Cool.

But wouldn't bar codes on our foreheads so that Microsoft can target ads to us with IE8 be a better choice?

Community Transit in SnoHoCo has adopted this concept with their SwiftBus that goes up & down 99. I will admit that I haven't ridden one of them, but damn those things are fancy lookin'. They use an ORCA card or pre-paid ticket (kiosk @ stop), no "pay the driver" option. I ride Community Transit all the time, and I can't say I noticed that the previous routes that served 99 (SnoHoCo) were inadequate. I can say that the typical passenger riding a route that primarily serves 99 often does not have an ORCA card. I can see this being a problem for routes A, E & F in Metro's RapidRide program.

What I really noticed is that budget cuts forced Community Transit to end all Sunday service about 2 months ago. But the very expensive, and questionably cost-effective, SwiftBus program remains.

No matter what the bus line is called, it's no substitute for actual rapid transit.

Agreeing with JesseJB @4. BRT is no substitute for real rapid transit. That said, though, if we're going to do BRT, let's do BRT right.

Can anyone explain why Metro is not taking all payments at the station? If Community Transit can pull this off, why not Metro? Adam Parast doesn't quite explain. The ride-free area shouldn't be a dealbreaker.

On some level though, I don't care why Metro isn't doing this right from the start. I'm sure Metro can reel off a whole list of plausible explanations, but at the end of the day, it's just excuses. It's kind of like a software business producing an e-commerce web site that works except that, oh, it doesn't take credit card payments. As a taxpayer and consumer, it's not unreasonable to expect better.

so I tapped my Orca card on the bus station for the RapidRide so that I could board the bus from any door. Which I did, I boarded from the back door, but once I was in the bus, an employ fare enforcers approched me and gave a citation because he stated that I had not tapped on the bus. I told him I had done so at the bus station before boarding, and he said "thats too bad, it's not showing up on our system so here is your citation." Does anyone know how I can deal with this situatoin? I've tried calling the Orca Station and they all keep telling me that theres no real answer other then recieving a citation and either paying or going to court. What kind of customer service is this Orca card system portraying?? Paying customers should not go through all this trouble from simply a computer error!!! There needs to be alternatives for situations like this!

so I tapped my Orca card on the bus station for the RapidRide so that I could board the bus from any door. Which I did, I boarded from the back door, but once I was in the bus, an employ fare enforcers approched me and gave a citation because he stated that I had not tapped on the bus. I told him I had done so at the bus station before boarding, and he said "thats too bad, it's not showing up on our system so here is your citation." Does anyone know how I can deal with this situatoin? I've tried calling the Orca Station and they all keep telling me that theres no real answer other then recieving a citation and either paying or going to court. What kind of customer service is this Orca card system portraying?? Paying customers should not go through all this trouble from simply a computer error!!! There needs to be alternatives for situations like this!