Talk:SmarTrip

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Contents 1 Source? 2 New Smartrip-only faregates 3 Other Local Transit Systems 4 Misleading Verbiage 5 Adoption by other local systems 6 WikiProject class rating

[edit] Source?

What is the source for the information added in the revision for 10:32, 11 February 2006 by 211.30.67.186? That's the whole bit about ERG (which is undefined in the text) and Northrop Grumman in regards to Smartrip.

I smell a possible copyvio on that one, since it reads like a brochure and is not smoothly integrated into the article. I hope I'm wrong on the copyvio point, but that was my gut feeling. SchuminWeb (Talk) 11:23, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Well becides it's actucual relevance to the article as a whole, it is a copy-vio from www.erggroup.com/annualreport/2003/content/roo_transitsystems.pdf , so i went ahead and removed it. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 08:50, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Smartrip-only faregates

I presume by now at least someone has seen the new Smartrip-wrapped faregates. I saw them this morning on the way to work in both Bethesda and Pentagon City. I remember reading something about a Smartrip pilot, but does anyone happen to have a link to this so we can add it to the article? Also, if anyone has a camera on them, can they snap a picture-mine's in the shop.

As for subjective comments-a surprising number of people seemed confused by the things-despite their BRIGHT blue color and apparent lack of a farecard slot. When there are fewer of them, like in Pentagon City, people seem to avoid them, while in Bethesda, where there were 5 or 6 of them (2-3 each way), people aimlessly tried to put their cards in nonexistant slots. I think they're certainly worth mentioning as well as including a picture-the color is a welcome departure from Metro's normally minimalist scheme. -Rmeskill 14:02, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

No photo, no problem. I'm going to be up that way next week, and I'll snap off a few shots. Are there any other stations containing this feature besides Pentagon City and Bethesda? SchuminWeb (Talk) 01:50, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

They're also at Vienna, which is what I consider my "home" station (i.e. where I park when I'm up that way). I fired off a few shots, and I'll be posting one momentarily. SchuminWeb (Talk) 06:58, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Other Local Transit Systems

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think I read somewhere that plans were afoot to allow SmartTrip to be used on the non-WMATA transit systems, like those run by Montgomery and Fairfax counties. Does anyone have any sources on this? --Cjs56 17:21, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

My understanding is that you are correct, that there are plans to implement SmarTrip on the various regional bus operations. A friend of mine said that DASH will eventually get it, but was unsure of when. I'll do a little digging and see what I can find... SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:42, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Misleading Verbiage

"Other regional bus systems in neighboring Virginia and Maryland have adopted SmarTrip readers due to its success on WMATA Metrobuses."

This is misleading because it implies that the local systems didn't have plans to implement SmarTrip and just saw WMATA making lots of money with them; this is not the case. SmarTrip was to be an integrated network from day one, with Metro leading the project. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.239.80.167 (talk • contribs) 21:22, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adoption by other local systems

SmarTrip was adopted by local bus systems in the following order:

DASH (Alexandria) - February 2007

• first system outside of WMATA (Circulator is managed by WMATA) to fully implement SmarTrip

Ride On (Montgomery) - April 2007 Fairfax Connector - May 2007 PRTC (Prince William) - June 2007 CUE, ART - Summer 2007 Last I was told, PG TheBus will not be participating; this might have changed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.239.80.167 (talk • contribs) 21:25, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

That's nice to hear, but what we need are reliable, documented sources for this kind of information. The implementation information should be included in the cited sources. If it isn't, we need to get better sources. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 10:13, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

I was about to say, it shouldn't be that hard to find cited sources for such things, since that would be something that would get published somewhere, even if just in a passing reference. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:02, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

You would think that. Unfortunately, I've found that these local public-transporation systems sometimes don't bother to announce that they have done something, like add SmarTrip. Some of their press releases seem more calculated to reduce phone calls from anxious passengers (e.g., "yes, it's coming Real Soon Now") than to apprise them of completed events. Nor have I noticed that Washington-area news agencies find SmarTrip status a compelling news item, at least when compared to major traffic accidents and the latest DC scandal. I guess we'll have to dig a little deeper. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 01:05, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

For what it's worth, PRTC says they're still waiting for changes to SmarTrip before they will accept it, specifically, the ability to load passes onto SmarTrip. The latest OmniRide newsletter said this would be done "by summer 2008", but I'm hoping it'll be sooner than that (tokens are a pain). -lee 20:35, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Finally, a firm date for PRTC. The January 2008 OmniNews (which is on the buses but, for some reason, isn't available on the Web yet) says that SmarTrip will work on OmniRide and OmniLink as of March 3. They say more information will be available in February. -lee (talk) 15:23, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:09, 9 November 2007 (UTC)