FAIRTRAN: OPERATION OF A CREDIT-CARD TRANSIT FARE SYSTEM

An Urban Mass Transportation Administration demonstration project has been implemented in the Lower Naugatuck Valley of Connecticut. The purpose of the demonstration was to provide a unified public transport service aimed primarily at the needs of health and social services and their clients. An entirely new fare system was devised to overcome problems in the pricing of multiple, coordinated service modes, to provide for accountability to third-party fare support sources, and to put into practice new ideas on fare equity and pricing. The fare system, FAIRTRAN, involves use of punch-coded credit cards specially issued for the project. Ride data are recorded on magnetic tape cassettes on board the vehicles and are processed remotely at a central computer; rides are billed monthly. An option, Fareshare, allows selective financial support of individual riders in contrast to shotgun subsidies now in practice. The demonstration has shown the system to be workable. Operational changes in hardware and software will be made in a second 3-year demonstration. As yet, fare system costs appear to be several times higher than conventional coin system costs, but benefits of data collection, elimination of coin handling (and out-of-pocket bias), pricing flexibility, and Fareshare have to be considered on balance. /Author/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/590/590-007.pdf
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=FAIRTRAN%3a+OPERATION+OF+A+CREDIT-CARD+TRANSIT+FARE+SYSTEM&author=G.+Nelson&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Nelson, Gary
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: pp 26-30
• Monograph Title: Transit marketing
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 590
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Credit; Data collection; Demonstration projects; Fares; Magnetic tapes; Prices; Public transit
• Old TRIS Terms: Magnetic tape recording
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00142363
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 30 1981 12:00AM