Nora Patterson concurred with those senti-
ments, noting that she was unaware of the
situation with SCAT until she learned of the
SKVA discussion. "I don't think it makes
sense," she said, pointing out that tourists
in London and Paris, for example, long have
been accustomed to using debit and credit
cards to pay for mass transit.
Keiderling explained to the News Leader on
July 15 that in talking this week with Cindy
Zambella, the long-time manager of SCAT's
finances, Keiderling learned "there really
hasn't been a huge demand" for use of debit
and credit cards among SCAT users until
recent years.
The transit service is working on a system
that will incorporate payment card industry
(PCI) security standards, Keiderling added. "I
think it will be easier for college students —
for anyone — to go online to purchase their
pass."
Patterson told the News Leader she had spo-
ken earlier in the day with Glama Carter,
who was still the SCAT director at that time
(see the related article in this issue). When
Carter took over the position in August 2012,
Patterson noted, Carter found the transit sys-
tem had no means of accepting payments
unless they were cash or check transactions.
A chart compares the fare revenue for Sarasota County Area Transit in 2012 to the totals for 11 other
peer systems. Image courtesy Sarasota County
Sarasota News Leader July 18, 2014 Page 22
