Summary

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded Monterey-Salinas Transit District a $568,553 Cooperative Agreement under the Public Transportation Innovation program (CFDA 20.530) on January 27, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2028. This award funds a pilot program to advance transit fare technology by enabling the Monterey-Salinas Transit District to transition to open-loop bank card payments while implementing an innovative method for verifying temporary discount eligibility. The project focuses on allowing students and faculty/staff from Rancho Cielo high school in Salinas, California to automatically receive eligible discounted or complementary transit fares when paying with contactless bank cards, without requiring manual validation of their enrollment or employment status.

The deliverables under this Cooperative Agreement encompass three project phases that include software development, live testing, and implementation support. The initiative addresses a critical gap in the U.S. transit industry by creating a system to verify discount eligibility based on qualifying student and employment criteria—such as full or part-time enrollment status and whether active discount periods are in effect—directly at point of sale on transit vehicles. By reducing barriers to transit access and streamlining the fare payment process, the project aims to increase ridership while generating a scalable, transferable innovation model for other transit agencies across the country.