MARTA App Learning

MARTA App Learning

Updated: September 8th 2024

What have we learned the hard way?

Tap-to-Pay:

1. Doesn’t work as you’d expect.  Instead a tap-to-pay card gets associated with an additional (unlocked) fare product just like a Breezecard does.  You can’t actually pay directly with tap-to-pay like you can on the London Tube for example.
2. Almost any NFC does work to exit the system (flat rate payments are taken on entry).  
3. Apple Cash Card works, but you have to have money on it (it doesn’t spend the money).

Breezecards:

1. Can't transfer card trips to phone app.
2. When using the Breezecard, the card expires after 3 years, not the fare product.
3. You can transfer from expired cards to unexpired cards, but you have to balance protect old and new cards first.   Old card has to be less than 30 days expired.  Registered to same person.
4. Plenty of reasons to not balance protect Breezecards until needed though. Record the number somewhere for later.
5. The tap required to make Breezecard balance transfers/purchases official, takes some time after the balance transfer/purchase happens.  Maybe 24 hours or more.
6. Can be used to pay for the StreetCar ($1), but there is no transfer functionality.

Breeze Mobile 2 App:

1. If you aren't registered, then the fare products in the app can be lost if the phone is lost or destroyed.
2. Fare products on the app expire now (3 years), no longer transferable.  
3. You need network connectivity to launch the app.  You do not need connectivity to scan in.
4. You can share app fare products with Breezecards (and tap-to-pay cards), if so, you must scan your card on the lower NFC.  So far the app locks an additional (unlocked) fare product.  Won’t work if there is only a single (or single unlocked) fare product.
5. Tap-to-pay works exactly the same as added Breezecards.  You can associate a tap-to-pay card only if you have more than one unlocked fare product in the app.  
6. Cards associated with products on phone, must use lower NFC pad on turnstile.  Upper one doesn’t work for cards tied to app.  Only for standard old school Breezecards.
7. To add a Breezecard to the app (for carpooling or other), you have to register the app.
8. Breezecard (and tap-to-pay) appears to pick the 2nd oldest (unlocked) fare product and then lock it to the Breeezecard or Tap-to-pay card..
9. Removing Breezecard (or tap-to-pay card) with trips locked will remove the trips with it.  DON’T do that.
10. The app will pick the oldest fare product if you don’t activate anything before scanning.  This matters only if you have multiple fare products.
11. Amex tap-to-pay cards won’t work with the Breeze Mobile 2 App.  Unclear why.  Visa cards work fine.
12. Most NFC style Apple wallet pc cards will allow for exit via turnstile.  This includes tap to pay cards, digital IDs (Georgia Digital Driver’s License), transit apps from other places (SUICA), concert tickets, and even Apple Cash cards.  Apple Cash cards work on the watch always.  But on the phone don’t work without value.
13. As of July 25th 2024, you can activate a purchased ticket if you have an Apple Pay ID added to the app.  But you can’t see a QR code to actually use it.  Quickly remove the Apple Pay IDs to use the activated trip.  Why work this way?
14. Can be used to pay for the StreetCar ($1), but there is no transfer functionality.  I believe you just activate the fare product and move on.
15. When linking your Breeze Card to your Breeze Mobile 2.0 account, currently, riders cannot receive transfers to any of the Regional Partners.
16. When linking your tap-to-pay card to your Breeze Mobile 2.0 account, currently, riders cannot receive transfers to any of the Regional Partners.
17. Tap-to-pay cards don’t work as you’d expect, instead they just associate with a fare product like a Breezecard does.  
18. I believe multiple IDs (and matching fare products) will allow for carpooling via the app.  But why does adding tap-to-pay disable the QR code?

Open questions:

1. Why will additional IDs (Breezecards, tap-to-pay) not work if there is only one fare product in the app?  Why isn’t this better communicated?
2. How do you unlock a fare product once it’s locked to a Breeze ID?  Removing the Breeze ID removes the fare product, so that’s not the answer.  This presumably affects tap-to-pay fare products as well.  You can call customer service, but this isn’t a speedy process.
3. Does the “Dependent” checkbox when adding a Breeze ID allow for carpooling?  Unknown.
4. Can we “explode” a fare product such that it will work with a Breezecard (or tap-to-pay card)?  That is, turn a 20 fare pack into 20 single fare packs for easier sharing.  I effectively achieved this when trying to unlock a 20-trip fare product from a Breezecard.  They removed the fare product and gave me multiple fare products adding up to the same number of trips.
5. Why does adding a tap-to-pay ID disable the QR code scanner.  Especially if there’s only a single unlocked fare product (tap-to-pay won’t work anyway). 
6. Why can’t I associate my Georgia Digital Driver’s license as an ID?
7. Why doesn’t MARTA app allow for creation of an NFC tap-to-pay card that can be used like tap-to-pay credit cards and Breezecards are today?
8. Can the first placeholder fare product be a 1 dollar streetcar trip?  If so that’s both cheaper and that is the one kind of fare product that’s “usable” without needing to scan anything.
9. What happens to a locked fare product if the card goes away?  Fraud causes the card number to change for example?  I suspect you have to call in to customer service to get it unlocked.

Next Tests:

1. Confirm that Apple Watch works just as well as tap-to-pay on phone (it presumably does).  I’ll use Apple Cash Card just to double-up on the test.
2. Confirm that Breezecard still works as described above.  It almost certainly does.
3. Put a 1 dollar street-car trip in as the first fare product.  See if it will count as first spot so that all other products can be locked to breeze IDs.

Breeze Mobile 2 FAQ.  

https://www.itsmarta.com/breeze-mobile-faqs.aspx

XpressGA FAQ.  

https://xpressga.com/breeze-mobile-faq/