Your Questions on the Q Card
Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:09 PM
We’ve gotten a lot of questions about the Q Card on this blog, so we thought we’d go to the top guy in charge of the Q Card, Erik Oistad/vice president/chief information officer in our Information Technology department. Oistad has an electrical engineering degree, MBA and 31 years of experience in IT. Before joining METRO two years ago, he worked at Atlantic Richfield, Texas Instruments, and Holmes and Narver, an architectural and engineering firm.
Q: What’s the latest on the Q Card?
A: The program is in the testing phase to ensure a smooth rollout. You should continue to use your existing fare items. Before we make the changeover, we’ll give you ample time to get a Q Card. For more information, call METROLine at 713/635-4000.
Q: How do the Q cards really work?
A. When you tap the Q Card on the Qbox, the reader instantly interacts with the chip in the smart card - and the appropriate fare will be debited from your balance. You will be able to add money to your Q Card by visiting a participating retail location or a METRO RideStore, a METRO ticket vending machine, or a cashless point-of-sale at the Park & Ride lots. Or, once you register your card, you can add value by going on-line.
Q: How secure are they?
A: The data is encrypted. The equipment to read the card has to be properly equipped to read the encrypted information. It’s not absolutely impossible, but it’s extremely unlikely that someone would be able to read a Q Card with homemade equipment. There’s minimal information located on the Q Card. When you register your card, all the information you submitted during registration will not be on the Q Card. It will be on a highly secure database.
Q: What is stored on the card?
A: Basic information: the type of passenger you are (full fare, senior, student, disabled) and the stored value on the card – how much money you have loaded on the card, and a card ID number.
Q: Who has access to the database?
A: Only certain authorized individuals at METRO.
Q: Will the information in the database be shared with law enforcement regularly?
A: No.
Q: Will a warrant be required?
A: We will comply with the law.
Q: Can someone use my Q Card to make fakes ones?
A: Never say never. But it is extremely difficult to generate a counterfeit fare item in the new system. In addition to being very difficult, it’s equally important to have the ability to detect a counterfeit item and prevent its use. Part of the intelligence of the central system is to track the use of a card, both in payments made off the cards and extra funds to the card. If a card shows up in the Q Card system that has money on it that the central database doesn’t know about, the card is invalidated and can’t be used.
Q: If my trip involves taking a bus eastbound, then transferring to another bus northbound, will the transfer still work since I am not traveling in the same direction?
A: There won’t be a problem. You’ll get a free transfer if it’s a continuation of the same trip, even though the bus seems to be going in a different direction.
Q: How will the cost of the fare be determined if each leg costs a different amount? For example, if the second leg of my trip costs 50 cents more, do I have to tell the bus driver I am transferring to a more expensive bus before I swipe my card?
A: Your Q Card will automatically add the extra 50 cents to the more expensive leg of the trip. However, all of the express buses except for the 170 Missouri City Express, which operates between the Missouri City Park & Ride lot to the TMC Transit Center, will have fares reduced to $1 from $1.50.
Q: What happens if I take an express, then a local? Will the Q Card account for the different prices?
A: Yes. The Q Card will only deduct the fare increment if you get on the most expensive bus.
Q: Where’s the Q Card video?
A: It’s posted on our Web site. It actually made it up on Monday, Feb. 5.
Q: I’m a Q Card Booster, and my Q Card still hasn’t come in the mail.
A: They were mailed last Friday afternoon. You should have your Q Card now if you are a volunteer Q Booster trying out the Q Card.
Q: I’m a senior. What do I do when my pass is about to expire?
A: Keep using your senior pass the way you normally do. When it’s about to expire, come into the RideStore to renew it. If you come in when we are about to switch to Q Cards, any balance on your pass will be transferred to your Q Card. All seniors will have a Q Card senior ID. It will be your Q Card and your senior ID. You will have to go the RideStore to get this. This will make you eligible for half price fares if you are between the ages of 65 and 69. For seniors 70 or older, rides are free.
Q: Why have you stopped maintaining the rail ticket vending machines? Neither of the machines at the southbound Museum District stop was working Thursday morning. One of the two machines at the northbound Dryden/TMC hasn’t been working for about three weeks…What’s going on?
A: We have a de-commissioning process where we go out and de-commission the old ticket vending machine (TVM) for the new one. We take all the money out and turn it off. You may have been trying to buy a ticket when that happened. On rare occasions, we have one machine that has been de-commissioned, and the second machine just breaks. But all the machines are actively monitored via our computer network around the clock. TVMs are networked back to a central location and monitored by a computer network so when a machine fails, we know it at the time, and a technician is dispatched to repair it. The installation of the new TVMs is underway. One new TVM will be installed on each rail platform. Then we will begin installing a second new TVM on each platform, removing the old machine in the process.
Q: Has public testing of the Q Card been canceled?
A: No. It is continuing with unpaid volunteers who ride our system. We’ve dubbed them Q Boosters. They will be using the system and reporting back to us. Read more on our Web site.
Q: Hey, do I have to be a speed reader? When I flash my card at the Qbox, my balance doesn’t stay up long enough for me to read. A: Keep your card next to the Qbox and hold it steady. The information will remain up for as long as you hold your Q Card to the Qbox.
Q: When I try to tap my card again, I get a red light.
A: The Q Card has a feature called a “no passback.” For five minutes after the first tap, the card cannot be used again.
Q: What happens if I accidentally tap my card against the Qbox twice? Will I be charged twice?
A: No, you won’t. That’s one of the reasons why we have the “no passback” feature.
Q: Why does the Qbox not read my card sometimes?
A: Make sure your Q Card is not flat against another smart card, like an employee card.
Q: Do I need to tap my card on the Qbox when I’m taking the train?
A: Yes, be sure to tap your Q Card against the Qbox before you board the train. The Qbox is located adjacent to the ticket vending machine. Otherwise, when METRO police check on board to see if passengers paid – and wave their wand over your Q Card, it will indicate the card wasn’t properly tapped. You’ll be in violation.