Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies -- 2024 Updates

TCRP Report 10: Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies (1995) explored developments and issues of fare policies, structures, and technologies. The report presented the experiences of transit agencies in selecting and using various approaches, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of emerging payment technologies.  Subsequently, TCRP Report 94: Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies: Update (2003) provided a revision and update to TCRP Report 10. Since 2003, TCRP has managed research and published reports covering fare payment policies and questions, including TCRP Synthesis 101: Implementation and Outcomes of Fare-Free Transit Systems (2016); TCRP Synthesis 144: Multimodal Fare Payment Integration (2020); and TCRP Synthesis 160: Fare Capping: Balancing Revenue and Equity Impacts (2022). However, although the transit fare payment landscape has drastically changed, no major study has evaluated the state of fare policies, structures, and technologies. Agencies need guidance and best practices on new ways of thinking about fares and fare products, including innovative concepts unlocked by the latest fare payment technologies. Since TCRP Report 94, technological innovations in open payments, mobile technology, near-field communication (NFC), Bluetooth, and cashless transactions offer opportunities to improve the ease of transit fare payment. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many transit agencies to temporarily eliminate fare collection due to operator health and safety concerns, providing those agencies an opportunity to reevaluate fare collection. The recent national discourse about social justice and equity has agencies looking for best practices for equitable fare enforcement. The research objective is to update TCRP Report 94 and provide a comprehensive review of fares: policies, structures, products, payment technologies, integrations, and equity. This will include summaries of and references to other TCRP publications on fare structures and technologies since TCRP Report 94.  

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5435
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $300000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project A-49

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Garcia-Colberg, Mariela

• Start Date: 20240319
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Equity; Fare collection; Fares; Law enforcement; Policy; Public transit; Technological innovations
• Subject Areas: Finance; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01866948
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project A-49
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 13 2022 9:46AM