As the speed in which technology evolves quickens, your fare collection solution needs to be agile to keep up with the times. Choosing a solution that is future proofed — or designed to remain current despite technological advancements — is the best long-term strategy.
Future proofing helps insulate your solution from major shifts or disruptions in technology to ensure it consistently functions well and can be used by your agency and riders for years to come. It ensures that you won’t have to overhaul or replace your solution as changes arise, giving you peace of mind that your solution won’t become obsolete.
Making sure that your solution is adaptable and flexible to future changes can save your transit agency time, money, and effort. The steps you can take to ensure that your fare collection solution remains viable despite developments in the technological landscape fall into four categories.
1: Consider modular hardware
Modular hardware and software can be easily adapted to meet your future needs. For example, Genfare’s Fast Fare farebox and Vendstar ticket vending machine can not only support every form of fare payment currently available today, but can be adapted to add payment technologies that are invented tomorrow.
If you’re not quite ready to add desired features, but it’s time for new fareboxes, some components can be pre-loaded, but not yet activated, to accommodate your agency’s future plans. Alternately, kits can be installed in your fareboxes or ticket vending machines with minimal downtime later if your agency’s plans change.
Let’s say your agency is ready to procure new fareboxes and backend software, with plans to start out accepting the same fare types you have today – cash, coin, magnetics, and a mobile app. Your five-year plan calls for adding open payment later, along with a future procurement of hardware to support cash digitization to allow unbanked riders to load account-based smart cards.
To meet your current and future needs, your Genfare Business Development Director may recommend outfitting your fareboxes with a contactless target and the base components necessary for open payment and smart cards. Your Genfare Link instance would include the Cash Link and Mobile Link modules today, and then you would add Open Link and Smart Link tomorrow.
2: Choose dynamic, updateable software
Look for solutions that offer the ability to receive and make upgrades so that your solution is always updated. Solutions that utilize a cloud based system are especially helpful as they allow systems to regularly and quickly upgrade. Cloud systems often update automatically and free of charge, typically with little to no downtime, meaning your system will be up to date and on par with new standards as updates and patches become available.
Genfare Link is an example of a cloud-based, one-stop fare collection platform. Built on AWS, it allows for seamless data hosting to enable transfer of information to connected hardware, including real-time changes initiated by your agency like fare structure changes and limited-time promotions. Genfare Link is also modular, so you only pay for the modules you need today and keep the option to add more later.
Having a solution that allows for continual improvements prevents you from having to purchase and institute new solutions each time there’s a major innovation. Additionally, Genfare Link’s open architecture means it can integrate with any smart hardware or third-party software, making it an even more malleable solution that you can mold to incorporate new technology.
3: Look for technology with broad integration capabilities
Solutions that can interconnect with a variety of other systems – both present and future technologies — are key to future proofing. It’s important that your solution be compatible with the technological landscape as it churns out new products to avoid becoming obsolete. Technology changes arise to adapt to changes in human behavior, and your solution needs to keep up with these changes.
For example, in the age of smartphones, digital fare collection has been on the rise, as fewer people pay for fares in physical cash. This means that new systems had to be built to adapt to new payment forms like digital wallets and mobile applications. Solutions should allow for the building and integration of new APIs that support platforms and connect IoT-enabled solutions to enable innovation as changes happen.
Genfare Link has future-proofed its solution with open architecture – it can connect with third-party smart hardware and software as well as Genfare products. This will allow you to continue improving your system without disrupting the current systems or customer experience.
Genfare’s Mobile Link™ application and e-Fare® online ticketing system also feature open APIs to leverage partnerships with microtransit and shared ride providers on transit agency-branded platforms for a simplified mobility experience. A future-proofed solution will allow you to integrate with technology from many different providers to give your solution the ultimate flexibility and fit your needs.
4: Ensure your technology is secure
With advancements in technology, new security risks also arise. You’ll want to make sure that your solution is built on a secure foundation to combat the inevitable security threats that spring up across both software and hardware.
Your solution should have the ability to be automatically updated with the latest safety protocols and security measures. A fare collection solution that is as up-to-date as possible will lower the risk of damaging issues like fraud or a data breach. For example, as new types of payments become accepted on your solution and an increased amount of data is being handled, you’ll want to ensure that this data is safeguarded with the latest measures like tokenization.
In addition, you’ll want to ensure your fare collection solution is certified secure so you can be assured it complies with the latest standards. For example, Genfare’s open payment technology is on the Visa Global Registry of Service Providers, acknowledging that it meets the PCI standard.
Hardware security measures have also come a long way and continue to improve. For example, locks on the Fast Fare farebox, DualPort vaults, and Vendstar ticket vending machines have recently been upgraded with new technology that allows better tracking of events. Ideally, you’ll be able to upgrade how you access cash and coin to prevent shrink.
The long + short of it
Future proofing your fare collection solution will not only allow you to embrace technological advancements, but also take advantage of future changes to continue serving your riders for years to come. Future proofing is just another way to ensure your solution is as useful and resilient as possible as new technologies continue to come into play across the transit space and the world at large. Ask your regional Genfare business development director how you can future proof your fare collection solution.
