The ERG Group, a developer and supplier of integrated fare management and software systems for the transit industry, have chosen Westermo Ethernet switches to equip approximately 2500 buses operating in the Central Puget Sound Region of Washington State, around the city of Seattle.
The new fare collection system provided by ERG will collect upwards of $250 million in annual passenger revenues from approximately 130 million passenger journeys per year. Low operating voltage and high reliability were the main criteria in the selection of the Westermo Ethernet switches.
The Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination (RFC) Project features smart card technology that support and link all the fare collection systems of the major transit agencies operating in the Central Puget Sound region of Washington State. This includes King County Metro, Community Transit, Everett Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and Washington State Ferries. King County is the largest one, gathering approximately 70% of the traffic flow that includes buses. The RFC Project will consolidate hundreds of existing fare media in an effort to streamline the management of fare transactions and facilitate cross-jurisdictional and multi-modal trip making in the Puget Sound region.
The RFC Project allows customers to purchase or revalue regional fare cards (smart cards) from multiple outlets (eg. customer service offices, phone, retail outlets, internet), and enables them to use the smart card on an estimated 2,379 fare transaction processors (2,207 on-board fare transaction processors, 91 stand-alone fare transaction processors, 81 portable fare transaction processors). The fare will be automatically debited from the available funds on the smart card account, and/or the card will be acknowledged as a fixed period unlimited ride pass. Each time a card is used, data relating to the date and time the card is used, the amount of fare paid, any incentives applied, the agency providing the service, the route, and if applicable, the institutional account, is captured and stored electronically. The fare transaction processors have the capacity to access information on the smart card and transfer data to a data acquisition computer. The regional revenue clearing-house then performs transaction processing, revenue reconciliation, and financial reporting functions for the RFC system.
This new system is currently being installed by ERG with approximately 1,000 buses now operating, and with upwards of 1,500 more buses to be added later in 2007. Each bus is equipped with ERG’s proprietary CP5000 Card Processor and Driver Display Unit (which is the bus driver interface). They then connect to the Westermo Ethernet switch as well as a Cisco wireless communication access point.