What is the Mastercard Public Transit Benefit?‎

The Mastercard Public Transit Benefit is currently open to individuals with a U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Argentina or Chile-issued Mastercard credit or debit card OR one of the following U.S.-issued prepaid cards (Fintwist® Mastercard® Payroll card, dash® Prepaid Mastercard®, H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard®, rapid! PayCard® Mastercard® Payroll Card, The uLink Prepaid Mastercard®, Alpha Cash Prepaid Mastercard® or Belong Passport™ Prepaid Mastercard®) OR one of the following Argentina-issued prepaid cards (Mercado Libre, UALA, PREX or POMELO).

Once an eligible cardholder spends $10 USD or more in a calendar month using contactless payment (digital wallet or plastic) at point of entry (which does not include ticket vending machines or online transactions) within a participating public transit system they will receive a $2.50 USD statement credit.

Where is the Mastercard Public Transit Benefit available?‎

The Mastercard Public Transit Benefit is is available in Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New Jersey and New York select metropolitan areas; Philadelphia, PA; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC.

The participating transit agencies include:

• Atlanta, GA: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
• Boston, MA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
• Chicago, IL: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Pace Suburban Bus
• Dallas, TX: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)
• Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and micro transit (Metro Micro)
• Miami-Dade County, FL: Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW)
• New York/New Jersey: Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) and New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit)
• Philadelphia, PA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
• San Diego, CA: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)
• San Francisco, CA: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
• Washington, DC: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

What qualifies as public transportation?‎

For the purpose of this benefit, public transit within the participating markets includes:

• Atlanta, GA: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) bus and rail system, including local and express bus service, heavy rail (subway), and streetcar
• Boston, MA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus, subway and ferry
• Chicago, IL: Chicago Transit Authority bus, rail, train and Pace Suburban Bus
• Dallas, TX: Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus, streetcar, rail and train
• Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) bus and rail, and micro transit (Metro Micro)
• Miami-Dade County, FL: Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works bus and metrorail
• New York/New Jersey: rail system for PATH; bus and light rail system for NJ TRANSIT
• Philadelphia, PA: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) bus, Metro and Regional Rail
• San Diego, CA: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) buses and Trolleys
• San Francisco, CA: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) heavy rail
• Washington, DC: WMATA bus and subway

How do I know if I’m eligible for this benefit?‎

Call Mastercard Assistance Center (MAC) at 1-800-Mastercard (1-800-627-8372) to understand if you are eligible for this offer.

When is the Mastercard Public Transit Benefit available?‎

The benefit is available 10/1/24 through 12/31/27.

I had discussions with 2 different people today saying that they're sticking to TAP cards despite credit/debit cards now being accept mainly because of reimbursements from their employer and that it's a pain in the butt to track down the charges on their credit card or debit card.

But if you think outside of the box, wouldn't this be much more easier to do if one just opened up a no monthly fee/no min balance free checking account to be used solely for transit uses? There are plenty of online banks and local credit unions that offer these things, such as Capital One 360, Discover Checking, AMEX Rewards Checking, etc. etc. Basically just create a second free checking account for the sole purpose of riding transit.

Then every transaction on that debit card will all be transit card uses and you can basically send that monthly statement to your employer and be reimbursed directly into that bank account. And you can have expanded uses that it can now be used for ANY transit that accept open payments like OCTA, SDMTS, BART, NYCMTA, etc. etc. instead of just TAP agencies. And unlike a TAP card, if you ever need the money, you can withdraw it anytime, instead of being forever locked in the TAP card with no way to get the money back.

The last of the Vermont BRT meeting before construction commences took place at the Metro Talent Hub on 8/15/2026. I think this might've been the first use of the Metro Talent Hub for community meetings.

Plenty of community members along the Vermont BRT corridor were there and it was a very lively and jovial mood. The meeting itself was lead by a local reverend of the black community. Food and drinks were served and it seems plenty of people used Metro to get to this meeting. Plenty of pastries, coffee, fruit, water bottles, and they even had some McDonald's Egg McMuffins and breakfast burritos.

Griffith Company had a booth there open for signups for construction jobs related to the Vermont BRT and several people signed up.

There were some very elderly people in attendance who remembered that the old streetcar down Vermont who were promised that someday, rail will return to Vermont. Much kudos to them and let's hope that Vermont Subway becomes a reality.

Metro Board member Jackie Dupont Walker was there wearing a Karen Bass shirt (shudders) and gave a shout out to all the community groups that were active in moving forward with the Vermont BRT project, and those members all cheered when their group name was called. One thing that stuck me was when JDW shouted out the name "ACT-LA" no one cheered and the room went dead silent, which either shows that ACT-LA really doesn't give a crap about coming to these meetings or that most of the local community groups hate them.

There was an awkward moment when JDW said "did you guys had any trouble finding parking" when most people took Metro there. Talk about not being able to read the atmosphere! I bet she drove there.

Other key takeaways:

• A mention that TAP PLUS is now active and people can now pay for their rides directly using their credit and debit cards, and many people raised their hands when asked if they started paying for Metro this way. Looks like the open payments message is going through.
• Line 754 will go away and become the new V Line (tentative naming)
• Line 204 will remain as the local route
• Couldn't catch the explanation with the cheering, but it looks like the construction phase is now partly consolidated? The most difficult part will be the middle part where Vermont Blvd. narrows and that's where most of the street parking will be removed
• Renderings of bulb areas and new bus stop designs were shown
• Several areas were highlighted where there will be no more left turns, some areas will have extended left turn lane. Some renderings were shown how several key intersections would look like.
• The plan still is to open by Spring 2028 right before the Olympics
• Not on the presentation, but did talk to one of the Metro reps there that while the current primary focus right now is getting the City of LA sections done, they are still working with City of Gardena to future extend the Vermont BRT past 120th St to eventually Harbor Gateway Transit Center and PCH.
• They did a raffle at the end where they handed out 3 lucky winners a Nipsey Hussle TAP card
• They gave out freebies as people exited

Edit:
I found the link to the the PDFs of the presentations that were shown at the meeting.

LAX’s long-delayed people mover is now more than 99% complete, but new financial concerns and a growing dispute between airport officials and the project’s contractor are raising questions about whether the train can meet its latest deadlines.

Fitch Ratings recently placed the credit rating of $1.2 billion in senior bonds tied to the Automated People Mover, dubbed Skylink, on negative watch, according to the Los Angeles Times. The agency also reportedly downgraded the bonds from BB+ to BB, pushing them further into junk territory.

The move comes as the $3.3 billion project approaches two critical deadlines: an Oct. 8 lenders’ deadline and a Dec. 8 project deadline.

Fitch warned that additional delays leave the project with little room before those deadlines are breached. In a worst-case scenario, lenders could demand repayment and the contract between Los Angeles World Airports and LAX Integrated Express Solutions, or LINXS, could ultimately be terminated.

As the new school year starts reminder that Metrolink has discontinued the Student Adventure Pass last year, so it's now 50% off for student riders, additional 50% off if you have a CA EBT card.

Join us for a Community Meeting for the Vermont Transit Corridor at the Metro Talent Hub!

Join us for a Community Meeting for the Vermont Transit Corridor

Saturday, August 15, 2026, 10AM

Metro Talent Hub

8501 S Evermont Pl, Los Angeles, CA

Parking: 2nd Floor of Evermont parking garage via 84th St

Transit: J and 115 Bus Lines; Bus Lines 204/754

We’re planning a new way to ride along Vermont Avenue.

Metro is planning a better way to travel along Vermont Avenue that doesn’t rely solely on a car. As the busiest bus corridor in Los Angeles County, transit riders deserve improvements to bus service that can be implemented on an accelerated timeline. Metro is developing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that offers faster and more reliable service by reducing the amount of time buses spend stuck in traffic. These high-quality transit improvements are being provided to communities with the greatest transportation needs.

The Vermont Transit Corridor (VTC), served by Lines 204 and 754, stretches approximately 12.4 miles from Sunset Boulevard to 120th Street. As one of the oldest transit corridors, it partially follows the path of a historic Los Angeles streetcar route. Today, it serves several densely populated, diverse, and transit-dependent neighborhoods, with over 38,000 daily boardings. The VTC also connects to several rail lines (B, C, D, and E), over 20 east-west bus routes, and major destinations like Kaiser Permanente and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles at Vermont/Sunset.

The corridor is also home to a host of educational institutions including Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles City College, American Career College, West Coast University, the Braille Institute, and the University of Southern California (USC). Many of its regional community assets include Exposition Park, museums, sports venues, several public facilities, and many faith-based institutions.

For more information about the profject, please visit our website: https://www.metro.net/projects/vermont-corridor/

Prosecutors have alleged that Price voted on government contracts and funding involving agencies that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm owned by his wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson.

Among the allegations, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office previously said the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles paid Richardson’s firm approximately $609,000 in consulting fees while Price voted in support of major grant applications for the agency.

Prosecutors have also alleged that LA Metro paid the firm approximately $220,000 before Price brought forward a motion involving $30 million for the transit agency.

People have reported LBT is TAP PLUS active (able to pay LBT fares with credit/debit card) but it's nowhere to be found on it's webpage, but it looks like they put it under the upcoming service change announcement section. Don't know why they don't just update the fare page instead where people expect to see these things, especially first time riders on how to ride the system.

Then again, it's also been reported that you can now also pay for LBT water taxis with TAP now also, but it still says TAP cards aren't supported on it's webpage.

Orange County’s transportation system faces increasing pressure to adapt to a range of long-term challenges such as climate-related risks, aging infrastructure, and evolving travel behaviors. Building a resilient system that can withstand future disruptions is essential to keeping people and goods moving efficiently.

To proactively plan for these changes , the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is updated every four years to define a transportation vision for Orange County that aims to address long-term mobility needs and guide investment decisions over the next 20+ years. The plan considers demographics and travel demand projections, revenues forecasts, and any other emerging trends. It incorporates current OCTA policies and commitments, technical analysis, and input from the public, local jurisdictions, community and business leaders, and transportation professionals.

Join Us

We want to hear from you! Share your ideas and help shape the future of transportation in Orange County by participating in one or more of these opportunities below.

Telephone Town Hall Meeting

Wednesday, August 5, 2026 | 6-7 p.m.
Register at: LRTP-TownHall.com or by calling 1-888-400-1932

The Telephone Town Hall Meeting is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. To view event information and register in your preferred language, select Español or Tiếng Việt below.

Español Tiếng Việt

Online Community Meeting

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 | 6-7 p.m.
Register at: LRTP-Meeting.com
Zoom Webinar ID: 819 1543 5259
Call-in Number: 669-900-6833

The Online Community Meeting is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. To view event information and register in your preferred language, select Español or Tiếng Việt below.

Español Tiếng Việt

Online Survey

Take our online survey for a chance to win one of four $50 gift cards!

No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win. View Official Sweepstakes Rules. The online survey is available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese.

online survey

LRTP Helpline

Have questions about the Long-Range Transportation Plan or need assistance participating in the public outreach process? Call the LRTP Helpline at 1-800-719-0037 to leave a message. An OCTA team member will return your call within 48-72 business hours.

Yesterday was the first Metro Board meeting with a new member, Mayor of Long Beach Rex Richardson. He represents the SE/LB sector and replaced City of Whittier councilmember Fernando Dutra.

In the section where they talked about outgoing members, he called Dutra his friend and mentor, as well as saying that his own father was a constituent of Dutra, and he will seek guidance from Dutra when needed.

It seems like Dutra's commitment to actually using Metro to get to the Metro Board meeting was passed along to Richardson, as he was the only other person besides Supervisor Hahn to raise their hand when one of the speakers for the Metro Board reform asked which member of the board took Metro to the meeting today. Someone actually posted a video of this on this subreddit, and you can see him raising his hand.

As one of his first actions, he was very into supporting the Hahn motion of adding the small city representative. He seemed to be very knowledgeable of the subject on why this was important to him as he frequently used "regional equity" and "proportion" as major topics why he supports this. One of the points he made was:

• LA and SW area has about 1 million resident per representation on the Metro Board
• SGV area has about 1.5 million resident per representation
• SE/LB area has about 1.7 million resident per representation
• The 2 subregions noted above makes up 2/3rds of the "small city" designation in LA County
• Emphasized how the LA County has changed a lot in 35 years but the methodology hasn't kept up with that change and needs to be updated

He also seemed to have done good homework about how City of Long Beach was previously represented in Metro's predecessor agency LACTC, which was the original agency that brought forth the A Line (and he used the emphasized the "A Line" term instead of "Blue Line")

Also mentioned that the 2nd largest city Long Beach is now represented, but that leaves out 25 other cities in the SGV and SE area that gets forced out of representation and that's not fair.

He frequently emphasized how things have changed over the past 35 years in his area such as how the Port of Long Beach wasn't one of the largest twin ports in the nation back then or how the Alameda Corridor didn't even exist back then.

He pointed out other examples of "twin-cities" that shares the same regional agency such as St. Paul-Minneapolis, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Mesa-Phoenix as examples of how LA Metro shouldn't just be centered primarily on City of LA and that it should work together with the 2nd largest City of Long Beach as well as the growing and 3rd largest City of Santa Clarita for better reflect the growth and changes over the past 35 years and how we can modernize the Metro Board to match that.

There were times when things got tense between him and Bass during the Metro Board Composition, where when Bass tried to make amendments that weren't needed and try rush things by calling the question, he would calmly but assertively said "what did we just vote on" to get clarification, and when explained what was just voted, he used that explanation right back at Bass to say then "if we already voted on it, why are you trying to add a motion to amend it again" to which Bass gave him a stern look. In the end, it all sorted itself out, but it seems like Richardson may not like Bass, it might've been at the core more of a LA vs LB rivalry thing, and seems like he is more in line with Hahn and Butts factions at the meeting.

Since this was his first meeting and he's still very young (probably one of the youngest member of the board? Born in 1983 and is only 42 years old?), he probably is still learning the politics of the Metro Board, but his willingness to do research beforehand and the fact that he follows in Dutra's footsteps in actually riding Metro to the board meeting earns high remarks; so he's definitely someone to look out for when it comes to pro-transit matters.

At the very least he seems to be more focused and taking the Metro Board member job seriously than Bass.

So we did get some major wins in yesterday's Metro Board Composition reform meeting, with the biggest positive is the board will get 2 actual transit riders to the Board as early as 2028 once the new position of LA County Executive is elected in that year.

OTOH there were still some concerns raised such as:

• The baseline still remains a politician and their appointee makeup (Alternative D) as opposed to the Metro staff recommendation of flexible appointments which would open up the board to appoint experts (Alternative A). Aside from adding an actual rider to the Board, this matter was the second most often discussed part in the past ad-hoc, service council, and community meetings as well as in yesterday's board meeting, but the politicians and appointees decided to not go with Metro's recommendation
• No real requirement from any of the existing political and appointed seats to use Metro despite being on the Board was another issue raised heavily at meetings
• The possibility of nepotism and free-fare activist appointments to the Board; subject to however Metro defines what a "regular transit user" is
• The possibility of diluting representation from City of LA which constitutes the largest population and Metro users in LA County
• The questionability of adding small city representation which would mean a small city like Vernon (pop 200); subject to how Metro defines what a "small city" is
• The questionability of needing a labor representative to the board while no seat is given to subject matter experts
• Etc. etc. etc.

However, just because it passed the Metro Board (and some sections like the labor rep going back to the ad-hoc committee for further review) does not mean these become the new standard makeup yet, as the next step is Metro submits this change for state review and approval.

Regardless it's not going to be a rubber stamp because come 2028 LA County will elect a LA County Executive and 2032 LA County will increase to 9 Board of Supervisors, so this is a once in a generation change that the state will look into heavily whether what the Metro Board voted onpasses muster or whether it still needs more work to do to better reflect the voices of concerns that were raised.

So whether you're for or against these changes, or if you think the state should chime in that this still needs some work, the next steps is to start writing your own state representatives, the state transportation committee, their chair and vice-chairs.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<CA State Assembly>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CA State Assembly Transportation Committee

1020 N Street, Room 112

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 319-2093

CA State Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (CA-11)

Chair of Assembly Transportation Committee

1021 O Street Room 8110

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 319-2011

assemblymember.wilson@assembly.ca.gov

CA State Assemblymember Laurie Davis (CA-74)

Vice Chair of Assembly Transportation Committee

P.O. Box 942849

Sacramento, CA 94249-0074

(916) 319-2074

assemblymember.davies@assembly.ca.gov

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<CA State Senate>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CA State Senate Transportation Committee

State Capitol, Room 405

Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 651-4121

State Senator Dave Cortese (CA-15)

Chair of State Senate Transportation Committee

Capitol Office, 1021 O Street, Suite 7520

Sacramento, CA 95814-4900

(916) 651-4015

senator.cortese@senate.ca.gov

State Senator Tony Strickland (CA-36)

Vice Chair of State Senate Transportation Committee

Capitol Office, 1021 O Street, Suite 6730

Sacramento, CA 95814-4900

(916) 651-4036

senator.strickland@senate.ca.gov

It was very difficult to follow what was going on with Chair Bass throwing out amendments and bifurcations seemingly to confuse the rest of the Board, but here's what I think was decided upon (if anyone can review it later or official note is given from Metro later, will be editted):

From Item #55

• Baseline, the current composition remains unchanged (5 LACBoS, 1 Mayor of LA + 3 appointees, 4 from city selection committee, 1 from CA Gov as non-voting) and they still will be politicians and their appointees at this time
• 2028 once the LA County Executive office is elected in office that year, one of the LACBoS seats CAN be seated as the LA County Executive
• 2028 Once the LA County Executive office is elected, the Mayor of LA will make one of their appointed seats to be a dedicated transit advocate/rider (basically out of the 3 appointed seat Mayor of LA picks, 1 of them has to be a transit advocate/rider)
• Item #55 C-2 was removed as it duplicates part of Item #56
• 2032 once the LACBoS expands to 9 seats, the LACBoS still remains at 5 seats, and it is from a pool of 9 LACBoS + 1 LA County Exec

From Item #56 (unclear if this takes place in 2028 or in 2032)

• Will add one ADDITIONAL voting seat for a transit rider, subject to Metro defining what a "regular transit rider" means
• Will add one ADDITIONAL voting seat representing small cities, subject to Metro defining what that means

From Item #57

• This item was bifurcated (meaning it was split into 2 separate voting pieces)
• The idea of adding a labor representative was passed to go back to the ad-hoc committee for further discussion (not happening yet, only goes back to committee for further study)
• The idea of making the LA County Exec seat a must failed (therefore, the part in item #55 where starting in 2028, LA County Exec on the Metro Board is a CAN, not a MUST)

• 2022 Ran against Caruso on the free fares platform and won
• Then didn't do jack and stopped attending Metro Board meetings, telling her staff to find ways so she doesn't have to attend them
• Voted against K Line South and essentially killed off the project for years to come
• Tried to kill off K Line North by pulling in the "Sugar Hill separated our communities with a freeway" argument as if that applies to a tunnel
• Doesn't do anything to help speed up the LAX/APM project which keeps getting delayed and delayed, forever stuck in 99.9999% mode and LINXS keep asking for more money
• Voted against Dodger Stadium gondola
• Didn't do anything to speed up the activation of taller faregates installed in City of LA jurisdiction stations while every other station not in City of LA didn't have such issues
• Sided with NIMBYs against SB79 and passed ordinances to delay SB79 as much as possible
• Oversees LADOT which still hasn't implemented TAP PLUS open payments when every other transit agency in LA has already done so
• 2026 Runoff against Raman Trust me, I'm going to bring free fares and this time I'm super serious (we are here)

Going by her track record so far, she's more profiled as someone who is purposefully supportive of measures to make transit intentionally worse so that people won't want transit to be built near where they live.

It looks like Metrolink updated their contactless payment page from a beta test pilot page to something more permanent to encourage more use.

Has anyone here successfully ridden Metrolink using this method? I tried this previously but the system bugged out, forcing me to buy a day pass onboard and then doing a reverse transaction when it eventually released it causing a double charge.

So far here's the checklist of municipal transit agencies other than Metro that I've ridden in the past several months, and if they even bothered to update on their webpages that they're now able to accept fares using credit/debit cards:

Operators that updated their fare page that credit/debit cards are accepted alongside TAP

Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: https://www.bigbluebus.com/Fares/Fare-Information.aspx

Santa Clarita Transit: https://santaclaritatransit.com/fares-passes/#local

Operators that haven't updated their fare page but has given news that credit/debit cards are being accepted as a new way to pay for their rides

Culver City Bus: Next Stop: Expanded Service and Easier Ways to Ride!

GTrans: Now Accepting Contactless Payment

Foothill Transit: Debit and Credit Payments Pay your fare with your contactless debit or credit card

Operators that doesn't care about informing their riders even if TAP PLUS is already active on their system

Torrance Transit

Long Beach Transit

Don't even know if they ever will activate it to begin with even after 2 months and the World Cup hype is almost over

LADOT