This Month

Compass Card poised to
change transit in San Diego

More local juvenile arrestees test positive for drugs and alcohol

Crime mapping Web site is a resounding success
Report details regional demographic and economic trends

American Community Survey data set for release

Public involvement program
for Regional Transportation Plan

Meet the RideLink and
STAR 94.1 teams

Compass Card poised to change transit in San Diego

Using public transit in the San Diego region will get a lot easier with the introduction of the Compass Card — an innovative, plastic “smart card” designed to streamline and expedite fare collection. San Diego joins a select group of metropolitan areas in this merging of public transit and technology. The public launch is slated for mid 2007.

Adding to the ease of use for operators and customers will be the program’s highly-anticipated creation of a universal, regional fare collection system for the San Diego region’s seven fixed-route bus and rail operations. The technology also will allow the area’s transit operators to collect enhanced ridership and revenue data which should lead to better and more efficient service.

Compass Card will be accepted on most MTS or NCTD Bus, Trolley, or Train services. The embedded smart card technology will allow riders to have their fares validated simply by touching the card to a specially designed ticket vending machine or fare box. For seniors and persons with disabilities the card also will incorporate photo identification on a single card with the transit pass.

Cardholders can purchase monthly and multi-day passes and store them on the Compass Card, and eventually will be able to load cash value onto the cards – even linking them to a checking account to ensure automatic renewal. Because a card is registered to a specific user, if it is ever lost or stolen, it is simply deactivated and a new one is issued.

The current plan is to rollout the Compass Card in stages, beginning with a test phase in late 2006, to ensure optimum performance and customer satisfaction. This stage of implementation will be followed by extensive public testing and the initial public release. Strategic public outreach will be used to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.

Project Manager:
James Dreisbach-Towle, jdr@sandag.org, 619-699-1914