Ellington

From the “Husky Card hand-off” to duplicated stickers, it’s no secret that U-PASS fraud is a common occurrence. Starting this spring, however, new technology will make these free rides harder to come by.

ORCA (One Regional Card for All) smartcards became available to the public in April; with the joint efforts of the UW, King County Metro Transit, and other local public transportation agencies, new Husky Cards with the same smart-chip technology will completely eliminate the U-PASS sticker. The shift to new cards is scheduled to begin at the end of spring quarter for students and during summer quarter for faculty and staff.

“Last year, I lost my Husky Card and paid the $30 for the new card and stickers and then I found my old one, so I let my friends use it,” said sophomore Erin Hobbs. “When summer quarter came and mine was expired, I still used it and just flashed it, and the bus drivers didn’t care.”

The smartcard will only be activated for those who have paid for the pass, and when the university joins the automated system and the cards are activated, current methods of U-PASS fraud will no longer be effective. While eliminating fraud is not the goal of the ORCA program, ORCA contract administrator Candace Carlson said it is a benefit of the new system.

“In general, fraud has been a problem because any time you have a paper-based system, it’s just much easier to replicate a pass by photocopying,” Carlson said.

One type of U-PASS fraud involves students who illegitimately report their passes as lost and receive replacement stickers while retaining the original pass. The new system has security features to deactivate passes that are lost and stolen before issuing replacements.

“It can get turned off when the ID card gets lost and is easily replaced,” said Josh Kavanagh, UW director of Transportation Services.

However, Husky Card administrator Ann Gigli said that the price for replacement Husky Cards is expected to increase in line with the new smart-chip technology, but that the initial re-card process next spring will be free to students.

Kavanagh said there were two back-to-back increases in King County Metro Transit prices after a decline in sales tax revenue last year, the primary funding source for transit agencies in the state of Washington. This contributed to the recent increase in the cost of the U-PASS from $50 to $99, providing a greater incentive for students to commit fraud.

While other transit agencies saw a decline in sales tax revenue, King County Metro Transit accounts for more than 75 percent of the UW’s contract.

“The motivation to cheat went up a little bit with U-PASS prices, but I believe in the integrity of our students,” Kavanagh said.

The university pays for the U-PASS program on a per-ride basis, as estimated by an extensive survey conducted every two years. This process doesn’t account for rides taken with fraudulent passes, however, leaving the transit agencies to subsidize illegal ridership.

“It’s a theft of services from the university and transit agencies, and the dollar amounts associated with that are not insignificant,” Kavanagh said.

With the new system, the number of rides that the university will purchase will be based on the actual number of rides tracked over a period of time, and the smartcard technology will hold students accountable for purchasing their transportation each quarter.

Kavanagh indicated that there will most likely be a short transitional period where both the sticker and smartcard will be accepted. The U-PASS program will continue to service the bus systems, the Sounder Commuter Train and LINK Light Rail.

Reach reporters Breanna Lai and Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.