RENO –– The Regional Transportation Commission board of directors is mulling over the possibility of installing off-vehicle payment machines at its bus stations for the Rapid bus system, a move that could provide cost savings, create quicker trips for riders and possibly transfer one bus from its rotation in downtown Reno for use elsewhere.

At the board’s meeting on Friday, public transportation director David Jickling reported to the commissioners that as Rapid enters its second year, RTC staff members are seeking ways to make its route corridor quicker and more efficient. One possible means is by adding off-vehicle fare payment (OVFP) machines at the stations to eliminate the need for riders to deposit their fares in boxes at the front of the bus, shaving off minutes of time.

Riders merely would pay for their tickets at the station prior to the bus’ arrival at the stop.

“One of the key ways of (speeding up service) is by not having people board at the front door and have 10, 15, 20 people, depending on where you are, in a single-file line getting onto the bus, saying hello to the driver, putting in their fare and asking questions,” Jickling said. “This way, all three doors (of the bus) would open and they can get on … which gives us a faster operating speed.”

RTC officials hope that by improving bus loading times, they could hasten their bus route rotations and eventually phase out one of the vehicles.

Ultimately, removing a bus from Rapid and using it elsewhere would save the RTC about $500,000, Jickling said.

A major concern at the board meeting, however, was the increasing possibility of fare evasion or those who would attempt to ride the bus without paying.

“Is there another alternative based on technology?” said board member and Washoe County Commissioner David Humke. “You can have it be an electronic card and they would have to pass it through (a machine).”

Jickling said fare evasion is difficult to track unless there’s someone to sit at the front of the bus and watch everyone boarding and auditing the fare box.

At the meeting, he raised the idea of hiring two fare checkers who would randomly ride the buses and ask for proof of fare purchase. After a certain number of times a rider is caught without verification, that checker could give citations.

“What we have to do and what agencies have to reconcile is we’re trying to make our services more attractive and reasonable to use,” Jickling said, describing the potential fare checkers as either “Walmart greeters” or armed guards - two opposite images that would change how the RTC brands itself.

Humke wasn’t keen on the idea of handing out citations to the public for its failure to show proof of fare purchase.

“Trust me,” Humke said. “You don’t want to get into citations.”

The salaries and benefits for two fare checkers would cost about $72,000.

Jickling said fare evasion, as with other transportation systems in other parts of the nation, is fairly common. In Washoe County, the RTC calculates it would lose about 5 percent of its fare revenues, or about $60,000 a year, through its OVFP.

The costs of the checkers and the loss of fare revenues due to evasion, however, could be offset through attracting new ridership and providing quicker service with Rapid.

“When you take $60,000 for evasion loss and $70,000 or so for checkers, that’s $130,000,” Jickling said. “That means we’re still bringing in $370,000 overall (by using OVFP).

“…What we’re saying is the benefit of off-vehicle fare payment to speeding up the operations far outweighs the cost of any lost fare revenues due to fare evasion,” he added.

One audience member at the meeting on Friday disagreed. Roger Vogel, who has attended the RTC’s Public Transportation Advisory Committees and said he has listened to Jickling in the past, said although he used to be a “naysayer” who eventually changed his mind about the idea, he told the board he’s not entirely convinced that such a method of fare payment would be successful.

“I’m standing here to tell you you have more than 5 percent who are evading fares,” said Vogel, a Reno resident. “There’s also going to be a percentage of people that we’re going to lose (by switching to the vending machines).”

Jickling said ridership is about 1 percent down from Rapid’s launch in April 2009, largely crediting it to the economy and riders becoming increasingly concerned about their discretionary spending.

“The entire (bus) system is down about 14 percent, so the fact that the corridor is only down 1 percent suggests to us that it’s a very strong response (from riders),” Jickling said. “People are still finding that a good way to go.”

Jickling said the OVFP would not likely be made available for both Rapid, a premium service, and Ride, RTC’s “bread and butter” system, because it would be too expensive to install vending machines for the county’s 1,000 bus stops. However, a long-range plan would be to provide the machines at other corridors being considered, such as Fourth Street into Prater Way in Sparks.

The discussion on the OVFPs will continue on Aug. 20 at an RTC workshop. A location has not yet been announced.