[Colorado-Talk] RTD's Access-a-Ride customers can now pay their fares with mobile tickets

[Curtis Chong]

Greetings and salutations:

 

Original Source
<https://www.rtd-denver.com/news-stop/news/rtds-access-ride-customers-can-no
w-pay-their-fares-mobile-tickets> 

 


RTD'S ACCESS-A-RIDE CUSTOMERS CAN NOW PAY THEIR FARES WITH MOBILE TICKETS


POSTED ON 

02.03.2022

Starting this week, RTD customers who use
<https://www.rtd-denver.com/services/access-a-ride> Access-a-Ride, the
agency's complementary paratransit service, will be able to purchase their
fares wherever RTD mobile tickets are sold.

Access-a-Ride fares are now available on RTD's
<https://www.rtd-denver.com/fares-passes/mobile-ticketing> Mobile Tickets
app, as well as on the Uber, Lyft and Transit apps. As with all mobile
tickets, Access-a-Ride tickets can be purchased for immediate use or future
travel. Pre-purchased tickets remain valid for 45 days after purchase. RTD
fares are the same price whether paying by cash, paper ticket or mobile
ticket, and they are available at Local, Regional and Airport fare levels.

To this point, Access-a-Ride fares could be paid only in cash or with Local
6-Ride Ticket Books, the latter available at
<https://www.rtd-denver.com/fares-passes/passes-ticket-books/sales-outlets>
RTD sales outlets, participating King Soopers and Safeway stores, or
<https://www.rtdonlinestore.com/> online. Enabling individuals to purchase
Access-a-Ride tickets from a smartphone provides them with the same
convenience customers experience on RTD's fixed-route bus and rail services.


"This is about equity," said Paul Hamilton, RTD's Senior Manager of
Paratransit Services. "Mobile ticketing gives customers one more option, it
brings them into the 21st century and it ensures that they are treated the
same way we would treat any of our customers."

Individuals qualify for travel on Access-a-Ride by being unable to access a
bus stop or a lift-equipped fixed-route bus by themselves, or by having a
disability that prohibits independent travel on a fixed-route bus, criteria
set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). New
customers interested in using Access-a-Ride service can sign up by filling
out an application on the RTD website or by calling 303-299-2960. From
there, they must provide a medical verification form and complete an
in-person interview and transportation assessment.

RTD has more than 14,700 active Access-a-Ride customers, nearly 1,000 of
whom are new to the service within the last year. As of the fourth quarter
of 2021, reflecting the most recent data available, an average of 39,179
Access-a-Ride trips were taken each month during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frequent travel destinations include medical offices, dialysis centers, day
programs and workplaces. Access-a-Ride also offers its customers grocery
delivery and pickup, a service that debuted in March 2020.

 

End of Excerpt

 


Findings From Curtis Chong


 

1.      While the announcement does tell us that, "Pre-purchased tickets
remain valid for 45 days after purchase," it says nothing about what happens
after a ticket is activated. RTD tickets purchased with a mobile app are
always good for 45 days and no longer. But what happens once an
Access-a-Ride ticket is activated-something we are advised to do immediately
before boarding the vehicle?

 

2.      As it turns out, once an Access-a-Ride ticket is actually activated,
you have to use it within an hour or it will expire. Why RTD did not say
this in the official announcement is a mystery and a frustration to yours
truly.

 

3.      Despite this vexing problem, this new RTD service is a great help to
those people who are able to operate a smartphone and use a mobile app.

 

Very truly yours,

 

Curtis Chong

 

 

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