Miami-Dade Transit has begun to offer consumers commemorative Super Bowl transit smart cards for the area’s transit system. Transit officials hope the initiative helps promote use of the agency’s smart card system, which launched last fall.
EAccess LLC, a subsidiary of Cubic Corp., produced 6,500 cards for the initiative, which commemorates this Sunday’s Super Bowl being held in Miami.
The Easy card features the National Football League and Super Bowl XLIV logos. Consumers may purchase the card for $5 at such sales outlets as supermarkets, pharmacies, check-cashing locations and the downtown Miami welcome center. Cardholders may reload their card accounts using cash and credit or debit cards at sales outlets, online, by phone or at transit vending machines. There is initial $2 fee for the card, but no reload fees.
Miami-Dade Transit officials were unable to comment on sales of the card, which launched Monday.
The card not only gives consumers a piece of Super Bowl memorabilia, but it also helps promote the sales outlets where transit cards are sold, says Harpal S. Kapoor, Miami-Dade Transit director.
The authority came up with the concept only about three weeks ago. “We approached the NFL with this idea, and they loved it,” Kapoor says. “So they agreed to sponsor the card and allowed us to use their logo.”
The card’s creation comes four months after the authority launched a smart card-based fare-collection system. Cubic Transportation Systems, another Cubic subsidiary, developed the system, which supports payment for 22 Metrorail stations and more than 500 buses.
Before the new system, commuters used magnetic stripe transit cards similar to the MetroCard in New York. Miami-Dade decided to switch systems, in part to reduce fare evasion and to gather ridership data that can help the authority determine where more service may be needed.
The Easy card is the first smart card-based transit card in Florida, Kapoor says. Cubic completed the system’s installation within 15 months of the authority awarding the project contract, a record time for a transit smart card system, according to Kapoor.
San Diego-based Cubic is one of the largest suppliers of public transportation fare systems. It has installed more than 60,000 of its Tri-Readers in 17 markets around the world, including for London’s Oyster card system, the Washington, D.C., SmarTrip system, and New York/New Jersey’s SmartLink system.
Cubic officials were unavailable for comment.
