June 9, 2016

Tom Prendergast
Chairman and CEO
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
2 Broadway
New York, NY 10004
Dear Chairman Prendergast:
We write to ask for your help on a timely matter: guaranteeing that the MTA takes
advantage of a unique opportunity to speed buses, by modifying the new fare payment
system RFP to guarantee the option of implementing all-door boarding on all buses in the
future.
Our organizations are strong proponents of a modern fare payment system, and
support the valuable work the MTA is doing to upgrade ours. In other major world cities,
transit riders can pay for their ride with the tap of a card, and the newest systems allow
payment via smartphone or directly from bank cards. The MTAs RFP for a new fare
payment system will facilitate these conveniences, with great benefits for riders and for
MTA operations.
However, as currently structured, the RFP does not require bidders to incorporate
one element that would make a significant difference for New Yorks 2.5 million daily bus
riders: the RFP does not require the features that would facilitate paperless all-door
boarding on bus routes citywide.
Buses are vital elements of our transit network, providing service in neighborhoods
beyond the reach of the subway and lending much-needed redundancy and capacity to a
system that is strained to the breaking point. Unfortunately, buses are also notoriously
slow and unreliable. We should take advantage of every opportunity possible to improve
bus service and make it a more appealing option for riders throughout the city.
One of the primary reasons our buses are slow is that riders spend too much time in
the boarding process: currently, we line up at the front of the bus, wait for everyone to exit,
and then pay our fare one by one. It is a laborious process. Buses spend a quarter of their
time stopped at bus stops, and slow payment is a primary reason. We have to do better.

In other cities such as San Francisco, riders dont line up at the front of the bus and
pay one by one: they can enter any door and pay by tapping their card against readers
located by the doors. This process saves time for passengers, and it saves money for the
transit agency.
In New York, all-door boarding has provided benefits where implemented
currently, only on Select Bus Service routes. On these routes, fully half of the savings in
travel time comes from the all-door boarding system. But this system is limited to SBS
routes, which are a minuscule fraction of bus routes citywide. And the system uses
outdated technology: riders acquire paper receipts from machines located on the street,
which they then present to on-board inspectors upon request. Today, this can all be done
electronically.
Implementation of a new fare payment system could be New Yorks opportunity to
switch to a better systemto make buses faster and more reliable for 2.5 million daily
riders, and cheaper and more efficient for the MTA to operate. The new fare payment
system should allow for all-door boarding on all bus routes, local and SBS alike. Like our
counterparts in San Francisco, riders should be able to pay their fare at any door of a bus,
and inspectors should have mobile devices that can check electronically to guarantee riders
have paid. Those who wish to use coins can still board at the front of the bus and acquire a
paper receipt, and those who pay digitally can use any door.
The MTA will save money by operating faster, more efficient buses, and because the
agency will no longer have to build and maintain fare payment machines on the street.
Riders will benefit from faster buses, and implementation of this and other improvements
could begin to reverse the decline in bus ridership that New York has suffered in recent
years. Facilitating ease of payment on buses will also help reduce the urgency, and
sometimes frustration, felt by riders rushing to purchase an off-board ticket when a bus is
approaching. But the window of opportunity to move to such a system may close, if the
RFP process moves forward without any requirement that the new fare payment system
facilitate this option.
We urge the MTA to add an addendum to the existing RFP for the new fare
payment system, requiring bidders to include technology that would allow for fare
sensors at every bus door and mobile on-board validation of payment. The SBS pilot
currently included in the RFPwhich is optionalis insufficient. An all-door boarding
option should be required, and it should apply to bus routes throughout the city.
We realize that moving to such a system would be a complex process, and that it will
take time, commitment and significant investment. But the benefits would be enormous,
for bus riders and for the MTA as well. And at this point in time, we are not asking the MTA
to commit to moving to a modern all-door boarding system for busesjust to make sure

the new fare payment system would allow it in the future. At this critical juncture, as
potential vendors form their bids, we urge you to amend the RFP to communicate clearly
that such a feature is not only preferredit is a necessary component of a potential
winning bid.
Thank you for your attention to this timely concern.
Sincerely,
John Raskin
Executive Director
Riders Alliance

Gene Russianoff
Senior Attorney
Straphangers Campaign

Veronica Vanterpool
Executive Director
Tri-State Transportation Campaign

David Bragdon
Executive Director
TransitCenter

cc:
Veronique Hakim, President, New York City Transit
Members of the MTA board