Orange County Transportation Authority buses have gone paperless.
The agency switched this week to riders paying with their phone using a mobile app or using reloadable physical cards, ending its longtime use of paper passes.
The change to the new Wave fare payment system should streamline getting riders onto buses, officials say. Exact change will also still get riders on a bus.
“Wave represents an important step in modernizing our OC Bus system,” OCTA board Chair Doug Chaffee, also chair of OC Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. “Our goal is to make public transit as accessible and convenient as possible.”
The agency has been moving toward the switch for several years, laying the groundwork with steps such as installing machinery to accept mobile ticketing in buses starting back in 2018. In 2023, it entered into an $11.6 million contract with INIT Innovations in Transportation, Inc., to develop and implement the new system. Earlier this year, it rolled out the necessary outreach required by the Federal Transit Administration when considering a change in how fares are collected to evaluate for rider impacts and make sure underserved populations are engaged in the process.
This new Wave smart card garnered the most support in surveys, officials said previously.
The agency also planned ahead, spokesperson Eric Carpenter said, for the Wave system to work with the OC Streetcar, the 4-mile transit route that is expected to be running from the Santa Ana train station to Garden Grove sometime next year. The fare to ride the streetcar is set to be the same as for OCTA buses: $2.
The new fare collection system allows riders to load up their cards or accounts with money, and if the physical card is lost, their unused funds won’t be, as happened with paper passes. There can also be multiple cards on one account for families or groups, and contactless payments with debit or credit cards or mobile wallets can be used.
Riders can use the mobile app or purchase and add money to the smart cards at a number of retail locations such as supermarkets and convenience stores around Orange County — OCTA officials said they have increased the number of stores sold at to more than 500 — or at the agency’s headquarters. There is a $4 one-time fee for getting a card.
The OCTA has programs giving community college and youth free passes as well as discounts for some other groups, which will continue with the rollout of the Wave cards. More than 90,000 Wave cards have gone out as part of the Youth Ride Free program, Carpenter said.
OCTA has had representatives out in the community at bus stops and transit centers preparing riders and helping with the transition since late September, and Carpenter said they would remain through Nov. 14. And the agency has prize drawings and free rides for new users during the launch period.
“With Wave, we’re giving riders more control, better value, and a smoother experience,” OCTA CEO Darrell E. Johnson said in a statement. “It’s another example of OCTA’s commitment to innovation and the highest level of customer service that keeps Orange County moving.”
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