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UTA’s Electronic Fare Collection System

International ITS Best Practices Workshop: Electronic Payment

Systems

April 22-23, 2010New Orleans, LA

Craig RobertsUtah Transit Authority

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UTA Overview• 530 regular buses • Forty ski service buses • 80 paratransit vehicles • TRAX light rail line has 46 vehicles on two lines over 18

miles • Commuter rail service launched April 2008 with an initial

44 mile line• 2015 Program – 70 new miles of rail in 7 years – four

LRT lines and doubling of commuter rail system

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Why Electronic Fare Collection?

• Customer convenience• Collection efficiency and

effectiveness• Data, data, data

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EFC Full System Deployment Timing

• Ski service pilot: 2006 – 2008• RFI – Early 2007• RFP – May 2007• Award to ERG – October 2007

– Same firm provided ski service pilot– Three year effort with three more one year

options– To provide front end and hosted back

office

• Launch – End of 2008

Electronic Fare Collection System Launch –January 1, 2009

• Infrastructure Deployment– Readers at all doors of 520 fixed route

buses– 170 validators installed on 35 TRAX

and FrontRunner platforms– Communications

• Wireless gateways on buses that support WIFI in four depots and 3G continuous mobile throughout service area

• Fiber communication to all platforms• Link to hosted back office operated by

ERG in Concord California via internet

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Initial Products

– Third party paid passes – ECO, Ed, Ski

– Contactless credit acceptance for full single adult fares

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Third Party Passes• Annual or seasonal passes

– Ed Pass – Universities and schools (12)

– ECO Pass – Employers (100+)– Ski Pass – 4 resorts and visitors bureau

• Payment negotiated annually• Tap-on/tap-off counts inform

negotiation• Validators read the UIDs on cards

and compare to cold list on validator or back office to yield a green light

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The Appeal of Contactless Credit and Debit (Open Payments)

• Others issue payment media• Integration with payment mainstream:

payment at the fare box, gate or platform as a merchant POS transaction

• Customer service with issuers• Security standard• Architecture provides flexibility in product

development• Robustness of open payments

ecosystem • Commoditization of devices• Potential for pathway to elimination of

cash• Speed of deployment• Cost• Co-promotion

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Contactless Open Payment Interoperability

• Media interoperability automatic• Account based architecture allows interagency, inter-

modal and inter-merchant shared fares, transfers, discounts, cross-subsidies and promotions incrementally and after system deployment

• Open mobile payment (NFC) ready• Connects with prepaid card industry initiatives• Immediate opportunities for transit/parking/toll

convergence pilots

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Agencies Pursuing an Open Payments Approach

• Utah Transit Authority• New York MTA• Port Authority of NY/NJ• Philadelphia – SEPTA• Washington D.C. – WMATA• Chicago – CTA/RTA• Transport for London• Paris

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EFC Development and Deployment – 2010 - 2011

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• Perfect base functionality• Launch new fare products within credit/debit architecture• Prepaid accounts with all fare products to be accessed via

contactless credit or debit cards– Stored value– Period passes– Guaranteed best fare

• Special fares for seniors and disabled• Gift card issuance programs• Contactless co-branded card • Exploit new opportunities

– Federal (FIPS 201 ID use for administering employee transportation benefit)

– Horizon benefits card

Special Characteristics

• Account based – business rules and transaction processing in back office

• Open payments acceptance• Hosted back office – flexibility, portability

and PCI compliance• Cold lists• Near real time and real time authentication

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UTA EFC Development• RFI processes• Pilots to learn• Thin Specs• Collaboration/Collocation• Open Systems

– Open payment/account based architecture– Open or UTA owned key interfaces

• Aggressive schedule• Iterative process

UTA Approach to Technology Development

• Open systems; adaptive use of commercial products

• Internal integration• Modular, incremental evolution• Collaboration/partnerships• Competition

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UTA ITS Systems• Bus

– Mobile Data Computer/Radio – voice and data– Ethernet– Electronic Fare Collection (EFC) validators– Onboard Mobile Gateway (WIFI and 3G)

• Facility WIFI• Fiber-optic network to all platforms• EFC hosted back office• WIMAX – commuter rail line

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UTA ITS Applications• Current

– Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)– Mobile Data Computer/Radio – bus voice and data communications,

routes, schedules, detours– Reliability – schedule keeping– ADA stop annunciation– Patron WIFI on commuter rail and express bus– Electronic fare collection– Google transit

• Being developed– AVL– Next bus and next train– Remote malfunction detection and diagnostics

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UTA EFC Standards and Open Systems

• ISO 14443 and 15693• Visa, MasterCard, AmEx contactless POS specification and

certification• Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS)• Payment Application DSS• Near Field Communications (NFC) for mobile payments• FIPS 201 for Federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV)• WIFI• 3G mobile communications• Internet Protocol and web apps• GPS

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UTA/DOD PIV Card Acceptance in Transit Proof of Concept• Accept Personal Identification

Verification (PIV) cards on buses and platforms for a few employees of a number of Federal agencies in the UTA service area

• Agencies are already ECO Pass clients

• Use chip Unique ID for cold listing• Seeking a new agency to administer

Federal Transportation Benefit manually with ridership data provided by UTA system

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Potential Follow-on Pilot

• Automation of Federal transportation benefit linking ridership reports from UTA system

• Use of Cardholder UID (CHUID) rather than chip UID

• Security handshake for card authentification

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Prepaid Pilot• Concern about unbanked• Ready Credit ReadyStation• Reverse ATM – put cash in, get

plastic out• Proposal to transit:

– Nominal fee for card– If used only inside transit system, no

additional fees for revalue or otherwise: funds in returned in transit rides

– If used outside transit, automatically converted to open payments instrument with associated fees

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Privacy• UTA values the linked origination-destination data

enabled by this system for service evaluation and planning

• But does not need or want to know who is traveling• Third party payers keep identities of who is authorized to

ride• Third party payers should not need information of who

made what trips• Contractor to separately maintain records and processes

for credit/debit processing, application of business rules for prepaid or registered accounts and PCI assurance

• PCI: Payment Card Industry data security standard

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Thank you.

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