Dallas’s Rapid Transit System Looks To Move Cash Payments to Local Retailers

More than 80% of the fare value collected by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System at its ticket windows and on its buses comes in the form of cash, so next spring the transit agency will start offloading that cash onto local 7-Elevens and other stores.

DART and PayNearMe Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that allows consumers to make online payments with cash, announced on Monday they will allow the system’s 250,000 riders to use cash to load a DART GoPass mobile app or GoPass prepaid card. The GoPass system works with near-field communication to link a mobile device or card to readers on buses or railcars and deduct the fare. The GoPass card is a new payment vehicle DART will introduce with Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., a major prepaid card program manager, and PayNearMe.

With either the app or the card, DART users starting next March will be able to load value with cash at locations belonging to 7-Eleven Inc. and Fidelity Express, a chain of stores specializing in walk-in bill payment and money orders, as well as other locations. 7-Eleven has more than 400 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, according to an announcement about the new arrangement released Monday.

Altogether, the retail network available to load the two payment vehicles will include nearly 800 locations in the Dallas area and will embrace “a broad cross section of grocery, convenience, and bodega retailers,” according to a statement from David Leininger, executive vice president and chief financial officer at DART.

The transit agency is interested in reducing cash-handling in its vehicles and at its ticket windows. Indeed, it is looking to “potentially eliminate” cash at these venues as part of an effort to cut down on distractions and beef up safety and operational efficiency, according to the announcement. The new system will take 10 months to complete because of needed upgrades to card-reader hardware and to back-office software. “These updates are beginning now,” says a spokesperson.

Once in a participating location, DART users will show the app on their phone to the checkout clerk and then hand over the cash value they elect to pay. The app includes a trip planner and also allows mobile users to buy a DART pass. A barcode shown by the app links the cash to the user’s DART account. The new GoPass NFC card will be sold through the same network of stores. Users can register the card so it and any cash value on it can be replaced if the card is lost or stolen.

PayNearMe has been expanding in recent years beyond its original market of consumers looking to pay in cash for products and services purchased online. Last month, it announced it would handle tax payments at 7-Eleven stores for the Internal Revenue Service, working with Official Payments, a processor specializing in tax payments and a unit of ACI Worldwide Inc.