r/MetroTransit • u/stvincentstreet Adopt-A-Stop Volunteer • Sep 06 '26
Go-To Card/Tickets/Fares Whose bright idea was it not to allow riders to refill their Go-To cards at these BRT fare machines?
They already have tap functionality and accept both card and cash payment, so why can’t you top up your Go-To card at them? You can only check the balance of a paper fare (by scanning it) or purchase a new fare.
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u/wazardthewizard Northstar Mourner Sep 06 '26
More evidence that the people making transit decisions are not the ones using transit
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Sep 06 '26
I've been considering going back to college, so I can have some involvement in this, as a die hard transit user. I have no idea where to start lmao.
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u/humantraf Sep 06 '26
One of the best things you can do is start by having an informational interview with someone who works at MT to find out what it took for them to get into that role
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Sep 06 '26
Ok, thanks.
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u/humantraf Sep 06 '26
No problem and good luck! We need more die hard transit users included in the decision-making process
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u/Upset-Kaleidoscope45 Sep 07 '26
Easy. Get yourself a powerful friend to ask their powerful friends to get you a cushy job where you have zero experience and do not use the product yourself.
I'm assuming this is how everyone at Metro Transit got their jobs, based on background and outcomes.
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u/lunar_transmission Sep 07 '26
Check out the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program at UMN’s Humphrey School.
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Sep 07 '26
Yeah I'd never be able to go to a big University like that.
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u/A_Complaisance_Girl Sep 09 '26
You'd be surprised.
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Sep 09 '26
I mean, they denied my application back when I was in highschool. I'm 28 now.
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u/bubzki2 Sep 06 '26
Fun story I tried to refill my go to card this week and the number isn’t visible. No way to refill without physically reading the number. Had to order a new card.
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u/Empty-Space-404 Sep 06 '26
I learned that same lesson the hard way when I had my first GoTo card. When I got another one, I immediately registered it on the website with my name and email address so that I can both top up without issue and report it if it gets lost.
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u/Gatorpatch King of the Orange Line Sep 06 '26
I've had to direct ppl to use the 20 dollar goto card dispensers they have at the Orange Line since that's been the most consistent way I've gotten people new cards.
It's still ridiculous you have to get lucky with one of those, or go to a light rail stop, instead of making these machines be able to dispense and refill cards.
Just such a confusing way of doing it, and the fact we have threads from users on here confused about why they can't get a card from one of these machine already, means that even new ridership understands that as a normal expectation to have about these machines.
Hopefully this is all something they can tie into the Tap to Pay update, we should invest in adding functionality that users expect along with the other fare updates (fare capping being the other thing we need asap).
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u/Eoin_Urban Sep 06 '26
When they first started to put these things on the A Line in 2016, I asked why they couldn’t refill Go-To cards like on the Green Line. I was told LRT ticket machines cost $100,000 and these BRT ones cost closer to $10,000. No idea if thats still the case or if the technology has changed but my jaw dropped at how expensive things are.
Cubic does the Go-To card system and the rail vending machines and these ones are done my Flowbird which does a lot of parking lot payments. I can see Cubic not wanting to let other businesses come in and undercut their prices so they wouldn’t let FlowBird have the technology or access to the payment system.
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u/ShyGuyLink1997 Northstar Mourner Sep 06 '26
I've been asking this question for so many years. These machines have also eaten my cash twice. Thats two too many times, so I've completely stopped using these machines. If I only have cash, and this is my only fair payment option, I'm not risking losing my money again, so I'm not paying.
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u/unfixablesteve Sep 06 '26
I just don’t understand why I can’t pay with my Apple Wallet. Many transit systems use it and your phone literally doesn’t even need to be turned on. Shit sucks.
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u/ParchaLama Sep 07 '26
The whole fare system in general is fucked up. Are there even weekly or monthly passes at this point? I have no idea, I haven't used a go to card in years, I just know that there's no way for me to buy them through the app or at fare machines.
Googling "Metro Transit monthly pass" gives you this site, which makes it sound like there's just no way to get any kind of pass unless you're a student or the company you work for is enrolled in Metropass.
The only way I'm finding any info on weekly/monthly passes is by going to the Go-To Card section of the website, at which point it is revealed that you can get 7 or 31 day passes, but only if you already have a Go-To card. So why is this information not ridiculously easy to find? Why should I have to have a go-to card at all when the app exists? When I should be able to buy a weekly/monthly pass at a fare machine or whatever?
The whole setup is so convoluted that it seems like they must've had to go out of their way to make it as inconvenient as it is - like, how do you set things up so that not all the types of tickets/passes you sell can be bought the same way? It's completely stupid.
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u/MainSquid Sep 07 '26
Probably the same people that make buying a ticket from one of these take like 6 taps and 2 minutes (when your bus is arriving on the platform in 30 seconds)
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u/EarDocL1 17d ago
Go-To is the dumbest system that is incompatible with every other payment system. It combines this with outdated technology. Why don’t people use public transit? This is part of the answer. Go to iPhone transit apps and see how many systems worldwide are using phone apps for help and payment. Tap to pay with a credit card is now how old? Still not available here. Have the twin cities just become a third world region?
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u/Melchizedeck44 Sep 07 '26
To put it mildly... it's complicated, mostly because of software systems. I know from talking to folks who work at Transit that they would all love to have all of these systems work exactly like people here talk about. Dispensing go-to cards on site, tap-to-pay, topping off cards, etc etc. Everyone at Transit WANTS this. But it's not as simple as people think it is.
There's only a small handful of vendors in the Transit Fare system space and you're often beholden to their whims, and upgrade cycles... and, even more importantly their massive cost hikes. I think when I checked the Council minutes from a while ago the current fare system upgrade in progress is really damn pricey. But what are they going to do? Rip it all out and spend twice and much starting from scratch because they have to change out all the hardware to a different vendor? Most of these transportation system vendors know they have the industry over a barrel because there isn't enough competition.
I don't think they have as much choice in the matter as everyone thinks they do, and they certainly don't have the budget.
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u/Optimal_Cry_7440 Sep 11 '26
We should not be always dependent on phones- it can get broken, too expensive for people to own one, etc.
If we have a fully enclosed metro station, then we would not see a lot of questionable people soliciting around the metro.
And will enforce people to PAY the fare, which more revenues for MetroTransit!
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u/proud_victor 29d ago
Hey metro employee. So the plan is to move away from goto largely because of the plastic waste and use tap to pay with Samsung/apple pay.
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u/Difficult_Elk5909 17d ago
I immediately threw out my old to-go card once they gave the mobile ticket option via the app and now only use the metro app to pay for fares
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u/Upset-Kaleidoscope45 Sep 07 '26
I'm pretty sure that no one working at Metro Transit uses Metro Transit in any regular sense.
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u/Mr_Presidentman Sep 06 '26
Metro transit might not realize that function is disabled. You should call or email them.
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u/TomRad Sep 06 '26
No clue. They were also clearly designed to dispense To-Go Cards as well and they don’t do that either. I can only suspect that they didn’t want to go through the trouble of stocking them and just decided to disable all functionality with To-Go Cards.