automated fare collection

File:Grönt sl kort.jpg

AFC systems often consist of the following components{{Cite web|title=The ticket to a better ride: How can Automated Fare Collection improve urban transport?|url=https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/ticket-better-ride-how-can-automated-fare-collection-improve-urban-transport|access-date=2021-02-23|website=blogs.worldbank.org|date=27 February 2019 |language=en}} (the "tier" terminology is common, but not universal):

• Tier 0 – Fare media
• Tier 1 – Devices to read/write media
• Tier 2 – Depot/station computers
• Tier 3 – Back office systems
• Tier 4 – Central clearing house

In addition to processing electronic fare media, many AFC systems have equipment on vehicles and stations that accepts cash payment in some form.

AFC systems originated with tokens or paper tickets dispensed by staff or from self-service vending machines. These have generally been replaced with magnetic stripe cards.

Since their introduction in 1997 with the Octopus card in Hong Kong, contactless smart cards have become the standard fare media in AFC systems, though many systems support multiple media types.

File:Fare cards.jpg

More recently, contactless smart cards from bank networks have been seen more frequently in AFC.

These take numerous forms, including:

• Ticket office terminals – where a media holder can purchase a right to travel from staff in an office, or enquire as to the value and travel rights associated with the media

Image:Cg1 expo GTM.jpg in Singapore, where commuters can add value to their EZ-Link card or purchase a single trip ticket.]]

• Ticket vending machines – where a media holder can purchase a right to travel from a self-service machine, or enquire as to the value and travel rights associated with the media
• Fare gate – often used in a train station so a media holder can gain access to a paid area where travel services are provided
• Stand-alone validator – used to confirm that the media holds an appropriate travel right, and to write the usage of the media onto the media for later verification (e.g. by a conductor/inspector). Often used in proof-of-payment systems.
• On-vehicle validator – used by a media holder to confirm travel rights and board a vehicle (e.g. bus, tram, train)
• Inspector/conductor device – used by staff such as a conductor to verify travel rights

Unattended devices are often called "validators", a term which originated with devices that would stamp a date/time onto paper tickets to provide proof of valid payment for a conductor.

File:Victoria Cross Station Sydney 13.jpg]]

Used to concentrate data communications with devices in a station or bus depot. Common in older AFC systems where communication lines to upper tiers were slow or unreliable.

Servers and software to provide management and oversight of the AFC system. Usually includes:

• Fare management – changing of fares and fare products
• Media management – support for blacklisting of lost/stolen media
• Reporting – periodic reports on performance of the AFC system, financial details and passenger movements

In environments where multiple system operators share common, interoperable media, a central system similar to those used in stock exchanges can be used to provide financial management and other services to the operators such as:

• Clearing and settling of funds
• Common reporting
• Apportionment of revenue between operators

Image:New Westminter fare gates.jpg fare gates that are used at train stations across the Metro Vancouver Regional District]]

Canada's first public transit agency, the Toronto Street Railway Co., started in 1861 with a horse-drawn streetcar service but it was not until 1912 that the City of Toronto began deliberations on fare collection.{{Cite web|url=http://transittoronto.ca/spare/0021.shtml|title=A History of Fares on the TTC |publisher=Transit Toronto}} It was not until 126 years later (in 1987) that Mississauga Transit became one of the first Transit Agencies in Canada to implement an Electronic Farebox.[http://www.mississauga.ca/file/COM/Forum_Transit_General_Fact_Sheet_Web.pdf Forum Transit General Fact Sheet] Mississauga Since then, almost every major city in Canada has adopted use of electronic fare boxes.

Notably, Canada also produces fare collection devices for various transit agencies in North America. [http://www.trapezegroup.com/ Trapeze Group.], located in Mississauga, Ontario, currently manufactures and develops high tech fare collection solutions.

Image:Turnstiles in Alewife station, August 2005.jpg used for automated fare collection.]]

The first faregates in the United States were installed experimentally in 1964 at Forest Hills and Kew

Gardens Long Island Rail Road stations in Queens;Fare Demonstration Project. In Headlights, Magazine of Electric Railroaders’ Association,

Inc., New York, N.Y., August, 1964. the first systemwide installation was on

Illinois Central Railroad (IC) in 1965 for its busy Chicago commuter service (today's Metra Electric.) Financed entirely from private funds, AFC was expected to reduce operating costs by

decreasing on-board crew sizes and eliminating station agents at all but the busiest stations. Cubic’s

IC system featured entry-exit swipes (NX) to enforce zonal fare structures, checks against fraud,

used ticket collection, and ridership/revenue data collection capabilities.Illinois Central Railroad. Illinois Central’s Gamble at Chicago: Private Breakthrough for a

Public Cause. Chicago, Ill., circa 1968. It served as a

prototype for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART),Buneman, Kevin. Automated and Passenger-Based Transit Performance Measures. In

Transportation Research Record 992, pp. 23-28, Transportation Research Board of the National

Academies, 1984. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA),Miller, Luther S. AFC: A Fare Deal for All – Mass Transit Automatic Fare Collection

Systems. In Railway Age, Issue 5, Volume 195, May, 1994. and Philadelphia’s Port Authority Transit Corporation

(PATCO) Lindenwold Line NX-zonal AFC systems.Vigrass, J. William. The Lindenwold (New Jersey to Philadelphia) Hi-Speed Line: The

First Twenty Years of the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO). West Jersey Chapter,

National Railway Historical Society, Cherry Hill, N.J., 1990. These railroad-style systems required

complex computer data processing on faregates or remotely on a central computer, and thus

were not suitable for buses. Similar systems are still in use on Japan and Taiwan’s commuter

railroads, and the London Underground.Ford, Roger. Technology Update: Ticket Issuing and Revenue Control. In Modern

Railways, Volume 41, Pages 256-257, May, 1984.

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)’s desire for simpler AFC systems

resulted in Duncan (traditionally a parking meter vendor) developing turnstile machines for

entry-only subway fare collection. Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)’s ChicagoCard, Boston

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)’s previous generation “T-Pass”, and

New York City Transit (NYCT)’s MetroCard systems could all be considered MARTA’s 1977 system’s conceptual

descendants.

Bus fareboxes had hitherto been much simpler devices, mechanically registering coins deposited

on accumulating registration counters. Duncan’s 1973 “Faretronic” farebox was the first to

electronically count coins and collect revenue/ridership data by fare class. Keene quickly

followed suit, introducing a design meeting Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA) Section

15 reporting requirements, also collecting fuel consumption and bus mileage data.Young, David. The Business of Fare Collection. In Mass Transit Magazine, September,

1977. In New

York, mechanical fareboxes were preferred for ease of maintenance until widespread deployment

of Cubic's MetroCard for buses in 1997. Venerable GFI fareboxes featuring magnetic pass

readers requiring cash single fares lasted in Boston until Scheidt-Bachmann’s CharlieCard was

introduced in 2006.

This is a list of a few notable AFC systems. (See List of smart cards for a comprehensive list of AFC and other systems based on contactless smart cards.)

• Calypso, an international electronic ticketing standard, originally designed by a group of transit operators
• CIPURSE, is an open security standard for transit fare collection systems

{{Reflist}}

{{Public transport}}

Category:Fare collection systems