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100-459: Spokane Transit Authority , more commonly Spokane Transit or STA , is the public transport authority of central Spokane County , Washington , United States , serving Spokane, Washington , and its surrounding urban areas. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 9,215,700, or about 36,000 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024. Originally conceived in 1980, and authorized by voters on March 10, 1981, STA provides public transportation within

200-454: A guideway . This is an uncommon mode of transportation (excluding elevators ) due to the complexity of automation. A fully implemented system might provide most of the convenience of individual automobiles with the efficiency of public transit. The crucial innovation is that the automated vehicles carry just a few passengers, turn off the guideway to pick up passengers (permitting other PRT vehicles to continue at full speed), and drop them off to

300-786: A Sunday schedule. As of 2023, Spokane Transit has one bus rapid transit line within the region as part of its planned High Performance Transit network, with a second in development. The first line, the City Line , began service in July 2023 and traverses from east–west through Downtown Spokane and the University District, running between the Browne's Addition neighborhood and the Spokane Community College Transit Center . A second line, with

400-543: A body of water. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops is sometimes called a water bus . Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels, though at a lower speed. Ship connections of much larger distances (such as over long distances in water bodies like the Mediterranean Sea ) may also be called ferry services. A report published by

500-409: A change in board membership. Currently the board consists of: The board of directors is also advised by the following committees: The executive team for Spokane Transit Authority consists of the following positions: As of December 2022, Spokane Transit has 177 buses in its fleet. Included in the fleet are: 23241-23243 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Transit history in

600-498: A contract with the US government for a security system. A number of International Organization for Standardization standards, ISO/IEC 7810 , ISO/IEC 7811 , ISO/IEC 7812 , ISO/IEC 7813 , ISO 8583 , and ISO/IEC 4909 , now define the physical properties of such cards, including size, flexibility, location of the magstripe, magnetic characteristics, and data formats. Those standards also specify characteristics for financial cards, including

700-478: A daily and monthly basis and includes several discount programs . A "Rider's License" allows youth ages 6–18 to ride with zero fare. Traditional fareboxes remain on all fixed route coaches, allowing riders to pay with cash or older media as described below. As of 2021, fares on Spokane Transit can be paid in cash, or with pre-paid passes and transfers programmed to magnetic stripe cards or RFID smart cards. The fare payment platform went live on December 4, 2006, after

800-420: A decline in public transport usage. A number of sources attribute this trend to the rise in popularity of remote work, ride-sharing services, and car loans being relatively cheap across many countries. Major cities such as Toronto, Paris, Chicago, and London have seen this decline and have attempted to intervene by cutting fares and encouraging new modes of transportation, such as e-scooters and e-bikes. Because of

900-552: A few stops per city. These services may also be international. High-speed rail is passenger trains operating significantly faster than conventional rail—typically defined as at least 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph). The most predominant systems have been built in Europe and East Asia, and compared with air travel, offer long-distance rail journeys as quick as air services, have lower prices to compete more effectively and use electricity instead of combustion. Urban rail transit

1000-459: A list of the contact information and data which was to be encoded and embossed on the cards. Manufacturing involved attaching the magnetic stripe to the preprinted plastic cards using the hot stamping process developed by IBM. IBM's development work, begun in 1969 , but still needed more work. Steps required to convert the magnetic striped media into an industry acceptable device included: These steps were initially managed by Jerome Svigals of

1100-423: A municipal corporation was created to administer mass transit services for a new public transportation benefit area (PTBA). The new PTBA represented a shift in funding and operational model of Spokane Transit System from a city model to a regional model. Due to rapid inflation in the late 1970s and early 1980s , the flat $ 1 city tax on households that had funded Spokane Transit System was no longer keeping up with

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1200-559: A network of high performance transit with frequent service connecting key neighborhoods and activity centers throughout the region. In response to a significant decline in sales tax revenue resulting from the Great Recession , Spokane Transit undertook service reductions in 2010 and 2011. Despite the cuts, ridership increased, reaching an all-time high for Spokane Transit Authority in 2014, with 11.3 million passengers on its fixed route system. In 2016, voters approved an increase in

1300-455: A newer generation of card that contain an integrated circuit . Some smart cards have metal contacts to electrically connect the card to the reader ; there are also contactless cards that use a magnetic field or radio frequency ( RFID ) for proximity reading. Hybrid smart cards include a magnetic stripe in addition to the chip—this combination is most commonly found in payment cards , to make them usable at payment terminals that do not include

1400-520: A plastic card in first place, although all of its merchants currently issue both plastic and digital cards. There are several virtual card issuing companies located in different geographical regions, such as Weel in Australia and Privacy in the USA. A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by storing it on magnetic material attached to a plastic card. A computer device can update

1500-676: A railway with freight trains . A rapid transit railway system (also called a metro, underground, heavy rail, or subway) operates in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Heavy rail is a high-capacity form of rail transit, with 4 to 10 units forming a train, and can be the most expensive form of transit to build. Modern heavy rail systems are mostly driverless, which allows for higher frequencies and less maintenance cost. Systems are able to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little land use. Variations of rapid transit include people movers , small-scale light metro and

1600-763: A real estate development plan. By 1896, the leading streetcar system was the Spokane Street Railway Company, with 23 miles of railway. Its network of lines was described as a "cartwheel" that emanated from a "hub" at the intersection of Riverside Avenue and Howard Street in downtown Spokane. By 1910, streetcar lines were owned and operated by two competing companies: Washington Water Power and Spokane Traction Company. In addition to urban street railways, each company had interests in electric Interurban lines that stretched as far away as Moscow, Idaho . In that year, streetcar and interurban ridership peaked at 37.98 million rides. The decade following 1910

1700-522: A recording density of 75 bits per inch (2.95 bits per mm). Each track can either contain 7-bit alphanumeric characters, or 5-bit numeric characters. Track 1 standards were created by the airlines industry (IATA) . Track 2 standards were created by the banking industry (ABA) . Track 3 standards were created by the thrift-savings industry. Magstripes following these specifications can typically be read by most point-of-sale hardware, which are simply general-purpose computers that have been programmed to perform

1800-514: A regional model allowed the transit agency to heavily increase bus service to areas beyond Spokane city limits. Prior to the election, service outside city limits was limited, since no tax subsidies were collected outside the city limits. The restructured system operated under three branches; Spokane Transit Authority for Regional Transportation (START) was the administrative body, the Spokane Transit System (STS) name remained for

1900-480: A set of trolley poles for mobility. Online Electric Vehicles are buses that run on a conventional battery, but are recharged frequently at certain points via underground wires. Certain types of buses, styled after old-style streetcars, are also called trackless trolleys, but are built on the same platforms as a typical diesel , CNG , or hybrid bus; these are more often used for tourist rides than commuting and tend to be privately owned. Passenger rail transport

2000-412: A single (or return) trip, or valid within a certain area for a period of time (see transit pass ). The fare is based on the travel class, either depending on the traveled distance, or based on zone pricing . The tickets may have to be shown or checked automatically at the station platform or when boarding, or during the ride by a conductor . Operators may choose to control all riders, allowing sale of

2100-413: A smaller suburban or town center. The stations are often combined with shuttle bus or park and ride systems. Frequency may be up to several times per hour, and commuter rail systems may either be part of the national railway or operated by local transit agencies. Common forms of commuter rail employ either diesel electric locomotives, or electric multiple unit trains. Some commuter train lines share

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2200-611: A smart card reader. Cards that contain all three features (magnetic stripe, smart card chip, and RFID chip) are also becoming common as more activities require the use of such cards. During DEF CON 24, Weston Hecker presented Hacking Hotel Keys, and Point Of Sales Systems. In the talk, Hecker described the way magnetic strip cards function and utilised spoofing software, and an Arduino to obtain administrative access from hotel keys, via service staff walking past him. Hecker claims he used administrative keys from POS systems on other systems, effectively providing access to any system with

2300-574: A station and exchange passengers. There is often a potential conflict between this objective and optimising the utilisation of vehicles and drivers. The main sources of financing are ticket revenue, government subsidies and advertising. The percentage of revenue from passenger charges is known as the farebox recovery ratio . A limited amount of income may come from land development and rental income from stores and vendors, parking fees, and leasing tunnels and rights-of-way to carry fiber optic communication lines. Most—but not all—public transport requires

2400-576: A three-day transition period with no fares collection while new fare boxes were installed. STA's prior system, while also accepting cash, utilized paper transfers and metal coin tokens. STA launched the Connect Card with a companion eConnect app on October 1, 2022. The fare collection system, developed by INIT, can accept the Connect Card via NFC and the mobile eConnect app. The Connect Card and mobile eConnect app are linked to an online account-based fare management system. Users can reload balances via

2500-431: A tram line. Light rail lines are, thus, essentially modernized interurbans . Unlike trams, light rail trains are often longer and have one to four cars per train. Somewhere between light and heavy rail in terms of carbon footprint , monorail systems usually use overhead single tracks, either mounted directly on the track supports or put in an overhead design with the train suspended. Monorail systems are used throughout

2600-418: A waterfall between the up- and down- escalators, it generated great controversy. In September 1998, Spokane Transit implemented a major revision of the bus network, the largest change to the bus network in 17 years. Routes were consolidated to provide more frequency on busy corridors and all route numbers were revised, primarily according to geography. In addition to the local sales tax, a major revenue source

2700-658: A working project name of Division BRT , is currently in design and planned to run north–south through Spokane along Division Street , with a goal of starting construction in 2026 and commencing service between 2027 and 2029 dependent on the opening of the North Spokane Corridor . Spokane Transit operates four transit centers as of June 2023: Spokane Transit operates a total of 14 park-and-ride facilities throughout its service area, several of which are operated through cooperative agreements with other property owners to allow parking access to transit services. At

2800-659: Is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport , typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that may charge a posted fee for each trip. There is no rigid definition of which kinds of transport are included, and air travel is often not thought of when discussing public transport—dictionaries use wording like "buses, trains, etc." Examples of public transport include city buses , trolleybuses , trams (or light rail ) and passenger trains , rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.) and ferries . Public transport between cities

2900-507: Is a term used for buses operating on dedicated right-of-way, much like a light rail. Coach services use coaches (long-distance buses) for suburb-to-CBD or longer-distance transportation. The vehicles are normally equipped with more comfortable seating, a separate luggage compartment, video and possibly also a toilet. They have higher standards than city buses, but a limited stopping pattern. Trolleybuses are electrically powered buses that receive power from overhead power line by way of

3000-496: Is a transit technology that moves people in motor-less, engine-less vehicles that are propelled by a steel cable. There are two sub-groups of CPT— gondola lifts and cable cars (railway) . Gondola lifts are supported and propelled from above by cables, whereas cable cars are supported and propelled from below by cables. While historically associated with usage in ski resorts , gondola lifts are now finding increased consumption and utilization in many urban areas—built specifically for

3100-421: Is an all-encompassing term for various types of local rail systems, such as these examples trams , light rail , rapid transit , people movers , commuter rail , monorail , suspension railways and funiculars . Commuter rail is part of an urban area's public transport. It provides faster services to outer suburbs and neighboring satellite cities . Trains stop at train stations that are located to serve

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3200-539: Is as follows: Service code values common in financial cards: First digit Second digit Third digit The data stored on magnetic stripes on American and Canadian driver's licenses is specified by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators . Not all states and provinces use a magnetic stripe on their driver's licenses. For a list of those that do, see the AAMVA list. The following data

3300-484: Is common with roads for automobiles. Interchanges are locations where passengers can switch from one public transport route to another. This may be between vehicles of the same mode (like a bus interchange), or e.g. between bus and train. It can be between local and intercity transport (such as at a central station or airport). Timetables (or 'schedules' in North American English ) are provided by

3400-610: Is dominated by airlines , coaches , and intercity rail . High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport systems run along fixed routes with set embarkation/disembarkation points to a prearranged timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway (e.g.: "every 15 minutes" as opposed to being scheduled for any specific time of the day). However, most public transport trips include other modes of travel, such as passengers walking or catching bus services to access train stations. Share taxis offer on-demand services in many parts of

3500-430: Is especially valuable in cases where there are capacity problems for private transport. Investments in infrastructure are expensive and make up a substantial part of the total costs in systems that are new or expanding. Once built, the infrastructure will require operating and maintenance costs, adding to the total cost of public transport. Sometimes governments subsidize infrastructure by providing it free of charge, just as

3600-477: Is governed by a board of directors which includes nine positions filled by elected officials who must be appointed by the municipal jurisdictions that form the agency, and one position appointed by the Board upon recommendation by the labor organizations representing the public transportation employees within the local public transportation system pursuant to state law. Originally, the board consisted of 2 members from

3700-656: Is reasonably comfortable (seats, toilets, services), and can thus be scheduled and used pleasurably, productively or for (overnight) rest. Chauffeured movement is enjoyed by many people when it is relaxing, safe, but not too monotonous. Waiting, interchanging, stops and holdups, for example due to traffic or for security, are discomforting. Jet lag is a human constraint discouraging frequent rapid long-distance east–west commuting, favoring modern telecommunications and VR technologies. An airline provides scheduled service with aircraft between airports. Air travel has high speeds, but incurs large waiting times before and after travel, and

3800-401: Is recorded in each track, and use their own data sequences instead; these include hotel key cards, most subway and bus cards, and some national prepaid calling cards (such as for the country of Cyprus ) in which the balance is stored and maintained directly on the stripe and not retrieved from a remote database. There are up to three tracks on magnetic cards known as tracks 1, 2, and 3. Track 3

3900-427: Is stored on track 1: The following data is stored on track 2: The following data is stored on track 3: Note: Each state has a different selection of information they encode, not all states are the same. Note: Some states, such as Texas, have laws restricting the access and use of electronically readable information encoded on driver's licenses or identification cards under certain circumstances. Smart cards are

4000-444: Is the conveyance of passengers by means of wheeled vehicles specially designed to run on railways. Trains allow high capacity at most distance scales, but require track , signalling , infrastructure and stations to be built and maintained resulting in high upfront costs. Intercity rail is long-haul passenger services that connect multiple urban areas. They have few stops, and aim at high average speeds, typically only making one of

4100-519: Is the only track that may contain alphabetic text, and hence is the only track that contains the cardholder's name. Track 1 is written with code known as DEC SIXBIT plus odd parity . The information on track 1 on financial cards is contained in several formats: A , which is reserved for proprietary use of the card issuer, B , which is described below, C-M , which are reserved for use by ANSI Subcommittee X3B10 and N-Z , which are available for use by individual card issuers: Format B: This format

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4200-721: Is therefore often only feasible over longer distances or in areas where a lack of surface infrastructure makes other modes of transport impossible. Bush airlines work more similarly to bus stops; an aircraft waits for passengers and takes off when the aircraft is full. Bus services use buses on conventional roads to carry numerous passengers on shorter journeys. Buses operate with low capacity (compared with trams or trains), and can operate on conventional roads, with relatively inexpensive bus stops to serve passengers. Therefore, buses are commonly used in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas, and for shuttle services supplementing other means of transit in large cities. Bus rapid transit (BRT)

4300-432: Is virtually unused by the major worldwide networks , and often is not even physically present on the card by virtue of a narrower magnetic stripe. Point-of-sale card readers almost always read track 1, or track 2, and sometimes both, in case one track is unreadable. The minimum cardholder account information needed to complete a transaction is present on both tracks. Track 1 has a higher bit density (210 bits per inch vs. 75),

4400-632: The Valley Transit Center , an off-street passenger facility located on 4th Avenue at University Road in Spokane Valley , featuring a large passenger island with covered seating. The facility included a park and ride lot among other amenities. At the urging of the downtown business community, Spokane Transit built a transit center in 1995 to replace the historic Howard and Riverside hub which required that buses park along many downtown streets for passengers to make transfers. Not only

4500-482: The stagecoaches traveling a fixed route between coaching inns , and the horse-drawn boat carrying paying passengers, which was a feature of European canals from the 17th century onwards. The canal itself as a form of infrastructure dates back to antiquity. In ancient Egypt canals were used for freight transportation to bypass the Aswan cataract. The Chinese also built canals for water transportation as far back as

4600-851: The warring States period which began in the 5th century BCE. Whether or not those canals were used for for-hire public transport remains unknown; the Grand Canal in China (begun in 486 BCE) served primarily the grain trade . The bus , the first organized public transit system within a city, appears to have originated in Paris in 1662, although the service in question, Carrosses à cinq sols (English: five-sol coaches), which have been developed by mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal , lasted only fifteen years until 1677. Buses are known to have operated in Nantes in 1826. The public bus transport system

4700-418: The 1950s. In 1969 an IBM engineer had the idea of attaching a piece of magnetic tape, the predominant storage medium at the time, to a plastic card base. He tried it, but the result was unsatisfactory. Strips of tape warped easily, and the tape's function was negatively affected by adhesives he used to attach it to the card. After a frustrating day in the laboratory trying to find an adhesive that would hold

4800-571: The Advanced Systems Division of IBM, Los Gatos, California , from 1966 to 1975. In most magnetic stripe cards, the magnetic stripe is contained in a plastic-like film. The magnetic stripe is located 0.223 inches (5.7 mm) from the edge of the card, and is 0.375 inches (9.5 mm) wide. The magnetic stripe contains three tracks, each 0.110 inches (2.8 mm) wide. Tracks one and three are typically recorded at 210 bits per inch (8.27 bits per mm), while track two typically has

4900-743: The City of Spokane, 2 members from the Spokane County Commission, 1 member from each of the Cities of Airway Heights, Cheney, Medical Lake, and the Town of Millwood, and one additional member alternately held by an official from the City of Spokane and Spokane County. The City of Liberty Lake was incorporated in August 2001, and the City of Spokane Valley was incorporated in March 2003, necessitating

5000-657: The DEIS forecast less than 3,500 daily boardings on the 15.5-mile system in 2025. An advisory vote in 2006 elicited a negative response to continued planning and investment in the light rail project. In 2008, transit consultants Nelson-Nygaard Associates recommended changes to transit operations downtown while retaining the use of the Plaza transfer facility. Spokane Transit adopted a new comprehensive plan, Connect Spokane, in June 2010, to guide system planning and growth. The plan calls for

5100-515: The Netherlands many individuals use e-bikes to replace their car commutes. In major American cities, start-up companies such as Uber and Lyft have implemented e-scooters as a way for people to take short trips around the city. All public transport runs on infrastructure, either on roads, rail, airways or seaways. The infrastructure can be shared with other modes, freight and private transport, or it can be dedicated to public transport. The latter

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5200-532: The Spokane County Public Transportation Benefit Area (PBTA). As of 2023, STA's service area has a population of approximately 471,000 across 248 square miles (640 km) including the cities of Spokane , Spokane Valley , Cheney , Liberty Lake , Airway Heights , Medical Lake , the Town of Millwood , and unincorporated areas between and around those cities. It began operating service in 1981 after acquiring

5300-556: The Spokane area dates back more than 130 years beginning with the inaugural trip of a horse-drawn streetcar running between downtown Spokane and the Browne's Addition neighborhood to the west in 1888. The first electrically powered streetcar began operations November 1889 and traveled between downtown Spokane through what is now the University District. Over the next several decades, multiple private interests constructed and operated streetcars and cable cars typically as an integral part of

5400-543: The UK National Infrastructure Commission in 2018 states that "cycling is mass transit and must be treated as such." Cycling infrastructure is normally provided without charge to users because it is cheaper to operate than mechanised transit systems that use sophisticated equipment and do not use human power . Many cities around the world have introduced electric bikes and scooters to their public transport infrastructure. For example, in

5500-689: The Universal Transit Access Pass (UTAP) program with a "utility charge" for each ride taken by eligible participants. Spokane Transit currently maintains UTAP contracts with Eastern Washington University , Washington State University Spokane , Community Colleges of Spokane , Whitworth University , Gonzaga University and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Spokane (via Gonzaga University); City of Spokane for employees and elected officials; and, Spokane County for employees and elected officials. Spokane Transit

5600-422: The allocation of card number ranges to different card issuing institutions. As technological progress emerged in the form of highly capable and always carried smartphones , handhelds and smartwatches , the term "digital card" was introduced. On May 26, 2011 Google released its own version of a cloud hosted Google Wallet which contains digital cards - cards that can be created online without having to have

5700-621: The app, at the STA Plaza , or partnered retail locations. The pass allows for fare-capping and allows users to lock the cards if a card is lost or stolen. In July 2023, the system began accepting contactless payments including Visa , Mastercard , Discover , and digital wallets ( Apple Pay and Google Pay ) with onboard fare collection boxes as well as off-board fare validators and fare vending machines. Spokane Transit provides multiple fare instruments, including employee, youth, and college passes. Additionally, organizations may participate in

5800-532: The assets of the city-operated Spokane Transit System. The agency can trace its roots to a number of private transit operators extending back to 1888. While the 98th largest metropolitan area in the United States, Spokane ranks 20th in transit ridership per capita using 2019 ridership data. Spokane Transit provides multiple services: Spokane Transit has 51 fixed routes operating year-round on published schedules. Routes are numbered to reflect service class by

5900-445: The card's content. The magnetic stripe is read by swiping it past a magnetic reading head . Magnetic stripe cards are commonly used in credit cards , identity cards , and transportation tickets. They may also contain a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag , a transponder device and/or a microchip mostly used for access control or electronic payment. Magnetic storage was known from World War II and computer data storage in

6000-691: The cities of Cheney , Medical Lake and Airway Heights to travel between those cities without transferring in Spokane at the STA Plaza. As part of the 2018 changes, STA also increased frequency on service to the West Central neighborhood, introduced larger buses on North Division Street and introduced a new express route to the Valley Transit Center. Public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation , public transit , mass transit , or simply transit )

6100-713: The commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn . More than 160 cities have rapid transit systems, totalling more than 8,000 km (4,971 mi) of track and 7,000 stations. Twenty-five cities have systems under construction. People movers are a special term for grade-separated rail which uses vehicles that are smaller and shorter in size. These systems are generally used only in a small area such as a theme park or an airport. Trams (also known as streetcars or trolleys) are railborne vehicles that originally ran in city streets, though over decades more and more dedicated tracks are used. They have higher capacity than buses, but must follow dedicated infrastructure with rails and wires either above or below

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6200-447: The day or part of the day (known as clock-face scheduling ). Often, more frequent services or even extra routes are operated during the morning and evening rush hours . Coordination between services at interchange points is important to reduce the total travel time for passengers. This can be done by coordinating shuttle services with main routes, or by creating a fixed time (for instance twice per hour) when all bus and rail routes meet at

6300-461: The end of 2022, Spokane Transit served 1,778 bus stops throughout its service area. All fixed routes have buses with racks that can fit three bikes on the exterior of the bus. Most park and ride lots feature bike lockers that can be rented on a monthly basis. The New Flyer Xcelsior 60' articulating electric buses implemented on the City Line accommodate bikes on board the bus via the rear doors. Fare structure as of May 2023: As of October 2022,

6400-660: The fixed route bus operation, and Spokane Area Special Transportation Agency (SASTA) operated the paratransit services. The three names were unified about one and half years later in September 1982 under the Spokane Transit Authority name and brand. The name change officially took effect on September 23, 1982, after the START Board passed a resolution renaming the municipal corporation to Spokane Transit Authority. In September 1989, Spokane Transit opened

6500-493: The formation of a unified streetcar system featuring "universal transfers" between lines and empowering the company to convert some lines to trolleybuses on its own discretion. Following the successful measure, the Spokane United Railway Company was formed as a subsidiary to Washington Water Power (later, Avista Corporation ), creating a unified electric streetcar system. The street railway system

6600-538: The implementation of magnetic card reader heads and firmware that can read a signature of magnetic noise permanently embedded in all magnetic stripes during the card production process. This signature can be used in conjunction with common two-factor authentication schemes utilized in ATM, debit/retail point-of-sale and prepaid card applications. Some types of cards intentionally ignore the ISO standards regarding which kind of data

6700-664: The iron was just high enough to bond the tape to the card. Incremental improvements from 1969 through 1973 enabled developing and selling implementations of what became known as the Universal Product Code (UPC). This engineering effort resulted in IBM producing the first magnetic striped plastic credit and ID cards used by banks, insurance companies, hospitals and many others. Initial customers included banks, insurance companies and hospitals, who provided IBM with raw plastic cards preprinted with their logos, along with

6800-456: The location of their choice (rather than at a stop). Conventional transit simulations show that PRT might attract many auto users in problematic medium-density urban areas. A number of experimental systems are in progress. One might compare personal rapid transit to the more labor-intensive taxi or paratransit modes of transportation, or to the (by now automated) elevators common in many publicly accessible areas. Cable-propelled transit (CPT)

6900-400: The lost time and statistically higher risk of accident in private transport , together with the initial, running and parking costs. Loss of control , spatial constriction, overcrowding , high speeds/accelerations, height and other phobias may discourage use of public transport. Actual travel time on public transport becomes a lesser consideration when predictable and when travel itself

7000-522: The mass transit sector, replacing paper-based tickets and the earlier magnetic strip cards. Magnetic recording on steel tape and wire was invented by Valdemar Poulsen in Denmark around 1900 for recording audio. In the 1950s, magnetic recording of digital computer data on plastic tape coated with iron oxide was invented. In 1960, IBM built upon the magnetic tape idea and developed a reliable way of securing magnetic stripes to plastic cards , as part of

7100-435: The number of digits as described in the table below. Key geography is reflected in the first digit of regular service, while numbering of target service with triple reflects key markets and underlying geography through the combination of digits. Routes have distinct weekday, Saturday and Sunday schedule patterns. Most national holidays operate on a Saturday schedule with New Year's day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas day operating on

7200-492: The public transport leg of their journey and how close it leaves them to their desired destination. Timeliness is how long they must wait for the vehicle. Directness records how far a journey using public transport deviates from a passenger's ideal route. In selecting between competing modes of transport , many individuals are strongly motivated by direct cost (travel fare/ ticket price to them) and convenience , as well as being informed by habit . The same individual may accept

7300-481: The purchase of a ticket to generate revenue for the operators. Tickets may be bought either in advance, or at the time of the journey, or the carrier may allow both methods. Passengers may be issued with a paper ticket, a metal or plastic token , or a magnetic or electronic card ( smart card , contactless smart card ). Sometimes a ticket has to be validated, e.g. a paper ticket has to be stamped, or an electronic ticket has to be checked in. Tickets may be valid for

7400-619: The purposes of mass transit. Many, if not all, of these systems are implemented and fully integrated within existing public transportation networks. Examples include Metrocable (Medellín) , Metrocable (Caracas) , Mi Teleférico in La Paz , Portland Aerial Tram , Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York City, and the London Cable Car . A ferry is a boat used to carry (or ferry ) passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, across

7500-615: The reduced emissions and other environmental impacts of using public transportation over private transportation, many experts have pointed to an increased investment in public transit as an important climate change mitigation tactic. Conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferry service . The earliest public transport was water transport . Ferries appear in Greek mythology writings. The mystical ferryman Charon had to be paid and would only then take passengers to Hades . Some historical forms of public transport include

7600-557: The required tasks. Examples of cards adhering to these standards include ATM cards , bank cards (credit and debit cards including Visa and MasterCard ), gift cards , loyalty cards , driver's licenses , telephone cards , membership cards , electronic benefit transfer cards (e.g. food stamps ), and nearly any application in which monetary value or secure information is not stored on the card itself. Many video game and amusement centers now use debit card systems based on magnetic stripe cards. Magnetic stripe cloning can be detected by

7700-427: The rising costs of its era. The household tax model had another major disadvantage; because the tax depended on the quantity of households within the tax boundaries, its revenues would only increase with the construction of new households. Meanwhile, most residential growth was occurring outside Spokane city limits. Furthermore, the flat tax on households had been viewed by some as a very regressive tax . An election

7800-573: The sale tax dedicated to public transit to implement the STA Moving Forward plan. The plan called for more and better service, new connection facilities, include new transit centers and stations, and investments in six high performance transit lines. In 2018, Spokane Transit opened the West Plains Transit Center, an investment of the STA Moving Forward plan. The addition of the transit center allows passengers between

7900-555: The sales tax from 0.3% to 0.6% in October 2004, subject to a sunset of the tax in 2009. In May 2008, voters reauthorized the additional 0.3% sales tax with no sunset clause, with nearly 69% in favor. SRTC and STA jointly created the Light Rail Steering Committee (LRSC) in early 2000 which was responsible for studying the creation of a light rail corridor from Downtown Spokane to Liberty Lake . This effort

8000-408: The smoke filled subway tunnels from the steam engines. In 1894, Boston built the first subway in the United States, an electric streetcar line in a 1.5-mile tunnel under Tremont Street's retail district. Other cities quickly followed, constructing thousands of miles of subway in the following decades. In March 2020, Luxembourg abolished fares for trains, trams and buses and became the first country in

8100-489: The standard fare costs $ 2.00 and permits the rider to board any route for a period of two hours from initial purchase or validation on the bus. On October 1, 2022, Spokane Transit inaugurated a new accounted-based fare collection system, known as the Connect fare system. The fare system includes online account management, a smart card known as the Connect card, and a mobile app, STA Connect. The new system caps fares collected on

8200-452: The tape securely without affecting its function, he came home with several pieces of magnetic tape and several plastic cards. As he entered his home his wife was ironing clothing. When he explained the source of his frustration – inability to get the tape to "stick" to the plastic so that it would not come off, but without compromising its function – she suggested that he use the iron to melt the stripe on. He tried it and it worked. The heat of

8300-547: The ticket at the time of ride. Alternatively, a proof-of-payment system allows riders to enter the vehicles without showing the ticket, but riders may or may not be controlled by a ticket controller ; if the rider fails to show proof of payment, the operator may fine the rider at the magnitude of the fare. Magnetic stripe card A smartphone or smartwatch can store content from the card issuer; discount offers and news updates can be transmitted wirelessly, via Internet . These virtual cards are used in very high volumes by

8400-504: The track, limiting their flexibility. In the United States, trams were commonly used prior to the 1930s, before being superseded by the bus. In modern public transport systems, they have been reintroduced in the form of the light rail. Light rail is a term coined in 1972 and uses mainly tram technology. Light rail has mostly dedicated right-of-ways and less sections shared with other traffic and usually step-free access. Light rails line are generally traversed with increased speed compared to

8500-517: The transport operator to allow users to plan their journeys. They are often supplemented by maps and fare schemes to help travelers coordinate their travel. Online public transport route planners help make planning easier. Mobile apps are available for multiple transit systems that provide timetables and other service information and, in some cases, allow ticket purchase, some allowing to plan your journey, with time fares zones e.g. Services are often arranged to operate at regular intervals throughout

8600-408: The use and extent of public transport. The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) is the international network for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific institutes and the public transport supply and service industry. It has over 1,900 members from more than 100 countries from all over the globe. In recent years, some high-wealth cities have seen

8700-536: The world (especially in Europe and east Asia , particularly Japan ), but apart from public transit installations in Las Vegas and Seattle, most North American monorails are either short shuttle services or privately owned services (With 150,000 daily riders, the Disney monorail systems used at their parks may be the most famous in the world). Personal rapid transit is an automated cab service that runs on rails or

8800-544: The world to make all public transport free. The Encyclopædia Britannica specifies that public transportation is within urban areas, but does not limit its discussion of the topic to urban areas. Seven criteria estimate the usability of different types of public transport and its overall appeal. The criteria are speed, comfort, safety, cost, proximity, timeliness and directness. Speed is calculated from total journey time including transfers. Proximity means how far passengers must walk or otherwise travel before they can begin

8900-745: The world, which may compete with fixed public transport lines, or complement them, by bringing passengers to interchanges. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service. Urban public transit differs distinctly among Asia, North America, and Europe. In Asia, profit-driven, privately owned and publicly traded mass transit and real estate conglomerates predominantly operate public transit systems. In North America, municipal transit authorities most commonly run mass transit operations. In Europe, both state-owned and private companies predominantly operate mass transit systems. For geographical, historical and economic reasons, differences exist internationally regarding

9000-517: Was Washington State's motor vehicle excise tax which provided matching funds. After statewide Initiative I-695 was passed in 1999, the legislature eliminated the matching funds even though the initiative was later found unconstitutional. The period after the elimination of the motor vehicle excise tax was a time of unprecedented change for Spokane Transit. As its undesignated cash reserves balance fell, Spokane Transit attempted to increase its tax authority from 0.3% to 0.6% in September 2002, but it

9100-515: Was a time of intense competition for the streetcars, with growing automobile ownership and private jitneys that threatened the viability of a divided transit system. By the end of the decade, Spokane Traction Company fell into receivership and underwent reorganizations that were unsuccessful in returning the system to profitability. In 1922, Spokane citizens overwhelmingly voted to amend the city charter to reduce taxes and other special assessments imposed on streetcar operations and infrastructure, enabling

9200-787: Was built for 11 miles of track for the Union Passenger Railway in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1888. Electric streetcars could carry heavier passenger loads than predecessors, which reduced fares and stimulated greater transit use. Two years after the Richmond success, over thirty two thousand electric streetcars were operating in America. Electric streetcars also paved the way for the first subway system in America. Before electric streetcars, steam powered subways were considered. However, most people believed that riders would avoid

9300-489: Was developed by the banking industry (ABA). This track is written with a 5-bit scheme (4 data bits + 1 parity), which allows for sixteen possible characters, which are the numbers 0–9, plus the six characters  : ; < = > ?  . (It may seem odd that these particular punctuation symbols were selected, but by using them the set of sixteen characters matches the ASCII range 0x30 through 0x3f.) The data format

9400-467: Was gradually phased out through the 1930s to make way for motorized coaches. Bus ridership reached a peak in the Spokane area in 1946 with 26 million passengers. The system was purchased by Spokane City Lines Company (part of National City Lines ) in 1945, and later turned over to the City of Spokane in 1968. Upon acquisition by the city, funding for the system was derived from a $ 1 household tax. In 1980,

9500-421: Was held on March 10, 1981, to determine the future of public transportation in the Spokane region. The election measure, which passed and was subsequently implemented the following month of April 1981, replaced the $ 1 tax on households within Spokane city limits with a 0.3% sales tax to be applied throughout the public transportation benefit area. The shift in the transit agency's funding and administrative model

9600-666: Was introduced to London in July 1829. The first passenger horse-drawn vehicle opened in 1806. It ran along the Swansea and Mumbles Railway . In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion No 1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northeast England, the first public steam railway in the world. The world's first steam-powered underground railway opened in London in 1863. The first successful electric streetcar

9700-459: Was not isolated to Spokane. Many other cities and regions in Washington state including the cities of Vancouver and Tacoma, as well as King County, Pierce County, Snohomish County, and Clark County had already shifted from a city household tax model to a county-wide transit system funded by sales tax. In addition to adapting its funding model to reflect the current economic times, the shift to

9800-461: Was preceded by significant study by the SRTC. In 2006 the committee published a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) which evaluated several rail and bus alternatives for the corridor. The committee stated preference for a single-track rail corridor using diesel multiple units (DMU) that would cost less than half the conventional light rail system. The travel demand modeling performed as part of

9900-463: Was rejected by voters 48% to 52%. Research following the failed ballot measure pointed to limited understanding of the agency's organizational structure, performance and financial conditions. Spokane Transit created task force to study changes that could be made to regain the support of the community, while simultaneously preparing for a potential 40% service decrease. After increased public participation, and 69% voter approval, Spokane Transit increased

10000-405: Was this uncomfortable for passengers, who were forced to wait for buses in the weather, but it also made the streetside businesses less accessible to customers. The bus center, known as "The Plaza" was constructed as an indoor urban park at a cost of approximately $ 20 million including property acquisition costs. With its high, daylight ceiling, imported Italian tile, and cougar statues leaping over

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