ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WLVT) - The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) is trying to make it easier to take the bus by releasing an app for mobile fare payments.
“I think it makes it more responsive just to the way people live now,” said LANTA Executive Director, Owen O’Neil. He said when a lot of people are boarding the bus at once, using cash slows down the process.
O’Neil said LANTA took a survey and found that 75 percent of riders had access to a smartphone with internet. “People kind of come to expect that they should be able to get on a bus and be able to, somehow, pay their fare with their phone, without having to have cash,” said O’Neil. The app is powered through Token Transit, and it will allow you to select a $4 all-day pass, or a one-way pass for $2.
LANTA said they can’t give change for people who don’t have the exact fare amount. Instead, people are given a card with the remaining money to be used for another bus trip. O’Neil said that process can cause an inconvenience for people as well.
The transit buses take roughly 5,000,000 trips per year, according to LANTA officials. More than half of those trips are for people commuting to work, which fits right into the Walk/Roll LV initiative from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission; their goal is to make the Lehigh Valley more accessible.
The mobile system is in the final stages of testing and should be available on all buses within the next couple of weeks. To download the app, click here for instructions.
