Smart Card-Only Systems Now Possible with New Limited Use Smart Cards

By Walt Bonneau, Jr., Cubic Corporation Vice President
Contactless smart cards as a fare payment product are becoming more mainstream in transit systems around the world.  For patrons, they offer durability, security, convenience and ease of use.  For transit operators, they offer lower operating and maintenance costs for the infrastructure required to process them since the need to swipe or insert them into a mechanical terminal is removed from the system.  

However, the manufacturing and component costs of traditional smart cards have precluded many agencies from adopting them as a single technology fare media.  To cover these expenses, many agencies charge their patrons a small deposit to help recoup procurement costs and in doing so incur the risk of burdening a significant passenger base, which either cannot afford or justify the added cost, as in the case of the occasional transit rider. 

Typically constructed of PVC or other plastic material which is sandwiched around an inlay containing an RFID antenna and chip, contactless smart cards in this particular form factor are more costly to manufacture than traditional magnetic-stripe plastic or paper farecards which cost pennies on the dollar.  However, the argument for contactless smart card systems has been that over the life of a typical fare collection system (15 to 20 years), these manufacturing costs would be eclipsed by the lower maintenance and operating costs associated with smart card systems. 

To continue to meet the need of all customer populations, transit agencies have preserved the availability of their lower-cost magnetic-based fare products, a policy which means that the agencies are maintaining two technology platforms — one for magnetics and one for contactless smart cards.  But based on the maintenance and other operating costs for magnetics-based systems, agencies and system suppliers such as Cubic have been very motivated to push the card manufacturers to come up with a cost-effective solution for the most durable card product that fits the passenger transport environment. 

Now a new contactless smart card product has been introduced which will give transit agencies the option to move magnetics out of their systems altogether and elevate smart card technology as the uniform platform for all fare products. 

The first low-cost “Limited Use” contactless smart cards will debut in the U.S. as soon as 2006 when the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rolls out its new fare collection system — and Atlanta's newest brand — called “Breeze.”  The Cubic-designed system, which was awarded under a 2003 contract, will be a smart card-only multi-modal fare collection and revenue management system and the first in the U.S. to deploy a Limited Use smart card.  Differentiated from their hard plastic “extended use” cousins by their paper-based composition, the new “Limited Use” smart card will be marketed to occasional riders and visitors to Atlanta. 

 “Breeze” will make it easy for commuters to travel seamlessly throughout Atlanta using one common smart card to pay for rail, bus, L-van (paratransit) fares and park-and-ride fees.  In the future, the card could potentially be used for event ticketing, retail purchases, security access and more. 

Since card manufacturers including Magnadata, ASK and Giesecke & Devrient began embracing their viability in the transit environment, Limited Use smart cards have been evolving to a development standard and technology maturity that is making them as cost effective as magnetic farecards including the cost of ownership, the cost of manufacture and the costs to maintain and distribute the fare media.

The long-term business model clearly supports the systemwide implementation of contactless smart card technology.   Contactless smart cards are very popular with patrons; they like the fact the product is cashless, convenient, secure and easy to use.  This latter benefit alone is a major selling point for users with physical disabilities that make it difficult or impossible for them to insert or swipe a ticket.  By offering both extended use and Limited Use cards, agencies are engaging all their riders in a technology application that benefits everyone.  Both cards are treated as full function cards and are physically indistinguishable to the fare collection system’s backend management except that the Limited Use smart card uses a subset of the card data format that is programmed into the extended use smart card. 

Another positive feature of Limited Use cards is their environmental friendliness.  They are more of a “green” product, meaning they have a high rate of biodegradability and that a large percentage of their composition is recyclable and can be reused in other products. This cannot be said of magnetic fare products. 

In summary, now that Limited Use smart cards are emerging, we will begin to witness a shift to one media technology base, i.e., contactless smart card technology, across major transit systems.  At Cubic, our job will continue to be helping our customers absorb technology trends that make economic and ergonomic sense, both for their passengers and for the agencies themselves.