Before the end of 2017, riders will be able to hop on board transit in the greater Portland-Vancouver area using Hop Fastpass. Hop is an electronic fare system that will make paying for transit fast and easy – just tap a smartcard on a reader to pay for the ride. It will be valid on C-Tran buses, Portland Streetcar and all TriMet buses and trains.
“We chose Hop Fastpass after an exciting and collaborative process that included feedback from riders,” said Chris Tucker, TriMet’s director of revenue operations and project manager for the new electronic fare system. “Our riders asked for a name that was easy to say and remember, speaks to its speed and efficiency, and promotes a regional identity, yet is intuitive as a payment system.”
Hop conjures up both the image of a rabbit, known for being fast, and the hops that have led our region to be named Beertopia and for Portland, Beertown.
E-fare will make paying for the ride easier. Just tap the Hop card on an electronic reader and go. The electronic readers will be available on all C-Tran and TriMet buses, onboard all Streetcars and at all Max and WES stations. Hop will speed up boarding and more.
This is an ideal time to modernize our fare collection system for all riders.
“Hop is a major step forward using state-of-the-art technology to make paying fare simpler,” said Tucker. “Based on the popularity of our current mobile tickets – more than 5 million sold in less than two years – we think riders will embrace Hop.”
The system will also support customers tapping Apple Pay, Google Wallet and contactless bank cards. Some features like the “pay as you go” monthly pass are only available using the Hop card.
Once the Hop system launches, we expect riders will welcome the ease and convenience of e-fare. Cash fares will still be accepted on C-Tran and TriMet buses, at ticket machines on Max platforms and on the Portland Streetcar system.
Construction on TriMet rail platforms enters a new phase this week, and unlike the first phase, this work will leave behind a sign of the e-fare system to come – stainless steel masts.
Crews have been laying the foundation for the system, putting in the underground equipment necessary to power Hop card readers on the platforms. Once that work was done at a station, it was hard to see any difference. While that work will continue at about 30 stations in the months to come, at other stations crews will begin installing the masts that will hold the electronic readers.
Riders will see other e-fare equipment going in on board C-TRAN and TriMet buses, as well as Portland Streetcars, sometime in 2016.
