INIT Revolutionizes e-fare with Open Payments System in Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area
In partnership with TriMet, C-TRAN and Portland Streetcar, INIT has delivered the final element of the newly launched Hop Fastpass e-fare system. The open payments component is today in operation within the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area.
Regional riders can now pay for fares using a mobile wallet such as AndroidPay, ApplePay or SamsungPay, as well as any contactless bank card. They simply tap their phone on any of the 1,200 INIT validators and hop on board the Portland Streetcar, C-TRAN buses including The Vine, TriMet’s buses, MAX light rail and WES Commuter Rail.
Having the ability to pay with a credit card or mobile wallet frees riders from the worry associated with how many — or what kind of — tickets they should buy. They simply tap, hop on and ride. In addition, Hop Fastpass cards offer daily and monthly fare capping so riders never have to worry about spending more than needed to take public transit. The plan offers riders greater social equity, and provides more cost-effective transport options for travel throughout the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area.
INIT’s back-end processing software, MOBILEvario, serves as the core intelligence for the account-based and open payment fare system. It manages and processes fares in real-time, recognizes and processes revenue sharing, as well as manages accounts and automates reconciliations for all three agencies. Off-line processing is another added benefit of the INIT system. In the event of a network outage, fare payments can still be processed ensuring revenues are not lost.
“My vision was to build innovative, open payments, open architecture fare collection system for all of our regional riders,” said Chris Tucker, TriMet project manager. “We now have open payments, real-time fare calculation, daily and monthly fare capping, and seamless travel across three regional transit agencies and two states.”
INIT developed the system using open architecture API’s so that other partners could be easily incorporated. As an example, the IVR system and mobile apps were able to easily integrate with the INIT open payments e-fare system which benefited riders using the system with further tools and greater functionality.
“INIT has been an amazing partner," said Sean Donaghy, C-TRAN CEO. “The integrated approach they took helped us realize the launch of this modern and seamless open payments solution. What that means for our riders is they can move from the Streetcar to a TriMet bus, over to C-TRAN and all the way throughout the system with ease.”
The open payments system within the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Region was implemented within budget and on time.
