DAYTON, Ohio — The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will move to a cashless payment system this fall.

Starting Sept. 1, the RTA will eliminate the use of all old system passes, paper tickets and change cards as the next step in the process of migrating customers to its new fare payment system, Tapp Pay, according to RTA spokeswoman Jessica Olson.

RTA stopped selling old system passes and paper tickets at all outlet locations in April, and discontinued the sale of day passes aboard all vehicles in July, Olson said.

Customers who still have outstanding passes, paper tickets or change cards are advised to use them no later than Aug. 31. The passes, paper tickets and change cards will not be accepted after that date, officials said.

Tapp Pay, introduced via the Transit app in June 2020, offers bus fare at a discounted rate through fare capping.

The new fare capping system will track how many rides are taken by an individual in a given timeframe and stop charging them for new rides once they have accumulated the equivalent of Tapp Pay’s promotional daily cap of $3 or 31-day monthly cap of $30, for example, officials said.

A single trip for a regular adult rider costs $1.50 with Tapp Pay, versus RTA’s $2 single-trip cash fare, Olson said.

Once a cap is reached, customers pay no additional charges.

"This means no matter how many essential trips a customer takes throughout a given day or rolling 31-day period, any additional trips during that period of time will be at no charge," Olson said.

Customers can use Tapp Pay on either a smartphone by downloading the Transit app in the Google Play or App Store, or via a Tapp Pay card.

Tapp Pay cards can be obtained at any RTA transit center at a payment kiosk using a debit or credit card, and with cash at Wright Stop Plaza.

RTA plans to begin only using Tapp Pay for bus fare payment beginning Nov. 1.

For more information, visit RTA’s website at www.i-riderta.org/tapp-pay.