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TTC Fare Smart Card
--By Mark Mañuel State
Note: The following idea has been implemented in terms of card style and usage with the "Presto" card now gradually being made available throughout the GTA and effective up to as far away as Hamilton. Remaining difficulties to solve are: 'what happens if a passenger boards without using the card, or boards after the card is refused', and 'how is the price of the card determined for each transit system on which it is valid,' which is discussed below. Perhaps the fare checkers who now look at riders' tickets and "proof of purchase" will carry an electronic device capable of determining if the Presto card had been used to pay for their current ride. For more information on the current technology, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presto_card.
The Problem
The cost of TTC fares have gone up each year, and the one-shot annual increase is painful for riders. A new transit pass, the “Metropass” must be purchased each month.
Considering Various Proposals From Around The World
The use of smart card transit access through the 'touch' or other PIN-unprotected system would deduct the amount of the ride from an account held by anonymous persons holding the smart-card pass.
Using this approach, if the card is lost or stolen, and not protected by a Personal Identification Number or other ID verification, the loss could be costly to the owner. Reporting of the loss of the pass-card and its effective cancellation would potentially involve a network connection between a central reporting agency and all card readers, whether land-based or on vehicles.
Currently, some Charge Cards are read by pass-over or touch readers; and others are implementing the PIN approach. If transit pass cards are used for shopping, etc., then they are de-facto banking cards; and either the transit system or a local bank is sponsoring a banking benefit to the card holder. In Canada, a surcharge is normally added for the use of the card (unless the use is confined to banking procedures conducted via a sponsor’s Automated Teller Machine).
In the case of the card being owned by banks who ‘top them up’ in order to turn them into a cash substitute, implementing such a ‘cost per use’ by employing the bank card for public transit access means that the fare on a public transit system may also be subject to a surcharge fee for use.
A Solution For Toronto
What are reasonable guidelines for public use of a smart card system, which will protect the users, yet still serve the system adequately?
One answer may lie in the employment of a universal smart card system that may be automatically updated strictly for the coming month on a monthly basis...at a fixed fare cost that perhaps reflects the projected cost of transit authority increased/decreased revenues for the current month...and for a fee that may only be charged for a ride pass. The card could be purchased and/or used anywhere by subscribing transit companies who have entered into a reciprocal agreement, and the amount of the fare shunted automatically into the accounts of the transit service where the card is used.
Local Toronto ridership would be either charged a surplus --or a lowered-- fee per ride rather than paying a one-time annual fee increase depending upon the fortunes of the public transit system as charted during the interval of some previous months. Each month, the fee savings or increase would be minimal, and the consumer would understand that it is directly reflective of operational transit costs.
The initial costs and ongoing expense expected in operating such a system would consist of the installation and maintenance of readers in all the vehicles and at all connecting transit stations, and fewer repeat printings of cards. Charging-up points for the card would still be at specific stations or via the station sales points.
The savings for the transit company using such a pass would be in the reduced cost of manufacturing and selling a tremendous number of new cards every month. The initial cost of systems installation to handle the new card will be recovered over time in the reduction of card manufacturing costs.
Losing a card could still be reported with a phone call or via the internet with sufficient security data attached to its ownership. Lost/stolen cards would be entered into the system on a daily basis, either as transit vehicles come into their storage facilities for overnight cleaning etc., or instantly, depending upon the sophistication of intra-transit communications.
Each vehicle’s card reader can be updated electronically to reject lost cards being used by unauthorized individuals.
Cards could be distributed with a key ring attached, similar to the ones issued by casinos. A mail-sorter’s reader at the post office could locate the real owner and return lost cards dropped into a local mail box.
The entire printing of new cards might be administered through the Veterans' War Amputees organization. Locally, the 'War-Amps' currently protect lost key returns by sending householders an identity tag. The proceeds from voluntary donations attached to reception of the tag allow them to carry on a prosthesis manufacturing facility for children. Attaching keys to the transit smart card could similarly ensure the return of lost keys. Having the cards manufactured through the local veteran’s associations could guarantee them a small percentage of each card’s monthly transit authority's purchase price as a fund-raising enterprise.
The Problem
The cost of TTC fares have gone up each year, and the one-shot annual increase is painful for riders. A new transit pass, the “Metropass” must be purchased each month.
Considering Various Proposals From Around The World
The use of smart card transit access through the 'touch' or other PIN-unprotected system would deduct the amount of the ride from an account held by anonymous persons holding the smart-card pass.
Using this approach, if the card is lost or stolen, and not protected by a Personal Identification Number or other ID verification, the loss could be costly to the owner. Reporting of the loss of the pass-card and its effective cancellation would potentially involve a network connection between a central reporting agency and all card readers, whether land-based or on vehicles.
Currently, some Charge Cards are read by pass-over or touch readers; and others are implementing the PIN approach. If transit pass cards are used for shopping, etc., then they are de-facto banking cards; and either the transit system or a local bank is sponsoring a banking benefit to the card holder. In Canada, a surcharge is normally added for the use of the card (unless the use is confined to banking procedures conducted via a sponsor’s Automated Teller Machine).
In the case of the card being owned by banks who ‘top them up’ in order to turn them into a cash substitute, implementing such a ‘cost per use’ by employing the bank card for public transit access means that the fare on a public transit system may also be subject to a surcharge fee for use.
A Solution For Toronto
What are reasonable guidelines for public use of a smart card system, which will protect the users, yet still serve the system adequately?
One answer may lie in the employment of a universal smart card system that may be automatically updated strictly for the coming month on a monthly basis...at a fixed fare cost that perhaps reflects the projected cost of transit authority increased/decreased revenues for the current month...and for a fee that may only be charged for a ride pass. The card could be purchased and/or used anywhere by subscribing transit companies who have entered into a reciprocal agreement, and the amount of the fare shunted automatically into the accounts of the transit service where the card is used.
Local Toronto ridership would be either charged a surplus --or a lowered-- fee per ride rather than paying a one-time annual fee increase depending upon the fortunes of the public transit system as charted during the interval of some previous months. Each month, the fee savings or increase would be minimal, and the consumer would understand that it is directly reflective of operational transit costs.
The initial costs and ongoing expense expected in operating such a system would consist of the installation and maintenance of readers in all the vehicles and at all connecting transit stations, and fewer repeat printings of cards. Charging-up points for the card would still be at specific stations or via the station sales points.
The savings for the transit company using such a pass would be in the reduced cost of manufacturing and selling a tremendous number of new cards every month. The initial cost of systems installation to handle the new card will be recovered over time in the reduction of card manufacturing costs.
Losing a card could still be reported with a phone call or via the internet with sufficient security data attached to its ownership. Lost/stolen cards would be entered into the system on a daily basis, either as transit vehicles come into their storage facilities for overnight cleaning etc., or instantly, depending upon the sophistication of intra-transit communications.
Each vehicle’s card reader can be updated electronically to reject lost cards being used by unauthorized individuals.
Cards could be distributed with a key ring attached, similar to the ones issued by casinos. A mail-sorter’s reader at the post office could locate the real owner and return lost cards dropped into a local mail box.
The entire printing of new cards might be administered through the Veterans' War Amputees organization. Locally, the 'War-Amps' currently protect lost key returns by sending householders an identity tag. The proceeds from voluntary donations attached to reception of the tag allow them to carry on a prosthesis manufacturing facility for children. Attaching keys to the transit smart card could similarly ensure the return of lost keys. Having the cards manufactured through the local veteran’s associations could guarantee them a small percentage of each card’s monthly transit authority's purchase price as a fund-raising enterprise.
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MarkState |
Latest page update: made by MarkState
, Feb 9 2012, 2:52 PM EST
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Keyword tags:
fares
public transit fares
smar card
transit
transit smart card
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| MarkState | Response to earhart from Mark State | 0 | Apr 28 2010, 1:24 PM EDT by MarkState | ||
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Thread started: Apr 28 2010, 1:24 PM EDT
Watch
Quite right, earhart. And I apologize for the lack of clarity of that statement.
Of course what I had meant to convey was the fact that over the years since its inception the card has continued, as have all varieties of TTC fares, to rise in price. A chart with that information on it, stopping just short of this year's "one shot" price increase, which is the one I meant to refer to: a $3.00 fare (compare to Hamilton's current adult bus fare at $2.55) may be found at http://www.thedailyplanet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1917:ttc-fares-increase&catid=57:gh-business-a-tech&Itemid=254. In utilizing the suggested smart card format, my solution was intended to allow its cost to float based upon actual operating expenses, thus both offering a more understandable basis for daily fluctuation with both increases and allowing for the possibility of occasional price decreases as well. Mark State
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Keyword tags:
fares
public transit fares
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transit smart card
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| earhart | Correction | 0 | Apr 22 2010, 10:38 AM EDT by earhart | ||
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Thread started: Apr 22 2010, 10:38 AM EDT
Watch
The writer states "The cost of TTC fares have gone up each year, and the one-shot annual increase..."
Actually TTC fares have not increased each year. The last increase before the 2010 fare hike was in 2006. Fares were frozen by the Commission for four years.
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