Management of fare sales equipment

This relates to equipment such as ticket issuing machines and also various validation devices either on-vehicle or off-vehicle, and also various document interrogation devices [usually hand-held] used by inspection staff. The devices can be separated into:

Portable devices

This equipment [such as hand-held ticket issuing machines, or hand-held inspection devices] is held for the duration of the duty of the respective member of staff. The usual arrangement is that such devices are held in bulk by the operator at garages [or major interchanges, if crew book-on or book off duty at the interchanges] and they are then issued randomly to the crew on a daily basis and signed out and signed back in for each duty or shift performed.

The allocation of the same device to the same crew every day is generally found to be inappropriate. The random allocation of ticket machines dilutes the opportunity for the crew to personally manipulate the device characteristics so as to under-record ticket issuing transactions.

However, examples also exist where the same machine is allocated regularly to the same conductor so that any tampering can then be traced back to the conductor concerned, although the quantity of machines required to fulfill operational requirements may be slightly higher when adopting this practice.

Driver operated devices

The usual arrangement is that the machine is permanently affixed to the vehicle, and is thus associated with the vehicle and not the driver. However the driver will use his own identity device to initialize the equipment at the start of the duty and return data to the depot at its end. Some equipment can communicate direct with the depot, and avoid the physical data transfer.

However in some cases the vehicles may be permanently fitted with mounting plates that enable drivers to fix portable ticket issuing devices onto them. For control purposes, though, the devices remain associated with the driver and not the vehicle. The mounting plates provide the power supply for electrically-operated equipment, and may provide a communications capability for the machine as well.

Drivers normally carry consumables such as ticket rolls, and printer ink cartridges where applicable, such that the machine does not require any external everyday attention. Maintenance support usually consists of repair-on-failure, which may be supported by periodic removal for servicing and cleaning.

Regular updates of configuration data may be done through a driver’s module or over the communications systems, or overnight using a data transfer device. Occasional major updates – such as fare table, fare product and price changes, new applications, software upgrades – may be done by direct download using the bus communications system, or else manually in the depot using a data transfer device.

Self-service machines

These devices are affixed permanently to vehicles for use by passengers for ticket issue or fare validation during the journeys being undertaken. The equipment is associated with the vehicle, and not with a specific member of staff.
Ticket issuing devices require the regular removal of the cash accrued during the day. This is usually undertaken at garages overnight. These devices also require their regular replenishing with blank ticket stocks.

Agency devices

These devices are held by off-system ticket sales agencies, and are used for issuing [and sometimes validating] tickets. Usually the devices are leased out to the agency for the duration of the agency agreement but they must be regularly [and sometimes randomly] inspected by the operator technical staff to maintain and check their security and operability.

Sales agents may operate dedicated kiosks, particularly near to busy interchanges or terminals, but are more normally integrated into small retail businesses. The agent is responsible for the accountability and security of the ticket stock and cash sales arising, and is generally required to pre-pay for the ticket stock so as to remove any risk from the operator or the authority.

Free-standing devices

Automated ticket vending machine devices are ground mounted [usually at stops, but sometimes remotely], to enable passengers to pre-purchase tickets before boarding the vehicle.
These machines require regular visits to remove cash to replenish blank ticket stocks and to check that the issued media embodies the correct data and travel validity. They also require periodic maintenance so that the machines function well.

In each variant, management process must define the frequency of checking of the devices and the recording of variances and the protection of integrity in order to achieve reliability and consistency and to prevent fraud or inappropriate use of the various devices. To achieve reliability, it is important that appropriate preventative maintenance plans are in place and that sufficient spare units are available to accommodate any replacement for repair.