ABQ Ride Installs Ticket Machines

The mayor’s staff told us yesterday that a “new era in bus pass sales” was on its way, and they delivered the goods today.

Ticket-vending machines are being installed this week at three locations in Albuquerque, which should make it easier to buy bus passes when you don’t have exact change. They will accept debit and credit cards.

One machine is already up and running at the Central and Unser Transit Center and two more will go in this week at the Northwest Transit Center and Uptown Transit Center. Full news release below:

ABQ RIDE’s New Ticket Vending Machines Make It Easier to Buy Bus Passes

ALBUQUERQUE— Buying a bus pass from ABQ RIDE using something other than cash just got easier than ever before. Today, a ticket vending machine that accepts both debit and credit cards began selling full-fare, 3-day and 31-day passes at ABQ RIDE’s Central and Unser Transit Center.  Ticket vending machines at the Northwest Transit Center and Uptown Transit Center in Albuquerque are expected to become operational by the end of the week.

Until today, the only places you could use a debit or credit card to purchase ABQ RIDE bus passes were at the Alvarado Transportation Center or City Hall Treasury Downtown or at participating Albertsons or John Brooks grocery stores.  Now, passengers can buy these passes in some of the most popular places to catch the bus.  Passengers can still buy Day Passes, 2-day passes and 3-day passes on ABQ RIDE buses, but only if they use cash. 

“These vending machines now give passengers the option of buying 3 and 31-day bus pass at times when ABQ RIDE’s customer service or stores just aren’t available to sell them,” said Mayor Richard J. Berry.  “The machines also fulfill part of the mandate I gave our Transit Department a few years ago; to make it simpler than ever to ride ABQ RIDE.”

The ticket vending machines were purchased with Federal Stimulus funds.  They were built by GFI Genfare, a suburban Chicago, Illinois-based company which builds most of the bus fare boxes now in service throughout the U.S. and Canada, including those used in ABQ RIDE buses.  The passes from these machines were designed to be compatible with the fare boxes used by ABQ RIDE.

FIS Payment Solutions is handling the gateway from the ticket vending machines to credit card services via the Internet.  The bus passes themselves can serve as receipts for the transactions, though the ticket vending machines can also issue receipts as well.

“We’ll be closely monitoring how often these ticket vending machines are being utilized,” said Bruce Rizzieri, Director of ABQ RIDE.  “If they are extremely successful, they could eventually be placed in other high-traffic, high demand locations around Albuquerque.”