Transportation has been one of the last refuges of cash. But that’s changing as technology moves in. Examples:

• EZ Tag has been around for a while. But we’ll be seeing a lot more of them. HCTRA has moved to a new sticker-type tag; its lower cost compared to the old plastic boxes has allowed HCTRA to eliminate monthly rental charges. But the EZ Tag is not only easier to get; it’s also more necessary. The new Katy Freeway toll lanes, like the Westpark Toll Road, will be EZ Tag only. That not only saves toll collector salaries; it saves space and reduces congestion.
• The new City of Houston parking meters, linked together by a wifi network, take credit cards. They’re also smart enough not to charge for parking when it’s free or when it’s not allowed. And they sell “downtown hopper” passes that allow you to park multiple times and pay once.
• I’ve been using METRO’s Q Card for a few months now, and it makes boarding bus or a train a lot easier: unlike the old magnetic media, it reads reliably every time, and it’s a lot quicker to scan. METRO has prepaid cards before, but the Q card will be easier to get and easier to use, and it will mean the end of fumbling for coins for a lot of riders.

The next step will be linking these new technologies to more places. As I suggested earlier this week, it would be natural to let Q cards be used to pay for coffee on a commuter train. The new parking meter technology could be used to let merchants validate parking. HCTRA is in the lead here: you can now use an EZ Tg to pay for parking at Intercontinental and Hobby airports.

There’s a side benefit as well: better data. EZ Tag readers all over Houston are used by Houston Transtar to measure traffic speeds and post them on the Web. Smart parking meters could allow he city to track how much spaces are used and set parking fees accordingly. And METRO’s new GPS equipped buses put together with the transfer information on Q cards should provide the best ridership data ever, allowing METRO to build a system that serves riders better.

So what’s the catch? For one thing, privacy. There was a CSI episode recently in which the perpetrator was caught because toll records showed them being in the right place at the right time. How much do we want government to know about our travel patterns? The new technology also tends to work against occasional users or visitors. If you’re from out of town, you don’t have an EZ Tag, and you can’t use the Westpark Toll Road. Once Q Card is fully rolled out, someone boarding a bus with cash won’t get a transfer. Solutions are in the works for both, but until then, you’re out of luck.

But these concerns don;t seem to be holding up the technology. And it’s entirely possible that one day we will have a little card that will let us do everything we need — from getting on to toll road to getting lunch to getting in the front door — and keep track of all of that. Life will be easier, but less anonymous.

All this is a reminder that while it’s easy to think of transportation in terms of hardware (lanes, tracks, buses, and terminals), software (toll collection, tickets, trip planners, signage, traffic signal sequencing, motorists assistance and online maps) is equally important.

Our forums are pretty smart, too. But that’s because of the people, not the technology.