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One Card to Rule Them All: LA Metro’s Experiment in a Universal Transit Wallet
Maylin Tu
Maylin Tu is a freelance writer who lives in L.A. She writes about scooters, bikes and micro-mobility. Find her hovering by the cheese at your next local tech mixer.
L.A. Metro is launching the largest experiment in the U.S. to provide 2,000 residents with a seamless transportation payment platform spanning public and private systems.
The agency is opening up applications for its mobility wallet as part of its universal basic mobility (UBM) pilot, helmed by L.A.’s Department of Transportation (LADOT). Metro is seeking applicants from South Los Angeles to apply by November 1. After applicants are selected, the first phase of the pilot will begin within the next few months.
One thousand participants will receive prepaid debit cards which the city will replenish with $150 per month ($1,800 total over the course of a year) to spend on multimodal transportation options in the program’s first phase. The debit card can be used to pay for Metro bus and rail, Metro Micro and 26 municipal transit agencies across L.A. County, as well as private mobility options including shared e-scooters and e-bikes, car share, ride-hailing and taxis. Participants can use funds to pay for rides from companies like Uber or Lyft, but not for personal car expenses such as gas or repairs.
In the second phase set to launch in early 2023, payment will be integrated into L.A.’s TAP card. According to Metro’s The Source, the agency was seeking private mobility operators to integrate with TAPforce, a platform providing “a seamless payment option” for multiple forms of transportation. Metro has yet to announce which private mobility companies will be integrated into TAP for phase two.
One-in-five low-income residents who ride transit don’t own a smartphone. For that reason, Metro plans to provide 200 participants with cell phones and data plans, in addition to the $150 subsidy, according to LADOT Spokesperson Colin Sweeney. The application process for receiving a phone and data plan will take place in-person.
Roughly 30% of the 370,000 residents in South L.A. live below the poverty line, according to LADOT. Studies have shown that low-income households spend a greater percentage of income (28.8%) on transportation compared to wealthier households (9.5%). The goal of the UBM pilot is to provide underserved Angelenos greater access to mobility and economic opportunities.
The agency announced the program in April with components including EV charging stations, workforce training programs, a free EV shuttle, upgrades to bus and cycling infrastructure and an “e-bike library,” which would let users checkout e-bikes.
Funding for the project comes from a $13.8 million grant from the California Air Resources Board and an additional $4 million from the city’s unappropriated balance (UB) fund.
To date, the only parts of the program in operation are the workforce development programs offered by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and Los Angeles Trade Technical College, according to LADOT.
Oakland piloted a universal basic mobility program in 2020, in which 500 residents received $300 total (A second phase beginning next month will include 1,000 participants); Bakersfield is piloting a program for 100 disadvantaged youth ages 18 to 24, and Pittsburgh’s 50-person UBM experiment just launched in August.
If South L.A.’s pilot is successful, the city hopes to expand it to the rest of L.A.
“The idea would be, ‘How do we roll it out around the city and then the county?” said Eli Lipmen, executive director of Move LA. “The goal is to stand it up and figure out the mechanics of it.”
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Maylin Tu
Maylin Tu is a freelance writer who lives in L.A. She writes about scooters, bikes and micro-mobility. Find her hovering by the cheese at your next local tech mixer.
Here's How To Get a Digital License Plate In California
03:49 PM | October 14, 2022
Photo by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash
Thanks to a new bill passed on October 5, California drivers now have the choice to chuck their traditional metal license plates and replace them with digital ones.
The plates are referred to as “Rplate” and were developed by Sacramento-based Reviver. A news release on Reviver’s website that accompanied the bill’s passage states that there are “two device options enabling vehicle owners to connect their vehicle with a suite of services including in-app registration renewal, visual personalization, vehicle location services and security features such as easily reporting a vehicle as stolen.”
Reviver Auto Current and Future CapabilitiesFrom Youtube
There are wired (connected to and powered by a vehicle’s electrical system) and battery-powered options, and drivers can choose to pay for their plates monthly or annually. Four-year agreements for battery-powered plates begin at $19.95 a month or $215.40 yearly. Commercial vehicles will pay $275.40 each year for wired plates. A two-year agreement for wired plates costs $24.95 per month. Drivers can choose to install their plates, but on its website, Reviver offers professional installation for $150.
A pilot digital plate program was launched in 2018, and according to the Los Angeles Times, there were 175,000 participants. The new bill ensures all 27 million California drivers can elect to get a digital plate of their own.
California is the third state after Arizona and Michigan to offer digital plates to all drivers, while Texas currently only provides the digital option for commercial vehicles. In July 2022, Deseret News reported that Colorado might also offer the option. They have several advantages over the classic metal plates as well—as the L.A. Times notes, digital plates will streamline registration renewals and reduce time spent at the DMV. They also have light and dark modes, according to Reviver’s website. Thanks to an accompanying app, they act as additional vehicle security, alerting drivers to unexpected vehicle movements and providing a method to report stolen vehicles.
As part of the new digital plate program, Reviver touts its products’ connectivity, stating that in addition to Bluetooth capabilities, digital plates have “national 5G network connectivity and stability.” But don’t worry—the same plates purportedly protect owner privacy with cloud support and encrypted software updates.
5 Reasons to avoid the digital license plate | Ride TechFrom Youtube
After the Rplate pilot program was announced four years ago, some raised questions about just how good an idea digital plates might be. Reviver and others who support switching to digital emphasize personalization, efficient DMV operations and connectivity. However, a 2018 post published by Sophos’s Naked Security blog pointed out that “the plates could be as susceptible to hacking as other wireless and IoT technologies,” noting that everyday “objects – things like kettles, TVs, and baby monitors – are getting connected to the internet with elementary security flaws still in place.”
To that end, a May 2018 syndicated New York Times news service article about digital plates quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which warned that such a device could be a “‘honeypot of data,’ recording the drivers’ trips to the grocery store, or to a protest, or to an abortion clinic.”
For now, Rplates are another option in addition to old-fashioned metal, and many are likely to opt out due to cost alone. If you decide to go the digital route, however, it helps if you know what you could be getting yourself into.
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Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
steve@dot.la
Why Women’s Purchasing Power Is a Huge Advantage for Female-Led Leagues
05:00 AM | June 12, 2023
Samson Amore
According to a Forbes report last April, both the viewership and dollars behind women’s sports at a collegiate and professional level are growing.
In 2022, the first 32 games of the NCAA tournament had record attendance levels, breaking records set back in 2004, and largely driven by the new and rapidly growing women’s NCAA tournament. WNBA openers this year saw a 21% spike in attendance, with some teams including the LA Sparks reporting triple-digit ticket sales growth, about 121% over 2022’s total. In 2023, the average size of an LA Sparks crowd swelled to 10,396 people, up from 4,701 people.
Women make up half the population, but “also 50% of the folks that are walking into the stadium at Dodger Stadium, or your NFL fans are just about 50% women,” noted Erin Storck, a panelist and senior analyst at Los Angeles-based Elysian Park Ventures.
Storck added that in heterosexual households, women generally manage most of the family’s money, giving them huge purchasing power, a potential advantage for female-run leagues. “There's an untapped revenue opportunity,” she noted.
In the soccer world, Los Angeles-based women’s soccer team Angel City FC has put in the work to become a household name, not just in LA County but across the nation. At an LA Tech Week panel hosted by Athlete Strategies about investing in sports, Angel City head of strategy and chief of staff Kari Fleischauer said that years before launching the women’s National Women’s Soccer League team, Angel City FC was pounding the pavement letting people know about the excitement ladies soccer can bring. She noted community is key, and that fostering a sense of engagement and safety at the team’s home venue, BMO stadium (formerly Banc of California Stadium), is one reason fans keep coming back.
Adding free metro rides to BMO stadium and private rooms for nursing fans to breastfeed or fans on the spectrum to avoid sensory overload, were just some of the ways ACFC tried to include its community in the concept of its stadium, Fleischauer said. She noted, though, that roughly 46% of Angel City fans are “straight white dudes hanging out with their bros.”
“Particularly [on] the woman's side, I'd like to think we do a better job of making sure that there's spaces for everyone,” Fleischauer told the audience. “One thing we realize is accessibility is a huge thing.”
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
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