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Paratransit Debit Card Equipment Being Installed

After years of planning and much political wrangling, the paratransit program is about to get a long-standing wish: a debit card system that will do away with hard-to-handle, expensive-to-process, easy-to-cheat-on paper scrip.

Cab companies are currently installing city subsidized equipment that will accept both debit and credit cards. That will allow the program to replace the coupons with a picture-ID swipe card that should facilitate use, save money and help prevent fraud.

One casualty of the debit cards will be generous tipping by some scrip users. Scrip is not supposed to be used for tipping, but it often is. The debit cards allow for a 10 percent tip if the passenger wishes to add it.

The illegal sale of scrip books will also become a thing of the past. Some users are turning their coupon books into hard cash, and a few drivers have been caught buying scrip in sting operations.

Two vendors — Wireless Edge and VeriFone — are supplying most of the in-cab equipment needed for debit card processing. Both systems can also do credit card processing, computerized dispatch and other functions, such as vehicle navigation. But paratransit rules only obligate companies to take the program's debit cards.

Equipment installation is expected to be complete by the end of September. Once it is, the paratransit program will distribute debit cards to all its taxi users. A small number of users are currently enrolled in a pilot program.

Most companies are expected to accept credit cards, but some are making drivers pay the processing costs. To accomplish that, each driver is being set up with a separate credit card company account.

This is a transparent attempt to escape a requirement of taxi regulations. Sec. 1106(p)(6) of the San Francisco Transportation Code states: “A Color Scheme shall not charge a Driver for any merchant account processing fees paid for by credit card.”

It's a pretty good deal for these companies: the city pays the equipment costs, and the drivers get stuck with the card processing costs. Unless, of course, the agency actually enforces its rule.

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