Fares collection

Fares Collection

Description / objective

The operational functions involved in fares collection concern the selling of fare products by the chosen modalities, collecting and securing the cash arising, validating the travel authority on the vehicle, and identifying and making the appropriate charge for the service.

Management processes concern the control of ticketing media, gathering data from the transactions, and monitoring and controlling fraud. All these aspects are covered in more detail in the Fare Collection Systems Toolkit.

ITS applications

All of these functions are covered by an ITS electronic fare collection application. Where there is a distance or zonal related fares structure, such applications would be supported by automated vehicle location technology.

Advantages and cautions

e-Ticketing systems offer the potential for increased revenue integrity that may more than offset their implementation cost, and also provide useful data for network planning purposes. However provision needs to be made for casual and irregular travelers, and care taken in ensuring that the system doesn’t act as a barrier to mobility for the very poor.