ORCA Smart Cards

What is ORCA?

ORCA, which stands for One Regional Card for All, is a collaborative regional fare system involving seven Western Washington public transportation agencies–Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and Washington State Ferries. ORCA cards utilize smart card technology and serve as a single payment mechanism for participating agencies.

ORCA uses smart card technology. Smart cards are plastic cards containing an embedded microchip processor that communicates with card-reader equipment. The card uses no contact technology, so a user only needs to bring it within a few inches of a reader for it to work. You may have already seen the ORCA readers on Metro buses. This is in preparation for this transition.

ORCA and U-PASS

Commuter Services and the Husky ID Card Office are partnering to transition all UW campuses, including UWMC and Harborview to the ORCA system. Faculty, staff and students who purchase U-PASS will be able to use it for payment on buses, Sounder and LINK Light Rail, but instead of flashing a U-PASS sticker, riders will tap their Husky ID card (with the U-PASS chip activated) on the ORCA reader. Ferry service will not be a part of the ORCA based U-PASS system at this time.

Privacy Issues and U-PASS

There will be no personal information stored on the smart chip. The chip will simply be a number in the transit system that either has the U-PASS activated or not. The University of Washington (UW) will send files to the transit agency clearing house, which identifies which smart cards are active, valid U-PASS holders. These files will have the serial number of the active U-PASSs but will contain no names.

Commuter Services will be the only office with information on WHO has a valid U-PASS and will keep this information private in accordance with the UW privacy policy, UW Electronic Information Privacy Policy on Personally Identifiable Information.

Project Timeline

The tentative launch date of the ORCA powered U-PASS program is the start of Summer Quarter 2010. This transition includes issuing new ID Cards with the smart card technology, which will be facilitated by the Husky ID Card Office.

A major notification effort will be launched when we are able to establish a firm schedule. Our goal is to make the transition to ORCA as seamless as possible for U-PASS holders. Until then, U-PASS participants will still flash their U-PASS sticker to ride the bus, Sounder and LINK Light Rail.

Be sure to check back to this page to see project updates.

Questions

For immediate questions, contact Stephanie Parkins, Project Specialist, at (206) 221-0995 or stephw5@u.washington.edu.

Additional Information

Read more about the campus- wide smart card transitions on the Housing and Food Services website.