Q-Card Chronicles
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May 21, 2007:
I've been testing out the Q-Card for our office and sending them reports. My reports sound very much like a blog entries, so I thought I'd post it:
4/12/2007
They're letting the general public sign up for the Q-card now: http://ridemetro.org/qcard/qcboostreg.asp
You get $10 free and you can reload it after that. I believe they are going to cross everything over to the Q-card eventually.
5/15/2007After a month, I finally got my Q-Card through the Q-Booster program.
I tried it out this morning, the panel said $9 remaining, and I went on my merry way.
One unadvertised surprise is that, during this test phase, instead of getting the normal 5 free fares after 50 paid fares once the system rolls out, you get 5 free fares after only 15 paid fares. It's essentially a 25% discount right now. This is as big a bonus that you get with the pre-paid cards. They said they would give all their Q-Boosters 30-days notice before they change this.
Another bonus is that you can register your Q-Card, so that if it is ever lost or stolen, you can call METRO and they will invalidate the lost or stolen card and send you a new one with your full balance.
Right now there are limited places where you can recharge the Q-Card. You can see the list of places here: http://ridemetro.org/qcard/retrpos.asp. I usually just walk 8 blocks or so to the one on 1001 Travis to get my 30-day pass, so I'll probably continue doing that to recharge the Q-Card. I would imagine they would allow you to recharge it online after you register it, but it doesn't look like that's implemented, and there is no indication there will be one way or the other.
I should be able to test the "transfer" function of the Q-Card next time I have to make a filing in the Appeals court, when I usually take a random bus down 10 blocks and a different random bus back up. The website says you should be able to transfer between any number of different buses within 3 hours, even if they are going in opposite directions.
So, once my 30-day pass has expired the end of this week, I'm going to go to 100% Q-Card. I'll give you another update when I recharge it to let you know how smooth (or not) the process is.
5/21/2007So my Q-card has been acting flawlessly. I put it through the ringer on Friday and today and it stood up to the challenge.
On Friday, I tested out the transfer capabilities. I needed to go to the court of appeals on my way home for a filing, so I hopped on bus 8 which took me all the way from our office down Fannin to Polk. The light went green and it told me I had $7 remaining. After my filing, I needed to get back up to Lamar, so I hopped on bus 24 going the opposite direction for two blocks. The light went green and it told me I had $7 remaining. Just for the heck of it, Bus 50 was coming my way, going the same direction as my bus home, so I hopped on that for two blocks. The light went green and it told me I had $7 remaining. I got off, walked another block, and got my bus home, Bus 6. The light went green again and it told me I had $7 remaining.
Today, I stopped at Dallas and Main to go to the Dollar store at 901 Main (the closest one to our office, I believe) to recharge my card after taking Bus 6 in from home ($6 remaining). Other than the cashier yelling in another language to a guy across the room to figure out how to do it correctly, I was able to recharge it with $100 it without incident. I walked to the northbound rail platform and hit the Q-card on the rail Q-card pad. The light went green and it told me I had $106 remaining (so it recharged *and* the transfer worked).
I also discussed transfers with a helpful woman on the Metro Q-Card Help Line (713-635-4000, options 1-2-5). She says transfers are good 2 hours for the same "trip." As long as you're not going the opposite way on a line you've already ridden, you should be able to get on any bus or train within 2 hours of the time your card was charged without getting charged again. For example, I can take my bus or train halfway home, stop at a restaurant to eat, then continue on the same bus or train later without being charged extra. She did specify that you cannot ride a train one way, then use the transfer to ride it back the other way. You will get charged twice. The same goes for an individual bus line.
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| 2008-01-14 - | Aramco Houston Half Marathon |
| 2008-01-08 - | Road trip to Florida |
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