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A few things:
SFMTA is inviting an exclusive number of Muni customers to take part of the TransLink trial group and help get the system up to snuff. "The TransLink system is a new, convenient way to pay for transit rides in the Bay Area," claims the SFMTA site.
Except that it is not new -- it's been around for nearly 20 years. Sadly, for exactly zero of those years has it been a convenient way to pay for transit rides. Also, they've been in a trial phase for well over a year now, but we're splitting hairs here.
But the almost exciting news is this: SFist has been invited to Wednesday's SFMTA kick off party for the Muni trial of TransLink. (Who how what in the hell?!) And so have you! In addition to the promise of free hors d'oeuvres, you can learn how to get a free TransLink card and schmooze with public transit overlords. And more!
It happens tomorrow, Wednesday, 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at the SFMTA headquarters, One South Van Ness (the atrium, 2nd floor). RSVP to TransLinkRSVP[at]SFMTA[dot]com.
Ideally, we'd send SFist Matt Baume over with an armed escort, but even bodyguards packing heat might not be protective enough.
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It's worked perfectly with my 2002 vintage test card for at least the last six months or so.
Tomorrow makes it Tuesday.
Yeah, I'm not part of any "trial group" or anything, but I got a Translink card for the sole reason that it saves me time when I have to loan my fastpass to someone or if I forget to get it for some reason (it's not very cost effective unless you take a lot of muni trips for the entire month. Wait a week and most people are better off paying cash).
It works fine, although I find that I have to tag the sensor twice a lot, which is annoying.
It does have the plus of letting me in faregates that are "exit" gates in the station. Of course, with a fast pass, I could just use the handicapped entrance when it's crowded.
Personally I wish BART and Muni would get MARTA-style gates that are not jumpable --that would help against fare evaders, or NYC-style "revolving door" gates for similar reasons.
I rsvp'd but never heard back from 'em. which is too bad because it would be nice to at least try out the thing, maybe loan it to friends visiting from out of town to spare them the pain and suffering of paying cash on a rainy day on MUNI....
Same here. Been using my original Translink test card on Muni for a while now. So much better than Fast Pass or cash.
it's One SOUTH Van Ness.
I think you meant "packing heat," but "packing heart" would be a tender moment I wouldn't want to miss.
The Metro FastPass Cards in DC work perfectly and on all transporation--bus and metro. I don't know why we can't get ours to work properly.
but of course. why would MUNI have an email account that works, considering the daily nightmare that is, well, MUNI.
from my inbox, post sending an RSVP for tomorrow nights hoo-ha:
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
TransLinkRSVP@sfmta.org
Technical details of permanent failure:
We tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.7.1 ... Relaying denied. Proper authentication required. (state 14).
Incidentally, my internet connection also needs to be repaired. Good god, its like Muni runs my ISP.
comment fail...I tried stopping that first one I made from going up because right when I hit "post" the email arrived. d'oh!!!
wow this is just weird internet day...how'd I get two identical comments?
In DC is run by one company. Isn't translink trying to be the one system to unite them all?
My translink card works just fine, thank you.
Except that it doesn't work on Bart. /sigh
Okay, obviously you can't pack heat to this little party, but packing a cream pie for some Muni functionary wouldn't be against the law...
periqueblend: true, but that shouldn't change anything. The system doesn't get that much more complex because you are using different carriers.
The problem is that DC's system works well because one manufacturer makes the cards and readers.
Unfortunately, Translink runs on Motorola ERG's programming, and while it works fine on most systems since Translink contractors installs the readers, BART is a problem because the gates are not made for Motorola ERG, it's made for Cubic (just like DC's program).
All San Franciscans pack heart. Which we leave here upon departure.
I did not receive a letter or email letting me know that I was accepted into the trial group. However, if you signed up on the survey earlier in November, you should check Translink online if you have the option to add the Fast Pass. If they had given me some sort of notification, I would have bought a Fast Pass via Translink instead of a paper one.
@Plug 1, perhaps you could try TransLinkRSVP[at]sfmta[dot]com
That's odd, I also have the Fast Pass option available on my translink account. But sure as hell, I'm not going to sign-up for that.
Sometimes you need the paper pass, like for BART, Cable Cars, and bus drivers who would get pissed at you for using that green card.
Back in the day they would send you a sticker. My Translink card still has the MUNI #0008 and #0006 stickers from that time.
To all you people who want to try it out, You can already haz teh Translink. Just go buy one. Since it's already "official" on Golden Gate Transit and AC Transit, you can just go buy one at any of the authorized sales locations for it!
Go to http://www.translink.org/ and find a location. I bought mine at one of the downtown Walgreens locations.
Put money on it, it works just fine on Muni. The only limitation is you can't use it as a Fast Pass, just as cash fare.
You don't need to be part of a special test group to have Translink.
I also got stickers! See here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentakit/2389489696/
Just to note SFHope: Although you could use it on Muni, if you run into one of those fare inspectors and they write you a citation, you might lose on appeal because Muni could argue that you were not part of the test group.
On the opposite hand, if you were part of the test group and got cited, the appeal would be successful.
i saw translink working on the f-market the other night. seriously!
I saw some guy use it on the 71 sometime last week. He seemed surprised when it worked.
Yeah, I use it all the time and it works well almost all the time. On the rare occasion that it doesn't the driver usually just realizes that I'm trying to tag it and doesn't care.
This is just yet another "official" testing period. The only important part is that it will allow you to put a revolving FastPass on your card instead of just paying cash. It won't yet work on BART either.
Getting this up and running should have taken two years at most. I can't believe it's still going on.