This report examines the potential for introducing multipurpose payment “smart cards” that can be used to purchase transit services from multiple operators, and, potentially, other goods and services (e.g., parking and retail products). This report examines smart card technology, legal and institutional issues associated with introducing multipurpose card programs, cost and revenue impacts, and customer attitudes. On the basis of experiences around the world, guidelines are provided for development of multipurpose fare payment programs. The use of cash in transit fare payment has long been seen as a problem, both for the rider and the operator, and many transit agencies have tried to minimise the use of cash in favour of prepaid media (e.g., tokens, tickets, passes, and stored-value fare cards). Cash fares can be inconvenient for the rider, and the need for exact fare can be a barrier to the use of transit. In cities with multiple transit operators, exact fare must often be paid on each leg of a trip, and transfers between buses or trains operated by different agencies are generally difficult or nonexistent. The combination of these factors constitutes a major barrier to the “seamless,” intermodal transportation system envisioned in the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. Operationally, it is expensive to administer the collection of cash fares. For every dollar a transit agency receives in passenger revenue, it spends approximately 6 cents on fare collection and processing. Most of the cost is associated with collecting, transporting, counting, and guarding cash. Dollar bill processing is particularly difficult and costly. Reducing the use of cash for fare payment provides a clear benefit for transit operators. Electronic transit fare payment in the form of magnetically encoded fare cards has been in use since the 1970s. In the 1990s, technological advances in electronic payment in transit and other areas (e.g., banking and retail) are beginning to converge in the form of the smart card. A productive convergence of transit and commercial banking, for example, would be the acceptance of standardised, financial media (i.e., stored-values cards or “cash cards”) for payment of transit fares. TCRP Project A-14, conducted by a team of firms led by Multisystems, Inc., examined the potential for developing multipurpose media linking the payment of transit fares to other payment applications. The report provides information on more than 30 current and planned multipurpose transit fare projects from around the world. Descriptive information includes the size of the trial program, the card supplier or system integrator, and the degree of fare integration (e.g., regional transit fares; combined transit, parking, and tolls; or multiple use). Thirteen stored-value/electronic purse programs from around the world, initiated by financial services companies and not involving transit at this time, are also described. The report examines issues and concerns from the point of view of transit agencies and financial institutions, including a discussion of stored-value cards technologies (i.e., “contactless,” “contact,” and “combi-cards”). The report provides transit and financial services professionals with an understanding of the costs and potential benefits, identifies issues that must be addressed in creating new alliances, and describes the steps that must be taken to develop and implement effective multipurpose programs. This report expands on TCRP Report 10, “Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies,” which contains a comprehensive assessment of current policies and emerging developments related to the establishment of transit pricing parameters and the selection and application of fare collection technologies. TCRP Research Results Digest 14, “co-ordinated Intermodal Transportation Pricing and Funding Strategies,” presents a framework for transit agencies and their partners to use in developing a co-ordinated, intermodal pricing strategy. Multipurpose transit fare media can be an integral part of and can facilitate the implementation of flexible transit fare policies and co-ordinated pricing structures. (A)
Samenvatting