A consortium of seven transit agencies in the Seattle, Wash. area, including Sound Transit—the Puget Sound’s regional transit authority—is using a system for transit riders to access ferries, buses and trains by tapping a single RFID ORCA (“One Regional Card for All”) card. Many travelers arrive or leave the Seattle area by ferry, then subsequently ride buses or trains. Each transit agency has its own fare system, and paying for each ride often required multiple tickets or transit passes, or else they had to be managed with cash. In this session, hear how the ORCA cards solved that problem, using a 13.56 MHz passive RFID tag that complies with Near Field Communication (NFC) specifications, making it possible for passengers to pay all of their fares on a single regional transit pass. Travelers can load funds onto an account, from which they can then draw every time they ride a bus, train or ferry in Seattle, or in neighboring counties. Learn how the card protects a rider’s privacy, since it does not store personal information, such as a user’s name or account number. Instead, the system employs a unique ID number, enabling that individual to sign up for auto-loading, which deducts a specified amount from that person’s bank account when his or her ORCA balance drops to a certain level.
Speaker:
Brian Brooke, Manager for Research, Policy and Business Development, Sound Transit