AC Transit asks, ‘paper or plastic?’

Written by Paige Castren

AC Transit is in the process of transitioning all its paper passes to the TransLink Card. Senior marketing representative Cristina Ebojo is preparing outreach events for schools and other public places to get students registered for the TransLink cards. There is one planned at the Fremont Main Library, March 23. The outreach events inform AC Transit riders who do not know about the cards or how to get one.

“There is a little advertisement on the bus, but it doesn’t give directions on how to get one,” junior Amber Yao said.

The TransLink Card is a plastic card personalized with the student’s picture and name. It can be loaded with e-cash or a 31-day youth pass. To qualify for a Youth TransLink Card the rider must be 5 to 17 years old and show proof of name and age.

Ebojo says that the cards should be more efficient and reliable.

“If you bend [the paper passes] or place it near a magnet then when you go to swipe it, the machine can’t register it. The cards will help a lot,” sophomore Katie Majumdar said.

TransLink Cards cannot get demagnetized. There are multiple ways of loading them and can be easily replaced.

“In our test runs we have found that tagging a TransLink Card can result in faster boarding times compared to paying with cash or paper magnetic strip passes,” Ebojo said.

TransLink cards are normally $5, but AC Transit will be waiving the fee until June of this year.

This article originally appeared in print on March 2, 2010. It has been modified to correct style and grammatical errors.