PA: PRT begins switch from ConnectCards to ReadyFare system to pay fares

Over the next 10 months, Pittsburgh Regional Transit will move about 150,000 riders from its electronic-based ConnectCard system to a new web-based ReadyFare system.

Jim Ritchie, the agency’s chief communications officer, told the board’s Technology Committee last week that PRT will follow a three-step approach – Ready, Set, Go — to make the transition as easy as possible. The agency will try to give riders enough information so they can complete the transition by themselves from home, but staff will be available by phone and online to help as needed, Mr. Ritchie said.

The agency wanted to start the new program last year, but it ran into difficulty getting a trademark for the name of the new card and getting delivery of 76 vending machines for $8.8 million that riders will use to make transactions with the new card. When that pushed the project into 2026, Mr. Ritchie said, PRT decided to wait until after the National Football League Draft in Pittsburgh at the end of April so it wouldn’t be introducing the new system with thousands of visitors trying to use public transit.

In the Ready phase, which has begun, the agency will promote the new card and contact every ConnectCard user by mail to tell them about the change and encourage them to apply for the new card. The cards and instructions will be mailed to riders around May so they can create a new account.

Under the new system, riders can use that account for all PRT transactions; they won’t need a separate account if they use the mobile app to pay by phone. Additionally, any money added to the new card will be available immediately instead of the lag of two or three days with ConnectCard.

Riders should be able to use the new card beginning in June. ConnectCards will continue to be active for spending but not to add more money to the account.

Mr. Ritchie said riders can either transfer any balance from their ConnectCard to ReadyFare or use the ConnectCard until it runs out of money.

“We’re trying to make this as easy as possible,” Mr. Ritchie said. “When they get the new card, PRT will be ready to move ahead.”

In the second phase, from June to August, riders can begin using the new card. Staff helpers known as Ready Rangers will be posted at busy stations to help riders use ReadyFare.

The Go phase, from August through at least November, will require riders to stop using the ConnectCard. Vehicles also will continue to accept cash payments for fares.

As an incentive to get riders to convert, ReadyFare cards will be free until September. After that, it will cost riders $1 to obtain one.

Riders 65 years old and up who pay no fare with a senior ConnectCard will get new cards for free. Those cards will be available through the office of riders’ state representative or state senator, but they also will be available at PRT’s customer service center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The agency will work with the county Area Agency on Aging and senior centers to reach those riders.

When all the new vending machines are in place, riders also will be able to use a credit card to pay fares.

The ReadyFare cards will complete the agency’s transition to the web-based fare system that PRT began in 2019 with the $2.85 million purchase of the Ready2Ride validator system from Masabi Corp. That initially was used to establish the mobile payment system, but the same validators also will be used for ReadyFare.

Right now, about 60% of PRT riders use ConnectCards, 33% use their smartphones, and the rest pay cash for fares. ConnectCards were introduced in 2012.

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