As a computer software developer, I’d be hesitant to rely on something that amounts to an undocumented feature of the ORCA system. Such features are far less likely to endure than those which are part of the published interface.

I’ll follow up here when I receive further responses from ORCA. I’ve also contacted the director of ACLU of Washington’s Privacy Project to find out to what degree they’re tracking ORCA-related issues. They were instrumental in persuading ORCA to improve privacy protection for people who use an ORCA card that is provided by their employer or school.

Maybe it’s not officially supported? In any case, it is possible to do on the TVMs:

Card detail request button: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40563526@N04/3777579902/

Card detail screen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40563526@N04/3776778623/

The problem with complaining is that on the 3/4, i’m the only person trying to pay with an ORCA card, and this driver is pretty abusive and vengeful toward passengers, especially other disabled passengers. If i complain, he knows who’s complaining.

On PT, the driver got a talking-to and their sup was extremely apologetic. She was also willing to put it in writing that if they can’t read the card, ride’s on them.

Metro? No such luck. They say so, allegedly, but nothing on official web pages or letterhead. So i ended up out 3.50 for the month for buying the “wrong” pass.

To clarify, I asked about any limits on the number of cards someone can acquire or limits on the frequency with which he can acquire them. You seem to have stated that no such limits exist, but you used the phrase “an ORCA card”, suggesting that you thought I asked about one card, though I did not. Do any such limits exist? For instance, I might like to go pick up several cards, for me, friends, family, and to set aside for guests to use. Or I might like to get myself a new card every week (say, to avoid having you track all my travel history under a single serial number).

Questions that were answered:

Q1: After the free ORCA card offer ends, will cash customers be charged more than ORCA card customers on a trip that involves a transfer?
A1: The introductory card fee being waived is not related to cash customers – paper transfers are. When paper transfers are discontinued then, yes, cash customers will have to pay for each leg of their trip.

Q5: After using my ORCA card to pay the fare for a trip on public transportation, will I receive any proof that I have paid that fare?
A5: If you have registered the card, then you can view the card’s activity and the amount paid for each trip. Other than that, there is no proof, just as there isn’t any for non-ORCA users.

Q8: How can I acquire an ORCA card after providing only cash — without providing a name, mailing address, e-mail address, or anything else that could personally identify me?
A8: If you don’t want to provide your information you can add value with cash at ticket vending machine or at a customer service location.

Q9: What, if any, limits will participating transit agencies place on the number of ORCA cards someone may acquire or the frequency with which he may acquire them?
A9: Currently, there aren’t any limitations set for one person having an ORCA card.

Q11: In the context of ORCA card purchases and activations, how is “fare product” defined? Your Web site states, “You must tap your card within 30 days of purchase to activate a fare product.” That is the only instance of the words “fare product” on that page. I am unable to find a definition on your site.
A11: Fare product – any regional pass or agency pass or E-purse.

Q12: How does an unactivated fare product differ from an activated fare product?
A12: Unactivated – card has not been tapped and the amount is pending on the card. Activated – card has been tapped and balance shows on the card.

Questions that received responses that require followup:

Q2. Other than repeatedly purchasing new ORCA cards anonymously with cash, how can an ORCA card user travel via public transportation without having all of his uses of public transportation tracked and linked in such a manner that if the ORCA serial number was associated with him (such as would be the case if he was found to be carrying the card by someone who could read the serial number from it), details of all of his public transportation travels would be available to interested parties with access to ORCA data?

ORCA response:
Don’t register the card and no name will be associated with the card.

my follow-up:
Thanks, but it seems that you misunderstood my question. I’d like to know how an ORCA card user can travel via public transportation without having all of his uses of public transportation tracked and linked in such a manner that if the card’s serial number was later associated with him (I understand that it can initially not be the case) details of all of his ORCA-paid public transportation travels would be available to anyone with access to ORCA data.

Can you explain how someone will be able to travel without having a record of all his travels stored — even in an initially-anonymous manner — without paying cash (which will cost extra unless no transfers are ever involved) and without repeatedly forking over $5 to ORCA to start a new anonymous history?

Q3. Under what circumstances will the remaining balance on an ORCA card be canceled?

ORCA response:
If the card has an E-purse balance, a customer can request a refund. Otherwise, the balance is not cancelled.

my follow-up:
Thanks, but it seems that you misunderstood my question. I’d like to know under what circumstances under which remaining e-purse balance on an ORCA card will be canceled. It seems that one such circumstance would be if the card was registered and the owner reported it lost or stolen, as the balance on the old card would be canceled and added to the new card. Are there any other circumstances? For instance, if I have a card with remaining e-purse balance and I don’t use it for a long period of time. Your site doesn’t seem to say.

Q4. Other than the time at which I board a public transportation vehicle and wave my ORCA card near the card reader, under what, if any, circumstances am I required to present my ORCA card — which seemingly is the link to a record of all my ORCA-paid public transportation use — to someone, and what law compels me to do so?

ORCA response:
If the card is not registered, then there is no name associated to it. Even if the card is registered, it still allows for persons other than the registered name to use the card -
we only know which route or station location the card was tapped.

If you’d like, we can send you a copy of our terms of use and privacy statement to you. If interested, please email your mailing address.

my follow-up:
Thanks, but it seems that you misunderstood my question. I’d like to know under what, if any, circumstances I am required to present my ORCA card to someone, and what, if any, law compels me to do so.

The bit about the card being a link to a record of all my ORCA-paid transportation seems to have confused things. I included it in my message to you only to explain why someone might be concerned about presenting his card to someone — particularly if until the time of presentation, the card was not associated with him, since it was unregistered.

Q6. What, if any, information other than a serial number is stored on an ORCA card after it has been used?

ORCA response:
Any transportation value is stored on the ORCA card.

my follow-up:
Are you sure that the only information stored on the card after it has been used is a serial number and any transportation value? Other people I’ve spoken to are confident that much more information is stored on it, but I hoped to find out from an authoritative source on the matter: you.

Q7. How can I check the balance of an ORCA card in my possession without boarding a public transportation vehicle, registering on the ORCA Web site, or identifying myself?

ORCA response:
You can’t check the balance of a unregistered card.

my follow-up:
I cannot check the balance of an unregistered card at all, or cannot check it without boarding a public transportation vehicle or identifying myself? In a recent discussion on the Seattle Transit Blog [1], someone wrote, ‘With regard to your question about checking the balance of an ORCA card, just go to a TVM. You can buy a pass, add value or check value without ever registering your card.” Was that person mistaken?

References:
[1]: http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/07/27/orca-passes-now-accepted-on-seattle-streetcar/#comment-58754

Q10. How soon, if ever, will an unused card without any e-purse credit (e.g., an extra that I acquire and set aside for a visiting guest to use at a later date) expire after I acquire it?

ORCA response:
The actual card is expected to last at least 5 years.

my follow-up:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask how long the card is expected to last under normal use without physically failing, I meant to ask when, if ever, an ORCA card that I acquire and set aside without using will “expire”. I understand that sometime in the future, more technologically-advanced systems may be used and the existing system, using the Mifare Desfire cards in whatever manner you use them may be phased out, but until then, will a card acquired, say, tomorrow, but never registered, with no balance on it, still be useful to me?

One reason this information would be useful is that someone might want to purchase extra cards for guests to use at a later date. Those $5 expenditures would be wasted if the cards “expire” before use.

Eventually the ORCA card will become the only type of fare media, other than cash, in circulation. Cash payment won’t ever be going away. I remember SKAT trying out cashless fare payment (that required pre-purchased fare cards) for a while before reinstating fareboxes that take cash last year.

Besides, it shouldn’t be the job of drivers to enforce fares anyway. I think you would agree.

Plus we’re just experiencing start-up issues right now. Once everyone gets more used to the system (drivers and passengers both) things will go much more smoothly. Similar systems work well in other parts of the world, and will here too.

Not rocket science, really.

RRFP ORCA cards are photo ID but youth ORCAs look the same as adult ORCAs.

Ok I’ll admit I’m hardly the average shopper but it isn’t true that people prepared to spend substantial amounts of money don’t arrive to stores via transit.

There was one time I tapped got the “try again” many times. This was on a 40-ft Gillig. The driver said the system said the card was broken. No way, I just tapped off Link light rail before that trip and it worked just fine.

I listen for the beeps when people pay to gauge how things are going. Are there any situations when the reader will not beep?

“I wasn’t happy at the overload of payments I made when I took a casual trip on Link last week. Just getting out at stations en-route and getting back on, seemed to add charges continually as I went. I have written to Orca to investigate and so far have not had a reply. It seemed to me, that I was getting charged getting on at stations and getting charged when I got off at stations regardless of whether I was in the two-hour transfer limit or not. “

It is most likely that they were not an “overload of payments” but instead payments, refunds, and transfer notifications.

For example, the other day we went from Beacon Hill to the ID, got out and had lunch, then went from the ID to Tukwila with a friend who had never ridden Link before, then back from Tukwila to Columbia City where we got out and saw a movie, then from Columbia City to Beacon Hill and home.

Here’s how ORCA recorded it (edited a bit for clarity and to save space):

04:21 PM / Purse Use on Entry / SOT, BEACON HILL STATION / -2.25
04:32 PM / Purse Rebate On Exit / SOT, INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT STATION / 0.50
05:43 PM / Purse Use on Entry / SOT, INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT STATION / -0.75
06:23 PM / Purse Use on Exit / SOT, TUKWILA/S. 154TH STATION / –
06:28 PM / Purse Use on Entry / SOT, TUKWILA/S. 154TH STATION / -
06:48 PM / Purse Use on Exit / SOT, COLUMBIA CITY/EDMUNDS STATION / -
11:04 PM / Purse Use on Entry / SOT, COLUMBIA CITY/EDMUNDS STATION / -2.00
11:11 PM / Purse Rebate On Exit / SOT, BEACON HILL STATION / 0.25

So here’s how it went — we entered the system at the Beacon Hill station and I tapped my ORCA card. It was debited 2.25, which is the maximum Link fare from Beacon Hill to any point on the route. I tapped to exit at the ID station, and my card was credited 0.50, because the fare from BH to ID is only 1.75. When we got back on the train an hour later, we were still within the transfer period so I was not charged a whole new fare, but my card was debited 0.75 to bring the fare up to the maximum Link fare, 2.50, from the ID station to any point on the route.

We then rode Link to Tukwila. We exited there and no charges were made, and no debits either, since we rode to the end of the line and so the total $2.50 fare was correct.

We looked around then tapped back in at Tukwila five minutes later. Still in the transfer period, so the card was not debited. Twenty minutes later, I tapped back out at Columbia City. Still in the transfer period, so the card was not debited.

Several hours later, after the movie, I tapped back in at Columbia City. The card was then debited 2.00, the maximum fare from Columbia City to any point on the line. Then I tapped out at Beacon Hill, and was credited 0.25 since the fare to Beacon Hill from CC is only 1.75.

Starting to make sense, now? I too thought ORCA might be overcharging me at first. But when looking up the transaction history on the website, it was clear that it’s actually working well. But I do think it is confusing to people, those debits and charges.

Could be too that you’ve got good palm english and are able to tap your card in the right way, as many seem not to getting the “try again” message.

If the system worked as it should – my “sucks” comment wouldn’t stand. As it is, with the frequent “try again” and “out of service” issues, I have a hard time recommending that anyone use it, and can report anecdotally that a lot of ORCA users are getting free rides due to these errors. The more people who use it – the more free rides.

Not that Metro in particular prioritizes fare collection, but you get the idea. It’s frustrating when the darn thing doesn’t work – and it often doesn’t work.