The soft launch involves those MDT customers who have already received or will soon receive their EASY Cards. Distribution of the new cards is under way, and more than 152,000 Golden Passport, Patriot Passport and STS paratransit customers are now using new EASY Cards with photo IDs to ride Metrobus and Metrorail. More than 1.2 million EASY Card boardings have been recorded to date, with virtually no glitches.

All Metrobuses have been equipped with fully operational EASY Card fareboxes since January.

EASY Card faregate installation has been completed at 16 of Metrorail's 22 stations. Of those 16, three stations (Hialeah, Northside and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza) are now fully operational. Faregate installation is under way at the five remaining Metrorail stations (Civic Center, Brickell, Dadeland North, Dadeland South and Tri-Rail).

The EASY Card automated fare collection system will enhance customer convenience and reduce fare evasion by automatically deducting passenger fares from a reloadable smart card embedded with a computer chip, thereby eliminating paper transfers and reducing the system's vulnerability to counterfeit fare media and currency.

"The soft launch allows us to continue to monitor and test the system before we go 100 percent online," MDT Director Harpal Kapoor said. "Once the new system is fully operational, we're confident our customers will be thrilled with the convenience the EASY Card will offer."