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T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M SPONSORED BY The Federal Transit Administration TCRP Report 32 Multipurpose Transit Payment Media Transportation Research Board National Research Council TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1998 SELECTION COMMITTEE CHAIR OFFICERS MICHAEL S. TOWNES Peninsula Transportation Dist. Comm. Chairwoman: Sharon D. Banks, General Manager, AC Transit MEMBERS Vice Chairman: Wayne Shackelford, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Transportation GORDON AOYAGI Executive Director: Robert E. Skinner, Jr., Transportation Research Board Montgomery County Government SHARON D. BANKS AC Transit MEMBERS LEE BARNES Barwood, Inc. THOMAS F. BARRY, JR., Secretary of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation GERALD L. BLAIR BRIAN J.L. BERRY, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor, Bruton Center for Development Studies, Indiana County Transit Authority University of Texas at Dallas SHIRLEY A. DeLIBERO SARAH C. CAMPBELL, President, TransManagement, Inc., Washington, DC New Jersey Transit Corporation E. DEAN CARLSON, Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation ROD J. DIRIDON JOANNE F. CASEY, President, Intermodal Association of North America, Greenbelt, MD IISTPS JOHN W. FISHER, Director, ATLSS Engineering Research Center, Lehigh University SANDRA DRAGGOO GORMAN GILBERT, Director, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State CATA Un i v e r s i t y CONSTANCE GARBER DELON HAMPTON, Chair and CEO, Delon Hampton & Associates, Washington, DC York County Community Action Corp. LESTER A. HOEL, Hamilton Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Virginia ALAN J. GIBBS JAMES L. LAMMIE, Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., New York, NY Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey THOMAS F. LARWIN, General Manager, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board DELON HAMPTON BRADLEY L. MALLORY, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Delon Hampton & Associates JEFFREY J. MCCAIG, President and CEO, Trimac Corporation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada KATHARINE HUNTER-ZAWORSKI JOSEPH A. MICKES, Chief Engineer, Missouri Department of Transportation Oregon State University MARSHALL W. MOORE, Director, North Dakota Department of Transportation ALAN F. KIEPPER ANDREA RINIKER, Executive Director, Port of Tacoma Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. JOHN M. SAMUELS, VP—Operations Planning & Budget, Norfolk Southern Corporation, PAUL LARROUSSE Norfolk, VA Madison Metro Transit System LES STERMAN, Executive Director, East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, St. Louis, MO ROBERT G. LINGWOOD JAMES W. VA N LOBEN SELS, Director, CALTRANS (Past Chair, 1996) BC Transit MARTIN WACHS, Director, University of California Transportation Center, University of California GORDON J. LINTON at Berkeley Federal Transit Administration DAVID L. WINSTEAD, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation DON S. MONROE DAVID N. WORMLEY, Dean of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University (Past Chair, 1997) Pierce Transit PATRICIA S. NETTLESHIP EX OFFICIO MEMBERS The Nettleship Group, Inc. ROBERT E. PAASWELL The City College of New York MIKE ACOTT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association JAMES P. REICHERT JOE N. BALLARD, Chief of Engineers and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Reichert Management Services ANDREW H. CARD, JR., President and CEO, American Automobile Manufacturers Association RICHARD J. SIMONETTA KELLEY S. COYNER, Acting Administrator, Research and Special Programs, U.S. Department of Transportation MARTA MORTIMER L. DOWNEY, Deputy Secretary, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation PAUL P. SKOUTELAS FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Port Authority of Allegheny County Of f i c i a l s PAUL TOLIVER DAVID GARDINER, Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency King County DOT/Metro JANE F. GARVEY, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation LINDA WATSON JOHN E. GRAYKOWSKI, Acting Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation Corpus Christi RTA ROBERT A. KNISELY, Deputy Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation EDWARD WYTKIND GORDON J. LINTON, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation AFL-CIO RICARDO MARTINEZ, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation WALTER B. McCORMICK, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations, Inc. EX OFFICIO MEMBERS WILLIAM W. MILLAR, President, American Public Transit Association WILLIAM W. MILLAR JOLENE M. MOLITORIS, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation APTA KAREN BORLAUG PHILLIPS, Senior Vice President, Association of American Railroads KENNETH R. WYKLE GEORGE D. WARRINGTON, Acting President and CEO, National Railroad Passenger Corporation FHWA KENNETH R. WYKLE, Federal Highway Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS AASHTO TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR. TRB Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for TCRP TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SHARON D. BANKS, AC Transit (Chairwoman) LOUIS F. SANDERS LESTER A. HOEL, University of Virginia APTA THOMAS F. LARWIN, San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board GORDON J. LINTON, U.S. Department of Transportation SECRETARY WAYNE SHACKELFORD, Georgia Department of Transportation ROBERT J. REILLY ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board TRB DAVID N. WORMLEY, Pennsylvania State University T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M Report 32 Multipurpose Transit Payment Media DANIEL FLEISHMAN Multisystems, Inc. Cambridge, MA CAROL SCHWEIGER Multisystems, Inc. Cambridge, MA DAVID LOTT Dove Associates, Inc. Atlanta, GA and GEORGE PIERLOTT Mundle & Associates, Inc. Philadelphia, PA Subject Areas Public Transit Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation T R A N S P O R T A T I O N R E S E A R C H B O A R D NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1998 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP REPORT 32 The nation’s growth and the need to meet mobility, Project A-14 FY’95 environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public ISSN 1073-4872 transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need ISBN 0-309-06264-0 of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 98-60315 and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new © 1998 Transportation Research Board technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into Price $36.00 the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transit NOTICE Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Cooperative for local, problem-solving research. TCRP, modeled after the Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the longstanding and successful National Cooperative Highway approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such Research Program, undertakes research and other technical activities approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the project concerned is in response to the needs of transit service providers. The scope of appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields including plan- Research Council. ning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human The members of the technical advisory panel selected to monitor this project and resources, maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The Proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation that performed the research, and while they have been accepted as appropriate Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum by the technical panel, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was executed by Research Board, the National Research Council, the Transit Development the three cooperating organizations: FTA;FTA, the National Academy of Corporation, or the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Sciences, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB);(TRB), T r a n s p o r t a t i o n . and the Transit Development Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical panel educational and research organization established by APTA. TDC is according to