FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   

Contact:   Steve Myers or Jeff Shuler, LeeTran
                (941) 277-5012, ext. 2223 

LEETRAN INTRODUCING ELECTRONIC FAREBOXES STARTING MONDAY (APRIL 1)

FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 27, 2002) – Riding LeeTran will get even easier beginning Monday. 

The county’s transit system is introducing new electronic fareboxes on its buses and trolleys.  The fareboxes will read magnetically encoded passes and speed up the time it takes to pay fares, while eliminating any confusion on the bus driver’s part about whether a pass is valid or not. 

The new system will be available on all of the system’s routes, 43 buses and eight trolleys. 

It replaces the system that has been in place since 1974, where passes and transfers are issued manually and bus operators have to punch holes in the proper places of the paper passes.  There also had been some problems with people being able to create forgeries of the passes. 

The fareboxes will encode a date and time stamp on passes and transfers, and once the time limit is reached the farebox will not accept the pass. 

“The new electronic fareboxes will make it easier for our riders, and our bus operators,” said Jeff Shuler, marketing director for LeeTran.  “Drivers will be able to focus more of their attention on driving safely.  It is a great way to make available technology work for us and Lee County’s citizens.” 

All day, 12-day and monthly passes run anywhere from $3 to $30 depending on whether the rider is a student, senior citizen or disabled.  The standard cash fare is $1 for adults and 50 cents for senior citizens, the disabled and those 17 and under (who have a LeeTran ID card). 

Passes can be purchased at the Intermodal Transfer Center in downtown Fort Myers, 2250 Peck Street, at LeeTran’s Administrative Offices, 10715 E. Airport Rd., at Edison Community College’s Student Services Building, and at Cape Coral City Hall. 

Lee Tran operates 20 bus routes in Lee County and its cities, as well as a trolley service on Fort Myers Beach.  The system operates 43 buses and eight trolleys, employs 163 people and has an annual budget of $15 million.