You’ll soon have a new way to pay for a light rail ride – and can avoid the line

Light rail passengers may soon be able to use a smartphone app to pay for a ride, instead of waiting in line to buy a ticket.

The Charlotte Area Transit System is partnering with a local company, Passport, to develop an app to to buy Lynx Blue Line tickets.

The transit system said light-rail passengers often want to buy a ticket, but they can’t because there can be lines to use the ticket vending machines at stations.

“If there is a line to purchase a ticket and the train pulls up, most people will just get on,” CATS chief executive John Lewis told the Metropolitan Transit Commission at last month’s meeting.

Riding the Lynx without a ticket carries a $50 fine. But enforcement can be spotty, and riders often complain that fellow passengers aren’t paying.

To fix the problem, Lewis told the MTC that CATS is partnering with Passport, which he said is the largest provider of cellphone payment software for the parking and transit industries in North America. The company’s office is on South Mint Street.

He said CATS hopes to begin testing the app in the spring, and hopes it will make it easier for CATS to partner with ride-share companies like Uber on so-called “first mile/last mile” trips. CATS hopes that people will ride a bus or train for most of their trip, and then use a ride-share company to bring them directly to their destination.

Lewis said studies have shown that 85 percent of transit riders have smartphones.

He said the app could help people who rely on cash.

Lewis told the MTC that 10 percent of Americans have no banking relationship, and 20 percent don’t have a credit card. Passport has a partnership with CVS, Walgreens and other stores that allow customers to use cash and put money onto the Passport app on their smartphones.

Though some people are riding the Lynx without buying a ticket, CATS counts passengers by using automatic counters located on the doors of the train. So if a passenger rides without buying a ticket, they are still counted.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 12:37 PM with the headline "You’ll soon have a new way to pay for a light rail ride – and can avoid the line."