Westmoreland County bus riders can pay fares with plastic — finally

After five years of delays, Westmoreland County Transit Authority bus riders will be able to pay their fares with plastic.

Officials announced that starting Feb. 1, the long-planned Connect Card cashless payment system will launch to allow riders to use a credit card preloaded with funds to pay for daily bus trips through Westmoreland County and into Pittsburgh.

“It's taken forever, but this is a first step,” said authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec.

The authority in 2013 paid $558,000 to Massachusetts-based Scheidt & Bachmann USA for the cashless fare system, but delays in finalizing a working version of the equipment pushed its launch back years.

An identical system for the Port Authority system was similarly delayed, and Westmoreland's authority was forced to wait in line until it was finally up and running in Allegheny County.

The system will allow riders to receive a plastic credit card to be preloaded with cash and read by equipment on bus. Fare amounts will be withdrawn electronically from the rider's account.

Transit authority riders now pay fares with cash or purchase multi-ride passes.

Meghan Yuhouse, director of operations for the transit authority, said cards initially will be offered at no cost to riders and funds can be loaded into accounts from payment centers at the transit authority headquarters in Greensburg, the North Huntingdon Sheetz location adjacent to a park-and-ride lot on Route 30 and at the Port Authority's transit center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Although the system was designed to allow riders to add funds to the account via their home computers, that option will not be available for some time.

Officials said they do not expect a flawless launch.

“We're going to rip the Band-Aid off and just do it. We are fully going to use it and we're hoping for the best,” Yuhouse said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.