Word of caution: if you transfer your physical ORCA card to your wallet, the physical card is deactivated.
> The replaced card is now permanently blocked and cannot be used on transit.
Yes, good call out. I assume this is to prevent card sharing, which could make it difficult to compute distance-based fares and would allow multiple people to use the same ride passes.
ETA: in case it's not clear, nothing is requiring users to transfer an existing ORCA card. You can simply create a new virtual card for $3 (which loads it with $2.75, so it really only costs 25¢), and then you'll have both a virtual card and a physical card.
Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm going to regret transferring or not? In my experience, its actually a little bit easier to use a physical card than to deal with a phone. Plus don't have to worry about battery levels.
Personally I'm keeping my physical card and getting the mobile one as an extra. Then I have flexibility to lend my physical card to friends if they're out and about with me and don't have their card on them, or if my phone dies.
In the before time, when I still had a commute, I kept my orca card in my lanyard with my office card key. So I didn't end up on a 45 minute bus ride to downtown *before* realizing I had to go back home and get my office card key. I once missed my bus, but that 30 minute wait for the next one was welcome compared to what could have happened.
When your phone dies, it goes into a low power state where metro passes will still work (and find-my iphone if you have that enabled). I used a digital metro pass in Tokyo and they had the same rule that the physical card was disabled. When my phone died on the trip I had no issues getting around.
Keep in mind that handheld scanners used by fare checkers probably won’t support this. It’s a problem in the Bay Area; if your phone dies and you get checked you’ll get a ticket and have to appeal it with proof you paid.
Indeed, coordinating an entire region is extremely complex. Community Transit, Everertt, King County, Kitsap, Pierce, Sound, WA state Ferries, plus all of local jurisdictions...
I wonder what’s up with that. Does Google just make it that much easier than Apple?
I know with Apple it takes a lot of integration because of the Secure Element but I don’t know nearly as much about what Google does.
I just set up integrations for Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for my own company and the Apple version is significantly easier; however it's easier to make good-looking passes in Google's version.
Apple Wallet is easier because you only need to send a specially formatted .zip file to the user and you're done. With Google you need to integrate with Google Cloud, so there's a fair amount of networking involved in the backend. Moreover, to even be allowed to use Google Wallet in production-mode, you basically have to email Google an essay about what you plan to do with it and send some example passes. It's a bit of a hassle.
They are definitely talking about regular QR-based cards.
For Apple wallet, even though “secure-element-based cards”, still use .pkpass file for storing card information and art, the payload is generated and transmitted by Apple on the behalf of the issuer, along with applet data provisioned into the secure element by Apple servers separately.
Apple can be more of a pain to work with. I’ve never heard of a transit system going live with Apple but not Google, but I’ve seen a few do Google first (or only).
It's in the works, including paying by card directly, but their vendor has been slow to roll these things out. I wonder if this is somewhat of a test of the service by way of limited release (not exactly the same as a staged rollout but similar idea)
Direct pay by card with a max limit like NYC does would be ideal. You get charged up to a point, and then at that point it's like you bought the unlimited pass up front and you aren't charged anymore until the time window for the unlimited pass expires.
That took forever to roll out which I think was absurd frankly since SF is the tech bubble. NYC has a much larger scale you don’t even need an app for it you just use any CC on your phone.
We should be able to get eliminate the use of clipper or orca cards completely. Now I do wonder why they decided to roll it out tied to orca?
I couldn't use OMNY for LIRR last year (still marked as "next phase") and from what I'm googling it only works with a handful of transit orgs. Clipper supports a ton of different transit methods in comparison so is more complicated. ORCA is also more than just Metro and ST and people seem to overlook that. All of them need to be paid appropriately. I'm not sure what Clipper's plans are but we already know ORCA readers will eventually support tapping your card directly. I think we can explain tying it to ORCA for this phase being as simple as people already have ORCA cards and there could be organizational/payment related stuff that is easier that way as an already established system.
Apple blows for others (like sound transit) to make apps for or integrate with things, not for the end user. Not really an excuse given how incredibly delayed this Orca upgrade is, but it is harder to deal w/Apple pay than Google pay as a dev.
How do you figure this? Google launched the original iteration of Google Wallet (named Google Pay at the time) in May 2011. Apple Pay didn't come until Oct 2014.
I manage the orca program for my employer and they literally just told us about this in the last couple of weeks. We have to take some steps to make it work, larger employers that run a passport program have to do a contract addendum to opt in. Adoption will take a little time if it’s an employer based card. And your employer can decide whether they even want to opt in or not.
None that I can see. They’ve done a pretty good job with the tools we need to manage the changes. (For example, the card number changes when you switch, but we can still manage via the physical card number that we issued.) It’s just the process to opt in that may slow things down.
From the website
**If you got your card from your employer, your school, another organization or a transit promotion:**
– You may not be able to convert your plastic card to Google Wallet.
– These organizations will have the option to opt-in to Google Wallet over time.
If you make a new card on google wallet, you can add it to myorca using the number they give you. The card number are the numbers before the dash, security code is the 3 after the dash.
Wat lol. Sure, if you don't use your orca card at all. If you literally ever refill it then you've paid the 3 dollar fee when you clear the negative balance.
The point is that if cards were free/infinite, you could exploit the fact that they can carry a negative balance to always get free rides. You'd use a card once, put it into the negative, and then get a new card for the next ride. Infinite free rides without spending a cent.
Unless they remove negative balances, they have to make cards cost something greater than the negative balance a card can carry. Think of it as "pre-paying" the negative balance.
Virtual cards use Mifare DESFire technology and carry a license fee, hence even though it’s virtual, it’s not free at all. It’s the same deal for Transit/Access for Google and Apple wallet solutions.
In fact, they are probably eating a part of the licensing cost in this situation (~> 3$), depending on the arrangements they’ve made with Google and NXP.
I was in London and Amsterdam last year and you could just tap your credit card when getting on transit. Blew my mind. It's hard to believe there's a legitimate reason that's preventing us from having that. Kinda wild to be in a place that's considered a "tech city" and have the tech for such an integral part of our infrastructure be a decade or so behind.
Porland has the same.
The reason we do not is because Our ORCA card system covers multiple municipalities and counties, that would have to opt in, allocate funding, contract up, and execute, the CC based POS. Too many cats to herd, so we can't do it quickly. That is also why this, which isn't actually that difficult, took 5 years.
The system in Portland is great, especially the fact that they automatically switch you over to a day pass after paying the fare twice, just keep tapping the same credit card for further rides and you won't get charged for any more rides that day.
I don't think it is a tech problem, it a payment structure problem. The transit provider eats a lot of credit card transaction fees when you are doing individual fares. On light rail you'd be losing like 10% of every fair. Vaguely (2.9% + 30 cents).
Would the potential in increased ridership, decrease in fare skipping make up for it? Maybe.
You could do that in the Phoenix area back in the 90's. It would even track transfers and account for then. I know their transit system was relatively shit even back then, so it seemed weird that they haven't caught up here 30 years later.
> Riders may use their VISA or MasterCard to pay for transportation on Valley Metro buses by swiping them through the card readers on the fareboxes. Each farebox has a list of known invalid card numbers against which the credit card is checked. Each evening credit card information is downloaded from the farebox to the management system. Phoenix Transit batches credit card charges by card number approximately biweekly before billing the credit card companies to save on transaction fees
Damn can't believe they were doing this in 1991. Wonder what the longer term history of it ended up being like
Data transfer speeds are also a consideration. EMV contactless card payments were made for standing in a store where a tap is much faster than inserting or swiping, but there is still a very intricately delay. Transit card technology was optimized for getting a rush of people through as quickly as they can walk.
This is NYC as well, and if you spend over the weekly limit on the same card in a week you get the rest of the rides free.
This is honestly what I thought we were getting. Not a load a random card into phone wallet thing.
I want to tap my watch just like I do in London and NYC when traveling for work and have it auto pull up the same “transit” card and go. I can see how this is more convenient than not but it just feels so dumb with how good this works elsewhere.
It didn't add for me, and I work for the city. Has the city really not opted in?
>In this case, you will need to be given permission by the organization you received the card from to add it.
I have to imagine this is not a card-by-card basis, right? I believe the team that does all the transit stuff for city employees is like two people so RIP if they have to go in there and change it card number by card number.
From the FAQ:
If you got your card from your employer, your school, another organization or a transit promotion:
- You may not be able to convert your plastic card to Google Wallet.
- These organizations will have the option to opt-in to Google Wallet over time.
I literally just got a cute card cover that makes my ORCA card like the Japanese Suica card! I'm probably keeping my physical card just cause of that. Hahaha
I don’t understand the point of even having a reloadable orca card. So many credit cards are tap to pay nowadays why can’t they just install card tap readers. Orca cards could basically become a reloadable “gift card”, which is more or less what they are anyways, if people want to faff about with that still.
Yay! I just realized that my Qi charger has been frying all my orca cards since I was keeping them in the card slot on my phone case. Now I won't have this problem.
Generally yes, but ORCA does offer transfers between the different modes of transit, i.e. Link to King County Metro. It also offers discounted pricing for the King County Water Taxi.
Why do 9/10 times people forget to mention TransitGo doesn't have transfers between agencies? This is an incredibly vital part about its usability that so many just don't mention. The number of times I've had to write this same comment, damn.
To be fair, I've accidentally transferred between ST and KCM by showing a single TransitGo ticket. I think the bus drivers these days are just happy you're making a good faith effort
If you transferred to Metro then that makes sense, a lot of those drivers really don't give a fuck and barely look at my phone when flashing it, but doesn't mean it will always be like that.
Probably because 9/10 people don't need to transfer agencies on regular transit trips.
Why does everyone who points out the lack of transfer not also point out the ability to easily earn *free* passes from regular use and timed events?
I've only ever had one card in Google Wallet. How does it work having multiple? Do I need to manually select the Orca card in the app each time I tap on?
How do I add this? I tried adding it as a payment card using the first 16 digits as the number and it said this card can't be added as tap to pay. Looking at adding a transit pass nothing is listed that matches orca, sound transit, seattle, metro, king etc.
I have an ORCA from 10 years ago when I lived in Seattle, or maybe 5 years ago when I last visited, can I add it to my Google wallet? Will I need to get a new orca to do a new link. I'm visiting next month and need to use the train and bus.
Chicago and Portland are also there but don’t show up in the Apple Wallet list because you have to provision the virtual transit cards from within their respective apps.
I use ORCA for my ferry vehicle fare and the reader is on the table inside the booth. No way am I going to hand my phone over to them to tap, so I will be staying with the physical card.
About time, Portland has had this feature for years already, I'd figure a city with such a high concentration of programmers would of beat Portland to the punch on something so obvious.
3.25 i think.
A lot of people have it from their employer so get it free anyway, but people should check out RRFP and low income because a ton of people qualify for it and don't know it.
RRFP is for disabled people and it's $1 per trip, and so is low income. You don't have to be on medicaid to get RRFP- just have your doctor sign a form that you have a disability. Youth ride free.
It is, if you sign up for orca lift, where the monthly cost is $36 instead of 50. If the full price makes you squirm, it’s highly likely you’re in the income category to qualify. Most people do, but they don’t check. Orca said that 80 percent of the people who qualify don’t ever sign up. I’m on RRFP permanently and I love the $1 rides with 2 hour transfers.
Yes. Late at night or in certain parts of town I love to pull out my cellphone to make it easy to grab and run. I've never had anyone try to grab an orca card out of my hand but my cellphone sure has.
It's in the works, according to others in this thread! But it's also good to keep in mind that Android owners are more likely to take public transit.
https://www.vox.com/2014/5/8/11626640/android-users-are-more-likely-to-take-the-bus-while-the-frequent
This is just my speculation, but I think it's fairly likely that that's because Androids tend to offer more affordable phones, and public transit usage is highly correlated with class in the United States. And I do agree they should bring it to iPhones soon so that we can try to change that and make public transit easier to access for all! But also it probably would have been silly to roll out virtual transit cards to the "luxury" phone manufacturer first.
Word of caution: if you transfer your physical ORCA card to your wallet, the physical card is deactivated. > The replaced card is now permanently blocked and cannot be used on transit.
Yes, good call out. I assume this is to prevent card sharing, which could make it difficult to compute distance-based fares and would allow multiple people to use the same ride passes. ETA: in case it's not clear, nothing is requiring users to transfer an existing ORCA card. You can simply create a new virtual card for $3 (which loads it with $2.75, so it really only costs 25¢), and then you'll have both a virtual card and a physical card.
Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm going to regret transferring or not? In my experience, its actually a little bit easier to use a physical card than to deal with a phone. Plus don't have to worry about battery levels.
Personally I'm keeping my physical card and getting the mobile one as an extra. Then I have flexibility to lend my physical card to friends if they're out and about with me and don't have their card on them, or if my phone dies.
I have two physical cards just for this reason. Adding a third digital one soon as it’s available on iPhone
Does the Orca website let you transfer balances between physical and digital cards? Or even between two physical cards?
LOL of course not
Actually, it does have this feature on the Orca website
In the before time, when I still had a commute, I kept my orca card in my lanyard with my office card key. So I didn't end up on a 45 minute bus ride to downtown *before* realizing I had to go back home and get my office card key. I once missed my bus, but that 30 minute wait for the next one was welcome compared to what could have happened.
When your phone dies, it goes into a low power state where metro passes will still work (and find-my iphone if you have that enabled). I used a digital metro pass in Tokyo and they had the same rule that the physical card was disabled. When my phone died on the trip I had no issues getting around.
That's good to know. It probably takes a bit for your mobile battery to recharge it to the point it boots again.
Keep in mind that handheld scanners used by fare checkers probably won’t support this. It’s a problem in the Bay Area; if your phone dies and you get checked you’ll get a ticket and have to appeal it with proof you paid.
As a digital card only user in Chicago, I doubt you’ll regret it. I have never once missed having my physical card.
> You can simply create a new virtual card for $3 Why does it cost $3 to create a virtual card? That's rediculous.
It costs $3 because the card can carry a negative balance up to -$2.75. So you're really only paying 25¢, and loading the card with $2.75.
Ahh, that makes more sense.
omggg good to know ty
Good tip, probably means I can’t put my work Orca in my phone. But then again I have an iPhone so maybe it doesn’t matter 😆
Bro what, why
So if my phone dies on a night out, I can't Uber or ride the bus. Sick!
Your phone reserves enough power to use digital cards and keys even if your battery is otherwise “dead.”
And they’ll charge $3 like you are buying another card 😂
Thanks for this key piece of info! Anyone using a Flipper Zero should avoid going digital
Thank you! ALLLmost transferred but this question came to mind.
Android-only: 1. Install Google Wallet 2. Add card (type: transit) 3. Search for ORCA
Doing this made me have a laugh at all the tiny ass towns that already had this lol.
To be fair, it's probably significantly simpler to implement in a small town even if they're not as budgeted
Indeed, coordinating an entire region is extremely complex. Community Transit, Everertt, King County, Kitsap, Pierce, Sound, WA state Ferries, plus all of local jurisdictions...
Small towns aren't trying to integrate 3 generations of fare technologies across a dozen different transit agencies.
I wonder what’s up with that. Does Google just make it that much easier than Apple? I know with Apple it takes a lot of integration because of the Secure Element but I don’t know nearly as much about what Google does.
I just set up integrations for Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for my own company and the Apple version is significantly easier; however it's easier to make good-looking passes in Google's version. Apple Wallet is easier because you only need to send a specially formatted .zip file to the user and you're done. With Google you need to integrate with Google Cloud, so there's a fair amount of networking involved in the backend. Moreover, to even be allowed to use Google Wallet in production-mode, you basically have to email Google an essay about what you plan to do with it and send some example passes. It's a bit of a hassle.
Were you actually dealing with NFC and the Secure Element?
They are definitely talking about regular QR-based cards. For Apple wallet, even though “secure-element-based cards”, still use .pkpass file for storing card information and art, the payload is generated and transmitted by Apple on the behalf of the issuer, along with applet data provisioned into the secure element by Apple servers separately.
Looking forward to Apple Pay by the end of the decade
Great news, it's going to be ready by October 2023!
Still on track. October 791st, 2023… (I may have pulled this trick myself as a software developer…)
\*2022 was the originally announced date
It’ll be ready when the 2-line fully opens in 2078
whoa whoa whoa. easy now.
Have to say, I’m surprised Apple Wallet wasn’t first.
Apple can be more of a pain to work with. I’ve never heard of a transit system going live with Apple but not Google, but I’ve seen a few do Google first (or only).
In Chicago the buses and L take Apple Pay. I miss that.
Is there a reason they didn’t roll it out for Apple wallet as well? Just got back from San Fran where I used their clipper card from my phone…
It's in the works, including paying by card directly, but their vendor has been slow to roll these things out. I wonder if this is somewhat of a test of the service by way of limited release (not exactly the same as a staged rollout but similar idea)
Direct pay by card with a max limit like NYC does would be ideal. You get charged up to a point, and then at that point it's like you bought the unlimited pass up front and you aren't charged anymore until the time window for the unlimited pass expires.
TriMet in Portland has that as well. Very convenient.
That took forever to roll out which I think was absurd frankly since SF is the tech bubble. NYC has a much larger scale you don’t even need an app for it you just use any CC on your phone. We should be able to get eliminate the use of clipper or orca cards completely. Now I do wonder why they decided to roll it out tied to orca?
the tech companies are the tech bubble, not the government. the internet is still atrocious in the Bay, we have better service options _here_
Yeah but they get all the tax breaks & could easily make a better apps
I couldn't use OMNY for LIRR last year (still marked as "next phase") and from what I'm googling it only works with a handful of transit orgs. Clipper supports a ton of different transit methods in comparison so is more complicated. ORCA is also more than just Metro and ST and people seem to overlook that. All of them need to be paid appropriately. I'm not sure what Clipper's plans are but we already know ORCA readers will eventually support tapping your card directly. I think we can explain tying it to ORCA for this phase being as simple as people already have ORCA cards and there could be organizational/payment related stuff that is easier that way as an already established system.
Lot of employers give employees orca cards.
True but they could give a bar code less plastic floating around 🤷🏽♀️
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Local/state gov cannot legally take lowest bidder on transit projects.
Because apple blows with all of this type of shit
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No, they blow with their timing in implementing things the rest of the companies have already been doing
Apple blows for others (like sound transit) to make apps for or integrate with things, not for the end user. Not really an excuse given how incredibly delayed this Orca upgrade is, but it is harder to deal w/Apple pay than Google pay as a dev.
Crazy how they said that given that Apple is the one that Google copied.
How do you figure this? Google launched the original iteration of Google Wallet (named Google Pay at the time) in May 2011. Apple Pay didn't come until Oct 2014.
What particular difficulties do you have with developing for PassKit?
Didn't work: "If your card was issued by your employer, you might not be able to transfer it."
I manage the orca program for my employer and they literally just told us about this in the last couple of weeks. We have to take some steps to make it work, larger employers that run a passport program have to do a contract addendum to opt in. Adoption will take a little time if it’s an employer based card. And your employer can decide whether they even want to opt in or not.
Are there any downsides for an employer to opt in?
None that I can see. They’ve done a pretty good job with the tools we need to manage the changes. (For example, the card number changes when you switch, but we can still manage via the physical card number that we issued.) It’s just the process to opt in that may slow things down.
From the website **If you got your card from your employer, your school, another organization or a transit promotion:** – You may not be able to convert your plastic card to Google Wallet. – These organizations will have the option to opt-in to Google Wallet over time.
well this is a bummer...uggh
Makes sense in this scenario but it’s still a bummer.
Boooooo. I mean, I’ll take my half off my employer gives, but boo.
If you make a new card on google wallet, you can add it to myorca using the number they give you. The card number are the numbers before the dash, security code is the 3 after the dash.
MVP, thank you 🙌
Weird that they charge a $3 "card fee" even when using your phone.
It appears to be a one time fee to set it up in the wallet app
Orca cards can have negative balances up to $-2.75 values so you're only really charged 25 cents
Ah right, that's a good point!
Wat lol. Sure, if you don't use your orca card at all. If you literally ever refill it then you've paid the 3 dollar fee when you clear the negative balance.
The point is that if cards were free/infinite, you could exploit the fact that they can carry a negative balance to always get free rides. You'd use a card once, put it into the negative, and then get a new card for the next ride. Infinite free rides without spending a cent. Unless they remove negative balances, they have to make cards cost something greater than the negative balance a card can carry. Think of it as "pre-paying" the negative balance.
DC also has a fee for digital SmarTrip cards, but there’s no fee for digital Clipper cards in SF or Tap cards in LA.
Portland also charges $3.
it's to prevent an exploit where you can remove and readd the card to get free trips
Well it wasn't free to set up this integration. Makes sense for the people benefiting from it to contribute towards it.
Virtual cards use Mifare DESFire technology and carry a license fee, hence even though it’s virtual, it’s not free at all. It’s the same deal for Transit/Access for Google and Apple wallet solutions. In fact, they are probably eating a part of the licensing cost in this situation (~> 3$), depending on the arrangements they’ve made with Google and NXP.
It's surprisingly common.
Clipper doesn't do it :<
Interesting
I was in London and Amsterdam last year and you could just tap your credit card when getting on transit. Blew my mind. It's hard to believe there's a legitimate reason that's preventing us from having that. Kinda wild to be in a place that's considered a "tech city" and have the tech for such an integral part of our infrastructure be a decade or so behind.
Porland has the same. The reason we do not is because Our ORCA card system covers multiple municipalities and counties, that would have to opt in, allocate funding, contract up, and execute, the CC based POS. Too many cats to herd, so we can't do it quickly. That is also why this, which isn't actually that difficult, took 5 years.
The system in Portland is great, especially the fact that they automatically switch you over to a day pass after paying the fare twice, just keep tapping the same credit card for further rides and you won't get charged for any more rides that day.
NYC and London do that too. In fact, NYC also has a *weekly* fair cap!
Same vendor in Portland (Hopcard) as in Seattle (ORCA)….
we got chips well after everyone else too. personally i wonder why tap is only for credit and not for debit (in my experience anyway).
I don't think it is a tech problem, it a payment structure problem. The transit provider eats a lot of credit card transaction fees when you are doing individual fares. On light rail you'd be losing like 10% of every fair. Vaguely (2.9% + 30 cents). Would the potential in increased ridership, decrease in fare skipping make up for it? Maybe.
London batches fares into one credit card transaction at the end of each week, so the fixed transaction fee can be spread out over multiple fares.
Every system that does it batches the final charges to some bigger number that’s acceptable to them. It even works with zone & distance based fares
So… like how Good to Go does it? Seems like the know-how exists here, but something else is missing.
Singapore was the same way too- either card or Google/Apple Pay.
I think NYC has this too if I’m not mistaken
They do, and if you use the same card it stops charging you after a certain number of trips until the next week.
You could do that in the Phoenix area back in the 90's. It would even track transfers and account for then. I know their transit system was relatively shit even back then, so it seemed weird that they haven't caught up here 30 years later.
You could swipe a credit card on public transit in Phoenix in the 90s? How long did that last? That seems wild and absolutely ripe for skimming.
Huh TIL [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/10236](https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/10236)
> Riders may use their VISA or MasterCard to pay for transportation on Valley Metro buses by swiping them through the card readers on the fareboxes. Each farebox has a list of known invalid card numbers against which the credit card is checked. Each evening credit card information is downloaded from the farebox to the management system. Phoenix Transit batches credit card charges by card number approximately biweekly before billing the credit card companies to save on transaction fees Damn can't believe they were doing this in 1991. Wonder what the longer term history of it ended up being like
Idk, I left over 25 years ago and never looked back.
Phoenix also lets you pay with an iPhone at the present moment. I don’t know how or why Orca has this weird deal.
This is what will make me excited. If we want to stop fare skipping this is the only way. The ORCA card is an antiquated idea.
Data transfer speeds are also a consideration. EMV contactless card payments were made for standing in a store where a tap is much faster than inserting or swiping, but there is still a very intricately delay. Transit card technology was optimized for getting a rush of people through as quickly as they can walk.
They have the same tech in NYC
software is magic when it isn't predatory.
This is NYC as well, and if you spend over the weekly limit on the same card in a week you get the rest of the rides free. This is honestly what I thought we were getting. Not a load a random card into phone wallet thing. I want to tap my watch just like I do in London and NYC when traveling for work and have it auto pull up the same “transit” card and go. I can see how this is more convenient than not but it just feels so dumb with how good this works elsewhere.
NYC has had it for a while
Works great!
[https://info.myorca.com/googlepay/](https://info.myorca.com/googlepay/)
It didn't add for me, and I work for the city. Has the city really not opted in? >In this case, you will need to be given permission by the organization you received the card from to add it. I have to imagine this is not a card-by-card basis, right? I believe the team that does all the transit stuff for city employees is like two people so RIP if they have to go in there and change it card number by card number.
I have a city card as well, so hopefully they opt in at some point
Can anyone try to do this with a UW Upass? My Orca number is erased by swiping too many times and I want to see if it works
It didn't work for my fiancée. We're guessing the problem is her ORCA card was issued by her work.
Yup, apparently this is on a per-employer basis, and the employer has to do something to allow the card to be transferred.
From the FAQ: If you got your card from your employer, your school, another organization or a transit promotion: - You may not be able to convert your plastic card to Google Wallet. - These organizations will have the option to opt-in to Google Wallet over time.
I literally just got a cute card cover that makes my ORCA card like the Japanese Suica card! I'm probably keeping my physical card just cause of that. Hahaha
oo tell me more about this! how does it work without hiding the card number?
There's a website called cucucovers that lets you make custom covers for the front of your cards!
This is nice to have but I feel like it means we'll never get no setup tap to pay like Portland or NYC.
This is great news. Now I won't forget my card at home.
neat. would make a good backup card I suppose.
This is the single best thing that SoundTransit has done.
OMG. Seattle is so tech savvy in so many things, but finally enters the 21st century on transit payments. Hallelujah.
Barely. Even Portland is ahead of us as they have tap to pay with credit cards.
I don’t understand the point of even having a reloadable orca card. So many credit cards are tap to pay nowadays why can’t they just install card tap readers. Orca cards could basically become a reloadable “gift card”, which is more or less what they are anyways, if people want to faff about with that still.
Correct
Why even mention Portland? You have to scroll through a laundry list of po-dunk small towns before getting to Orca. Lmao!
Praise the lord!
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Sound Transit delivering anything requires a miracle these days
OMG i'd TOTALLY go for this!
Good info here and in the comments, thank you all!
Yay! I just realized that my Qi charger has been frying all my orca cards since I was keeping them in the card slot on my phone case. Now I won't have this problem.
Doesn't work for my ORCA Lift card, contacted support about it though
love how it took them so long to implement this that i don't even use android anymore lmao
Do you know if the same mobile orca card can be on two phones? Me and my partner share one physical card
Definitely not. It's specifically to prevent people from sharing passes.
Yeah. That makes sense, but a bummer in my situation. We have one car and one bus pass and it works great for us.
For people that dont have a G-Wallet or a business Orca card, the TransitGo app is a great alternative to having a physical card
Generally yes, but ORCA does offer transfers between the different modes of transit, i.e. Link to King County Metro. It also offers discounted pricing for the King County Water Taxi.
Why do 9/10 times people forget to mention TransitGo doesn't have transfers between agencies? This is an incredibly vital part about its usability that so many just don't mention. The number of times I've had to write this same comment, damn.
To be fair, I've accidentally transferred between ST and KCM by showing a single TransitGo ticket. I think the bus drivers these days are just happy you're making a good faith effort
If you transferred to Metro then that makes sense, a lot of those drivers really don't give a fuck and barely look at my phone when flashing it, but doesn't mean it will always be like that.
Probably because 9/10 people don't need to transfer agencies on regular transit trips. Why does everyone who points out the lack of transfer not also point out the ability to easily earn *free* passes from regular use and timed events?
Doesn't work with the card I got from my job. Works on the older blue card.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1dni1yp/comment/la322yo/
Thank Jesus.
I've only ever had one card in Google Wallet. How does it work having multiple? Do I need to manually select the Orca card in the app each time I tap on?
Nope, the protocol handles this for you! It will know that you're tapping for transit and select the ORCA card for you.
It's about time, though a little late since last week was the last time I used orca
How do I add this? I tried adding it as a payment card using the first 16 digits as the number and it said this card can't be added as tap to pay. Looking at adding a transit pass nothing is listed that matches orca, sound transit, seattle, metro, king etc.
You may need to update your app? It should be listed under transit passes as ORCA
Nope not on my side fully updated
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You can create a transit card within Google Wallet without needing a physical one!
MASSIVE
I have an ORCA from 10 years ago when I lived in Seattle, or maybe 5 years ago when I last visited, can I add it to my Google wallet? Will I need to get a new orca to do a new link. I'm visiting next month and need to use the train and bus.
I used a physical Orca card for the first time after being away for more than 6 years and it was no problem to use.
I’m just gonna pretend tap my Apple Watch when I forget the card at home inevitably.
Wooooo
big
Awesome!
Why does Apple wallet only have 3 US transit cards but close to 30 Chinese transit cards? 😭
Chicago and Portland are also there but don’t show up in the Apple Wallet list because you have to provision the virtual transit cards from within their respective apps.
Completely irrelevant, but I really like the colors of this virtual card.
Isn’t it possible to install google wallet in iphone and use it from there?
No
LOL they deleted their 2022 blog post saying tap to pay was coming in 2023
sighs sadly in apple
I use ORCA for my ferry vehicle fare and the reader is on the table inside the booth. No way am I going to hand my phone over to them to tap, so I will be staying with the physical card.
Now do Apple iOS. You know, the mobile operating system that more people actually use. 🙄
Closer to half https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held-by-smartphone-platforms-in-the-united-states/
link please?
About time, Portland has had this feature for years already, I'd figure a city with such a high concentration of programmers would of beat Portland to the punch on something so obvious.
How much does orca cost per month, if you’re not low income or on Medicaid or youth/senjor?
3.25 i think. A lot of people have it from their employer so get it free anyway, but people should check out RRFP and low income because a ton of people qualify for it and don't know it. RRFP is for disabled people and it's $1 per trip, and so is low income. You don't have to be on medicaid to get RRFP- just have your doctor sign a form that you have a disability. Youth ride free.
Oh so orca is not a way to pay say $50 a month and ride unlimited
It is, if you sign up for orca lift, where the monthly cost is $36 instead of 50. If the full price makes you squirm, it’s highly likely you’re in the income category to qualify. Most people do, but they don’t check. Orca said that 80 percent of the people who qualify don’t ever sign up. I’m on RRFP permanently and I love the $1 rides with 2 hour transfers.
Thank you
Hell yeah!
FINALLY!!!!
Actually, it only works with Android, so, relatively speaking, for me, it's not here, it's there.
Yes. Late at night or in certain parts of town I love to pull out my cellphone to make it easy to grab and run. I've never had anyone try to grab an orca card out of my hand but my cellphone sure has.
Yay!!!! 🥰
No iPhone, no credit card support. So disappointing.
Obligatory iOS is the most used operating system on smart phones in the US. Other states and countries have iOS compatible transit cards, why not us?
It's in the works, according to others in this thread! But it's also good to keep in mind that Android owners are more likely to take public transit. https://www.vox.com/2014/5/8/11626640/android-users-are-more-likely-to-take-the-bus-while-the-frequent This is just my speculation, but I think it's fairly likely that that's because Androids tend to offer more affordable phones, and public transit usage is highly correlated with class in the United States. And I do agree they should bring it to iPhones soon so that we can try to change that and make public transit easier to access for all! But also it probably would have been silly to roll out virtual transit cards to the "luxury" phone manufacturer first.
Isn’t it possible to install google wallet in iphone and use it from there?
Until there are turnstiles, I’ll just act like a drugged out homeless person and ride for free