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ORCA card
The ORCA card (standing for One Regional Card for All) is a contactless, stored-value fare and smart card system for public transit in the Puget Sound region of Washington, United States. It is valid on most transit systems in the Seattle metropolitan area, including Sound Transit, local bus agencies, Washington State Ferries, the King County Water Taxi, and Kitsap Fast Ferries. The ORCA card was launched in 2009 and is managed by the Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination Project, a board composed of local transit agencies.
Physical and virtual ORCA cards are able to be loaded with "e-purse" value, similar to a debit card, and monthly passes. Physical cards are sold and reloaded at participating grocery stores, customer service centers, and ticket vending machines at transit stations. Virtual cards can be added to Google Wallet. ORCA cards offer free transfers between transit systems within a two-hour window. Some transit systems also accept debit and credit cards with near-field communication enabled as well as mobile payment platforms.
In 2018, Sound Transit contracted INIT to replace the original system with an account-based, open architecture system that would become the second generation of the ORCA card. It began its rollout in May 2022 to support new payment options and real-time account management and fare processing. Google Wallet support was added in 2024 and an expansion to support debit and credit cards rolled out in February 2026.
Central Puget Sound transit agencies have collaborated in a region-wide fare system since 1991 with the introduction of U-PASS and later FlexPass. In 1996, voters approved Sound Move, which called for an integrated regional fare policy for a "one-ticket ride". That goal led to the creation of the PugetPass in 1999, which allowed transit riders to use a single pass for five transit agencies.
On April 29, 2003, an agreement to implement a smart card system between the seven agencies in the Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination Project (Sound Transit, King County Metro, Community Transit, Everett Transit, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Washington State Ferries) was signed along with a $43 million contract awarded to ERG Transit Systems (now Vix Technology) as the vendor and system integrator of the project. The ORCA card was originally anticipated to be operational in 2006.
Between November 9 and December 22, 2006, as many as 6,000 transit riders were asked to participate in a live test of the smart card system. The test was conducted on selected routes of the seven participating agencies. The University of Washington conducted a separate test for integrating ORCA with the Husky Card and U-PASS during the same period.
A limited rollout of the ORCA system began on April 20, 2009, which allowed remaining technical issues in the system to be resolved. An extensive rollout and public outreach campaign followed in June 2009. Blank cards were available at no charge during the introductory period, which lasted until March 1; from then on, the card cost $5 ($3 for reduced fare permit holders). Users of PugetPasses, FlexPasses, and other passes were to be gradually transitioned to ORCA.
The ORCA launch press kit gave a launch timeline as follows:
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ORCA card AI simulator
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ORCA card
The ORCA card (standing for One Regional Card for All) is a contactless, stored-value fare and smart card system for public transit in the Puget Sound region of Washington, United States. It is valid on most transit systems in the Seattle metropolitan area, including Sound Transit, local bus agencies, Washington State Ferries, the King County Water Taxi, and Kitsap Fast Ferries. The ORCA card was launched in 2009 and is managed by the Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination Project, a board composed of local transit agencies.
Physical and virtual ORCA cards are able to be loaded with "e-purse" value, similar to a debit card, and monthly passes. Physical cards are sold and reloaded at participating grocery stores, customer service centers, and ticket vending machines at transit stations. Virtual cards can be added to Google Wallet. ORCA cards offer free transfers between transit systems within a two-hour window. Some transit systems also accept debit and credit cards with near-field communication enabled as well as mobile payment platforms.
In 2018, Sound Transit contracted INIT to replace the original system with an account-based, open architecture system that would become the second generation of the ORCA card. It began its rollout in May 2022 to support new payment options and real-time account management and fare processing. Google Wallet support was added in 2024 and an expansion to support debit and credit cards rolled out in February 2026.
Central Puget Sound transit agencies have collaborated in a region-wide fare system since 1991 with the introduction of U-PASS and later FlexPass. In 1996, voters approved Sound Move, which called for an integrated regional fare policy for a "one-ticket ride". That goal led to the creation of the PugetPass in 1999, which allowed transit riders to use a single pass for five transit agencies.
On April 29, 2003, an agreement to implement a smart card system between the seven agencies in the Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination Project (Sound Transit, King County Metro, Community Transit, Everett Transit, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Washington State Ferries) was signed along with a $43 million contract awarded to ERG Transit Systems (now Vix Technology) as the vendor and system integrator of the project. The ORCA card was originally anticipated to be operational in 2006.
Between November 9 and December 22, 2006, as many as 6,000 transit riders were asked to participate in a live test of the smart card system. The test was conducted on selected routes of the seven participating agencies. The University of Washington conducted a separate test for integrating ORCA with the Husky Card and U-PASS during the same period.
A limited rollout of the ORCA system began on April 20, 2009, which allowed remaining technical issues in the system to be resolved. An extensive rollout and public outreach campaign followed in June 2009. Blank cards were available at no charge during the introductory period, which lasted until March 1; from then on, the card cost $5 ($3 for reduced fare permit holders). Users of PugetPasses, FlexPasses, and other passes were to be gradually transitioned to ORCA.
The ORCA launch press kit gave a launch timeline as follows: