect card, will it give everyone a free 15 min ride, or only those that use a bus beforehand?  Or is the system not smart enough to figure this out?  Because it looks like you can buy a new connectcard for $1, not put any balance on it, and then ride the bikes 15 min at a time to get around downtown.  Maybe a cheap way for someone who is downtown to get from place to place for a meeting.
edronline
2017-10-02 17:22:33