xyz
posted 09/04/09 02:00 PM | updated 09/04/09 02:00 PM
Featured Post! | Views: 67 | Comments : 2 | News

Mysteries of the ORCA Card Revealed

By Michael van Baker
Editor
Recommend this story (1 votes)

Do you have a new ORCA card yet, good on all sorts of transit (but not the SLUT or Monorail, yet)? If you do, you've most likely had all sorts of questions. What's an e-purse? How do you get a youth ORCA card? A few of you are wondering, Where'd my money go?

Seattle Transit Blog has the rundown on the Case of the Failed ORCA Transaction. Turns out that if you add money to your card online, the transaction is only completed the next time you tap your card at a transit terminal. If it takes you longer than 30 days to use your card after you load up online, the transaction fails.

This is why the transaction appears as "pending" until you ride a bus or the light rail and use the card. But it requires a certain courage to ride a bus or the light rail while a transaction is said to be "pending," doesn't it? 

I think people have suggested this before, but I am going to check with King County Metro about their plans to incorporate transit user feedback into programs before they go public. We could all make a little lemonade out of budget-slashing lemons: You just know the Seattle Transit Blog would be happy to beta test a site, or muster a group of test passengers to see if a ticketing system is comprehensible.

Save and Share this article
Permalink
Tags: ORCA card, king county metro, transit, seattle transit blog + add tags
savecancel
CommentsRSS Feed
ORCA on SLUT
ORCA passes (not epurses) are accepted on the streetcars: http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/07/27/orca-passes-now-acc
Comment by Hans Gerwitz
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
RE: ORCA on SLUT
This is just what I'm talking about. If I saw someone use an ORCA card on the streetcar, and I swiped mine with its e-purse and it didn't work, I'd be rightfully pissed off. Also, e-purse? Srsly? I die a little inside every time I have to write that.
Comment by Michael van Baker
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: