If you ride buses, trains, light rail, or ferries in the Puget Sound region, the new year is time to get a fresh start with your own ORCA card.
The ORCA smart card is a regional fare system involving King County Metro Transit and six partner transportation agencies. ORCA stands for One Regional Card for All, and is designed to make traveling easier and more convenient.
The ORCA card is a plastic smart card containing a microprocessor. ORCA cards come equipped with an “e-purse” function that allows a rider to preload fare value onto the card, or customers can purchase a pass product – such as the monthly PugetPass – and load it onto their ORCA card. It eliminates the need for correct change, or carrying around paper passes and transfers.
Passengers simply “tap” their ORCA card on a card reader on board buses or at train, light rail and ferry stations, and enjoy their ride. With each trip, the correct fare, including any transfer value, is automatically deducted.
ORCA cards work on Metro, Community Transit, Everett Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and Washington State Ferries. Together, the agencies serve more than half of Washington’s population in four counties and together carry about 500,000 riders each weekday.
You can still pay cash when you ride these systems, but there are several advantages for you when you use an ORCA card.
Transit passes throughout the region are switching to ORCA. If you have a pass, you can keep using it until it expires, but when it’s time to get a new one, you’ll need to get an ORCA card and load it up with that new pass.
Also, starting Jan. 1, 2010 paper transfers will be replaced with electronic transfers on ORCA cards for trips that involve transferring between agencies.
If you’re not already using an ORCA card, you may have a few questions and need some tips getting started. You can visit the ORCA website’s Customer Support section, and also see answers to some frequently asked questions Metro has been fielding recently.
Don’t let the old year swim away, before you get your new ORCA card!
Troy
December 30, 2009
Is there a web page where we can enter an ORCA card number and request that travel history/swipe data not be stored? Or only retained for a few days?
I think most consumers would prefer their travel data not be retained (even for an “anonymous” card). If logistics prevent an opt-in system right now, an opt-out page would be far better than nothing.
Rob Bowman
December 31, 2009
It has to be stored – that’s the entire point of the card: to have accurate travel information and for agencies to accurately reimburse one another for transfers issued. It also needs to be stored in case of a dispute (you got overcharged; your card was lost or stolen and used by someone else; there is an issue with transferring money from your bank account, etc.).
What you *can* do is not register your card, and load value using cash only.
Troy
January 4, 2010
Thanks for the reply, Rob. I should have clarified that I didn’t mean not stored to a degree that breaks the basic functionality of the card. However, it seems like 4-24 hours would be plenty to account for transfers and/or daily batch processing. Is that the case?
I could even see requiring buyers to acknowledge that by having all data deleted after 24 hours, it will reduce KC’s ability to troubleshoot payment problems (duh). I think you’d be surprised how many people would gladly accept that tradeoff.
Alternatively, it could just delete the specific swipe/transaction history and keep the transaction history for payments plus a total debit.
Are those viable options?
I think these are valuable options to provide. They really just provide the same relative anonymity as existed before 2010, and it’s clear from public comments that enough people would trade slightly less functionality for far more privacy.
Thanks,
Troy
lindathielke
January 4, 2010
Troy:
Remember, a card you get with your own money for private use is just that–private. But if you’re looking for more privacy than this, you have the option of using a privately purchased unregistered card. No name or personally identifiable information is used, but there is a tradeoff for this anonymity, as you put it. Unregistered cards are anonymous, but you cannot use some of the cooler features of the card, like the loss and theft protection and the Autoload feature.
There are a lot of different products that can be loaded on the ORCA card, including monthly passes, and there is some data about trips that the system must collect in order for the cards to truly “do the math for you.” There is also data about trips and destinations and products and prices that the transit agencies collect and compile to evaluate service so that we can improve transit service for you. So while there is some data that’s necessary for these smart cards to work properly, customers do have the option of trading some of the functionality for more privacy if they wish.
–Linda
Rob Bowman
December 30, 2009
What is done with the interest from money on the Orca card? What entity/agency holds the funds and collects the interest?
Rob Bowman
December 30, 2009
Paper transfers allow a passenger to board any bus up to the time that the paper transfer expires. Orca cards on the other hand expire 2 hours after they are issued.
If I board a bus outside the Ride Free Area headed into downtown (say – on Capitol Hill) and then tranfer to an outbound bus – will I be charged a second fare if I exit the bus (say – in Issaquah) after the 2-hour period even though I boarded BEFORE my e-transfer expired? If this is the case – wouldn’t using a paper transfer be a better deal?
Joseph Singer
December 31, 2009
There is no need to “tap” the reader just put the card within a half inch of the reader and the card will register.
lindathielke
December 31, 2009
These are all good — detailed — questions. We couldn’t cover everything in the Q&A we posted yesterday. If you need more specific info, try looking at the FAQs here: http://www.orcacard.com/ERG-Seattle/p2_001.do?m=42.
If you need more than that, please give the ORCA staff a call at: 1-888-988-6722.
Thanks!
Rob Bowman
December 31, 2009
Linda,
WHAT “Q&A”? The title of this blog post is “Got questions about the new ORCA card? We’ve got answers!” Well – I see no “Q&A” here on this blog, and the questions that have been asked aren’t being answered. The title of the blog post is incorrect. Should read: “Got questions about the new ORCA card? We don’t have the answers, but would be happy to point you at nonexistent Q&A’s online that don’t answer your question, or to refer you to a customer service number where they can’t answer your questions either!”
Heckuva job, Thielke.
lindathielke
December 31, 2009
Rob:
We put links in yesterday’s blog post to the Q&A and the FAQs. Here they are again:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2009/December/nr123009_ORCA-QA.aspx
http://www.orcacard.com/ERG-Seattle/p2_001.do?m=42
Rob Bowman
December 31, 2009
Linda,
The blog post refers to a “Frequently Asked Questions” page – not a “Q&A”. See the blog post yourself.
At any rate – thanks for the clarification and re-link.
It doesn’t answer either of my questions – nor does customer service, nor have you.
Rob Bowman
January 3, 2010
Another ORCA related question similar to those above:
I only have a pass on my ORCA ($2.25 fare) – no e-purse. If I tap in at Westlake, and forget to tap out at Seatac Station, what happens?
Since my card is only good for the peak one-zone Metro fare of $2.25 – how do I pay the additional .25 due at Seatac? How would I even know that I owe it?
lindathielke
January 4, 2010
Rob:
Sounds like you have some detailed questions specific to your needs. If you don’t want to call the Customer Service Office at 1-888-988-6722, you could also email questions about your account or how to use ORCA for a specific trip to ORCA Customer Service by visiting: http://www.orcacard.com/ERG-Seattle/p2_007.do;jsessionid=C86FDA2F6E4960D2BA4040A2121FE7A1?m=41
Please note that the days at the end of one month and the beginning of another are very busy for times for the customer service offices, so your patience is greatly appreciated.
–Linda
Troy
January 4, 2010
Thanks Linda, that makes sense. My understanding is that trip history is still collected with unregistered cards, though, it’s just kept by KC rather than shared. Is that the case?
Can you add a new Q&A entry to the page you linked to? Something like “What metadata is collected for unregistered cards, and how long is it retained?”
Section 7 of http://www.orcacard.biz/ERG-Seattle-Institution/jsp/static/ORCA%20Privacy%20Statement.pdf has some of that, but section 13 doesn’t say how long it’s kept — “The Agencies will store all information related to the ORCA Program for as long as they believe it useful or required by applicable law” uses a lot of words but doesn’t say a lot
Thanks,
Troy
Kenneth Gill
January 19, 2010
How much money do I got on my Orcacard?
William D. Fairbanks
February 16, 2010
I recently lost my ORCA card, and called Metro to see what could be done.He asked me if I’d registered my card, and I said no, because I bought it out of a machine and wasn’t informed that I should register it.I have the receipt when I bought the card, it was 01/31/2010. I hope I can get a substitute card as it was a 2 zone pass and I paid $90.00 for it. Thanks