The Go-To card is a
contactless smart card
A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit-card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit tickets ...
used to pay
fare
A fare is the fee paid by a passenger for use of a public transport system: rail, bus, taxi, etc. In the case of air transport, the term airfare is often used. Fare structure is the system set up to determine how much is to be paid by various pa ...
s for
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
,
light rail, and
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
lines operated by
Metro Transit and other transit agencies in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
area of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. The system has significantly sped up boardings on area buses while alleviating wear and tear on existing
ticket machine
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...
s and fare boxes. The old magnetic strip reading machines were weather sensitive and could not be placed out in the elements like at the Hiawatha Line light rail stations.
The Go-To card went into full operation in early 2007.
Problems and delays
The Go-To card was originally meant to go into service in September 2003 and become the first such system in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, but technical difficulties delayed introduction.
Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc.
Cubic Corporation is an American public transportation and defense corporation. It operates two business segments: Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS).
History
Cubic Corporation was founded i ...
worked under a contract valued at
$16.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ), but Metro Transit stopped payment at $9.4 million in May 2003 when it became apparent that the rollout would be behind schedule.
[Blake, Laurie (December 22, 2004) "`Go To' card runs into a few speed bumps - Metro Transit's frequent-ride card should debut soon" '']Star Tribune
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
''
Cubic Transportation Systems initially promoted this system as the first contactless smart card installation in the country, but since introduction was delayed, at least one other system in the U.S. went into use ahead of the Go-To card. While traditional smart card systems require the card to be swiped through or inserted into a reader, the Go-To card requires a passenger to tap it against the reading device. This reduces mechanical wear dramatically, and removes the need for readers to be hardened against the sometimes cold and wet climate of Minnesota. Ticket machines on Metro Transit's
Blue Line were designed with the Go-To card in mind.
Before this system was sent into full release, some Metro Transit employees and selected area riders were part of a test program, started in the latter half of 2004, using the cards as they go about their daily business. In November 2004 after five months of service, Metro Transit's general manager stated that the devices only achieved 20% reliability.
Cubic said that the issues that were originally delaying introduction were
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
problems. Frequently, either the reader or the card did not properly detect when it has been used. Software for the central computer system, which handles synchronization and how funds are replenished, was not fully operational until late April 2005. In March 2006 Metro Transit sent Cubic a letter of default demanding a plan to correct issues with the 2 and a half year delayed system.
The underlying technology is
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
'
MIFARE
MIFARE is the NXP Semiconductors-owned trademark of a series of integrated circuit (IC) chips used in contactless smart cards and proximity cards.
The brand name covers proprietary solutions based upon various levels of the ISO/IEC 14443 Type A ...
system, implementing the
ISO/IEC 14443
ISO/IEC 14443 ''Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit cards -- Proximity cards'' is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it.
Standa ...
(Type A) standard.
Full service
In November 2005, Metro Transit allowed 18,000 trial users to begin using the Go-To card system, with hopes of rolling out the cards to all users by the fourth quarter of 2006.
On November 15, 2006, Metro Transit unveiled the Go-To card for 2,500 users to use during a trial period lasting until January 31, 2007. By April 2007, Go-To cards were being sold to the general public at Metro Transit stores. It is also possible to buy and refill cards at other locations that sell transit passes, such as some local grocery stores.
Metropass
The Metropass is a transit pass for trains and buses sold at a discounted rate to employees purchased by local companies. The pass is purchased monthly and allows unlimited rides during the month.
College transit pass programs
University of Minnesota
The Metro Transit U-Pass program was created in 2000 and was a discounted transit pass sold only to
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
students or employees taking at least one credit of courses. The pass allowed for an unlimited number of rides during the semester it was purchased and had a mandatory $19 (as of Spring 2013) transportation fee not included with the actual cost of the pass. The University of Minnesota switched to the Go-To card in 2007 which allowed for semester renewal up to six years. For the 2021-2022 school year, the cost was $114. Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, the U-Pass was eliminated in favor of a $45 increase in the mandatory transportation fee but the universal availability of unlimited transit rides for all students.
![Campus Zone Pass card](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Campus_Zone_Pass_card.jpg)
The Campus Zone Pass allowed free travel between the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
,
East Bank
Transjordan, the East Bank, or the Transjordanian Highlands ( ar, شرق الأردن), is the part of the Southern Levant east of the Jordan River, mostly contained in present-day Jordan.
The region, known as Transjordan, was controlled by nu ...
, and
Stadium Village
Stadium Village is an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota near the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. While not an official neighborhood of Minneapolis, the area is an important commercial district that serves university students with man ...
Green Line light rail stations. The card was free to registered students, faculty, and staff of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The Campus Zone Pass was eliminated with the introduction of the Universal Transit Pass program for University of Minnesota students.
College Pass
The Go-To College Pass is a pass good for unlimited bus and train rides per semester in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area sold at a discounted rate to eligible college and university students. Participating schools include
Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Anoka-Ramsey Community College is a public community college in Cambridge and Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Founded in 1965, the college annually serves more than 12,500 students as they pursue associate degrees that transfer as the first two years of ...
,
Anoka Technical College
Anoka Technical College is a public 2-year technical college in Anoka, Minnesota
Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 census. Anoka is the
"Halloween Cap ...
,
Augsburg University
Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...
,
Aveda Institute,
Bethel University,
Century College
Century College is a two-year community college and technical college in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. It is a member of the Minnesota State system. It was founded in 1967 as Lakewood State Junior College and in 1996 merged with Northeast Metro Te ...
,
Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
,
Dunwoody College of Technology
Dunwoody College of Technology is a private technology school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It offers Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) and Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degrees.
History
Dunwoody College was ...
,
Hamline University
Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...
,
Hennepin Technical College
Hennepin Technical College is a public technical school with two campuses in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota.
History
Beginning in 1967, Twin Cities suburban school districts began advocating at the Minnesota Legislature for legislation that w ...
,
Inver Hills Community College
Inver Hills Community College is a public community college in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota
Inver Grove Heights is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 35,801 at the 2020 census. The city was formed on Marc ...
,
Macalester College
Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...
,
Metropolitan State University
Metropolitan State University (Metro State) is a public university in the Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area. It is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. ,
Minneapolis Business College,
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...
,
Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Minneapolis Community and Technical College (Minneapolis College) is a public community college in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It has one of the most diverse student populations in the state and enrolls nearly 11,100 credit students annually. Minneap ...
,
Normandale Community College
Normandale Community College is a public community college in Bloomington, Minnesota. The college serves primarily the communities of the southwestern portion of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Established in 1968 as Normandale St ...
,
North Central University
North Central University (NCU) is a private Christian university associated with the Assemblies of God and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is owned and operated by 11 Assemblies of God districts of the upper Midwest. NCU was founded in 1 ...
,
North Hennepin Community College
North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) is a public community college in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It was founded in 1966 and is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
History
The college was founded in 1966 as N ...
,
Northwestern Health Sciences University,
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, (SMUMN) is a private Catholic university with an undergraduate residential college in Winona, Minnesota; graduate and professional programs in Winona, the Twin Cities, and Rochester; and various course deli ...
,
St. Catherine University
St. Catherine University (St. Kate's) is a private Catholic university in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was established as one of the first institutions of higher learning specifically for women in the Midwest and was known as the College of St. C ...
,
Saint Paul College and
University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to:
*Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia
*Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina
*St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick
*St. ...
.
Ridership at Augsburg and Macalester nearly doubled after all students were given universal transit passes allowing unlimited transit rides.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Go-To Card
Contactless smart cards
Fare collection systems in the United States
Transportation in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Metro Transit (Minnesota)