Rural Pennsylvania increases resident satisfaction with public transit modernization
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One Pennsylvania transit agency hopes to be a guiding light for rural communities looking to embark on modernization journeys.
In small, rural communities, a digital transformation can seem like a big risk for agencies that are often under-resourced and understaffed. But for Pennsylvania’s Crawford Area Transit Authority, a recent fare system modernization project is paying off.
Using Microsoft Azure cloud technology from the fare collection provider Modeshift, the Crawford Area Transit Authority, or CATA, which offers transportation services to three rural counties in Pennsylvania, rolled out a digital fare collection system last August.
“By implementing this cashless fare system, it’s allowed CATA to grow our services, increase our ridership and our efficiencies,” said Travis Siegel, director of operations for CATA.
Instead of skipping a transit ride because they don’t have cash or taking the time to count exact change, riders can scan a QR code or tap their phone or payment cards to the payment validator to pay their fare and immediately board a bus, he explained.
“Digital fares are really changing the way people access transit, and the way they think of transit as something they could actually use,” said Konstantin Spasov, vice president of business development for Modeshift. In rural areas particularly, seamless public transit can help increase their ability to link to health care, jobs and other opportunities.
For the transit agency, Siegel said, the system helps transit drivers “move on to the next stop more efficiently.” And more broadly, the automatic payment system helps free up time and resources for the agency to address more pressing matters.
The digital payment system also produces valuable data for the transit agency, such as how many fares were collected that day, how many riders traveled that day and trends in where payments are happening.
In the first month of deployment, Siegel said that 15% of transit riders leveraged the digital payment system, and the rate has increased almost every month since then. In January, 40% of riders were using the tool.
“The data shows that people really enjoy [the new system],” he said.
With that data, “if we’re talking to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation or the [Federal Transportation Administration] or any of the bigger funding sources, we can provide them with this data … and it’s very transparent as to how we’re getting our numbers and what ridership looks like,” Siegel said, which can help CATA officials advocate for the funding they need to grow the agency’s services.
“We took a great deal of time to help promote this… we wanted to make sure that they felt comfortable using this new service and educating them,” Siegel said. “Myself and other team members would literally go to different bus stops and sit there and explain to them, ‘Hey, this is a new service we're providing. If you're interested in partaking, we can teach you more about it.’”
Offering direct support to help residents adopt the cashless option has “really allowed them to open up and be open to using the new technology,” Siegel said.
CATA initially rolled out the cashless system in one of its counties as a pilot program, but Siegel said the agency hopes to expand to other counties soon.
“If we can do this in northwest Pennsylvania, other [jurisdictions] can do it too,” Siegel said, “and I hope we can be that light for them to have the courage” to follow.
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