I keep having a reoccurring problem.  My Orca Card – Seattle’s version of the public transportation pass – seems to run out of money a very inopportune times.  On my way to an important meeting downtown.  Balance $0.00.  Getting on the bus to go home later at night.  Balance $0.00.

To keep in better control of my finances I choose to not have it automatically refilled each month, so I am at the mercy of knowing how much is on my card at any one time and if more money is needed, I must take time out of my day to go put more on it.  We have learned the majority of cards in circulation are not automatically refilled.

I either have to go online and pay, which takes 24 hours to process.  Or I have to walk to a physical location around town and make a payment at a kiosk.  It sucks.

Why can’t I just pay on the fly and put money back on the card?

Why can’t I be notified if my balance is getting low?

Others around Seattle have this problem, I know this because that is how we were pointed toward initiating talks with Sound Transit.  I have to believe others in additional metro areas around this country are frustrated by the same inconvenience.  That is why we are now starting to work with Sound Transit on a solution involving mobile payment in Seconds and a pilot is set to roll out in the coming months.

Below is a video of how it works.  Pretty smooth, eh?

I wonder if anyone in San Francisco, New York or any other metro area would want to refill their transit pass in Seconds?