I have been a pilot user of BART's EZ Rider card. I noticed it one day while I was looking at the home page, they said that it was only for the first 1000 people who signed up. I signed up immediately.
For those who don't know what BART is. BART is Bay Area Rapid Transit. Its a two track train system for the San Francisco Bay Area. As an avid bike commuter, I use BART almost exclusively, well now exclusively. To get to work. While BART still has quite a ways to go to be convenient for cyclists. The EZ Rider service saves a tremendous amount of time and money. When you use it, you get $48 worth of BART for something like $42.
The way it works, you swipe the card over a round disc on the top or the side of the gate and it lets you through. It then deducts the amount preloaded on the card from your account. Whenever you get under $10 it loads another $48 onto your card, and charges your credit card directly.
It is so easy and quick that often I will prop my bike up on the other side of the gate, get out my card, and be through and on my bike before people without the service and no bike can get through the gates. Also, it doesn't break because it is wet or anything like that, and I don't have to fumble around trying to buy tickets ever anymore. It makes BART the optimal transit solution.
Most municipal services are way behind on technology, but it seems that BART is trying to stay current. I love this service and recommend that everyone demand that it become an official program very soon. All they have left to do, before I get a BART tattoo, is put on a few cars with rubber hooks, and seats on either side, for bikes and their owners.
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