All-in on innovation: VIA’s fare collection upgrade prioritizes user choice while beating the Texas heat
VIA Metropolitan Transit, in San Antonio, Texas, has gone all-in on innovation. Ridership is up by more than 27 percent since 2021, reaching nearly 31 million trips in calendar year 2024. VIA’s goals for its recent fare collection upgrade fell into three main categories:
- Resolving maintenance challenges caused by the hot south Texas climate
- Providing better service around the city’s big events
- Modernizing and integrating hardware and software to improve both operations and rider satisfaction
Looking for more details?
View and download the full VIA Metropolitan Transit case study here.
Overview
San Antonio is a vibrant, sprawling city in Texas, where growth was influenced by post-WWII highway expansion. The region has seen steady population increases for decades, and large-scale special events and popular historic sites attract millions of annual visitors.
The region’s public transportation provider, VIA Metropolitan Transit, has gone all-in on innovation to reduce maintenance tasks, boost bus frequency, and modernize the transit experience while attracting new riders and supporting its community.
In 2024, VIA was named “Outstanding Metropolitan Transit Authority in Texas” by the Texas Transit Association, recognizing the agency’s work to enhance access and help drive economic development. As part of a voter-approved plan, VIA has invested in enhanced services and goals, including:
- VIA Link on-demand microtransit service
- Smart technologies such as real-time bus tracking
- Its “Better Bus Plan” to cut wait times across the system to 30 minutes or less on traditional bus routes, expand on-demand microtransit service, and increase rider access
- Advanced Rapid Transit, projected to launch in 2027 and 2029
- Sustainability initiatives including low- and no- emission natural gas and electric bus fleet expansion
To support these future-forward plans, VIA chose to upgrade its aging fareboxes. It wanted to move away from magnetic fare cards, add tap-and-go features to support credit and debit card acceptance, and further streamline operations.
Goals
VIA’s goals for its recent fare collection upgrade fell into three main categories.
Beating the Texas heat
San Antonio heat contributed to 90 percent of VIA’s pre-upgrade unscheduled farebox maintenance problems, says VIA Fleet Manager Kellen Houghton. The agency needed a fix for its magnetic fare cards, which became sticky during San Antonio’s frequent heat waves, jamming TRiM units, eating up maintenance hours, and halting fare collection for the day on the affected buses.
This experience made the fleet management and maintenance teams big fans of switching from magnetic cards to a barcode reader and printer. The new solution is “simpler, much easier to work on, and there are fewer moving parts to maintain,” Kellen says.
Boarding crowds at big events
The agency wanted quick and efficient fare payment options for the thousands of non-traditional riders who flow through its Park & Ride Event Service hubs during big regional events such as 2025’s NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and the annual Fiesta San Antonio.
Modernizing fare collection technology
Beyond practical solutions to the challenges VIA’s existing fare collection solution presented, VIA wanted to take advantage of the newer capabilities of the latest fare collection technology. It also wanted to retain options like day passes and cash and coin to continue to equitably serve its riders. New features VIA wanted to adopt included:
- Providing transfers and change receipts
- Moving to cloud-based data collection and reporting
- Adopting open payment
“We thought that this would simplify and speed up boarding for customers, and there would be fewer items to maintain on the bus,” says Kellen. “That seemed to be a big positive from my perspective.”
The new solution is simpler, much easier to work on, and there are fewer moving parts to maintain. Unjamming TRiM units was just a part of our daily maintenance. With the new hardware and fare media solutions, those problems disappeared overnight.
Solution
VIA chose a customizable fare collection solution that checked these boxes in partnership with a proven vendor, ensuring hands-on support for the smoothest transition possible. Genfare’s latest fareboxes, backend software, and its collaborative capabilities fit the bill. The first phase of the project, which is now complete, included four elements.
Fast Fare fareboxes
Genfare installed Fast Fare® fareboxes on 457 of VIA’s fixed-route buses, configured to accept open payment, printed and electronic bar-coded media, closed-loop smartcards, and cash and coin. The fareboxes also included a printer that produces paper tickets with a unique QR code for day passes, free 2.5-hour limited transfers, and receipts for a dollar or more in change that can be exchanged for a credit.
Genfare Link
The heart of the fare collection solution is Genfare Link. VIA appreciated how Genfare Link’s accurate, real-time data gathering and reporting would help the agency meet its goals to further improve the rider experience and enhance operational efficiency. The Fast Fares record every fare transaction and event, and Genfare Link gathers this data in real-time. This data are filtered through analytical and visualization tools to empower VIA to better analyze trends and patterns.
Administrative point of sale terminals
Genfare installed 13 new administrative point of sale (APOS) terminals to provide easy access to riders’ accounts and perform customer service functions such as replacing passes, viewing history, creating or modifying accounts, generating refunds, and reporting lost media. The APOS terminals also provide a means for riders to digitize cash onto smart cards.
Platinum software support agreement
VIA chose Genfare’s platinum level Software Support Agreement (SSA) which means the agency has ongoing, 24/7 support and access to Genfare’s Customer Portal for training, documentation and support tracking.
Project implementation and process
VIA was determined to bring all stakeholders on board with the changes. To do so, it broke down the fare collection transformation into phases, including discovery, testing, training, launch, and post-launch.
In addition, VIA management made sure to share the operational benefits of the new system with its staff members throughout the implementation process, such as how it promised to save hours of time each week and would allow them to devote more of their days to providing better service and participating in special projects.
The phased plan made a big overhaul achievable, according to Brianna. “It’s less intensive for staff and customers,” she says.
Test, train, and test and train again
Genfare’s proven process starts with user acceptance testing (UAT) and earning buy-in from agency personnel. Engagement during VIA’s UAT sessions was so strong that the agency now requires UAT from its other vendors, Brianna says.
Dedicated onsite support made multiple training sessions possible for different groups across VIA’s departments, familiarizing everyone from customer service to marketing to bus operators with the new equipment and the many new payment options.
“Genfare adapted to the different audiences,” Brianna says. “They would try different methods as needed, such as meeting one-on-one for additional training on the farebox, or showing the old and new fareboxes side by side,” so that personnel understood the differences.
Real-world testing
Genfare also helped to pilot test the open payment fare solutions. In August 2024, VIA and Genfare deployed teams on pilot buses to observe payment scenarios and the real-world impacts of issues like rejected bank cards or poor-condition dollar bills on boarding time and other potential customer stressors.
“Genfare was really patient with us, because in Texas, it gets really hot — I think one of the [pilot testing] afternoons was over 105 degrees,” Brianna says. “They weren’t in a rush for us to get fareboxes installed, and they let us know they wouldn’t move ahead until we were 100 percent comfortable.”
Onsite support
To facilitate this intensive training and ensure a successful rollout, Genfare Program Manager Luis Cantu remained on site throughout. “I personally stayed for two months in San Antonio to make sure that they got up and running,” he says. “Going through a major transformation like this really requires having strong partners to support you.”
Marketing & outreach
Riders got an intensive education as well. VIA spent 936 hours in grassroots outreach to inform riders about the farebox upgrade and the replacement of VIA’s magnetic fare card with its reloadable, tap-and-go GoCard and preloaded, limited-use GoCard lite, focusing on customer convenience and new ways to pay.
Its efforts included an informative webpage and video highlighting its “Tap into convenience” campaign and “street teams” who manned information stations across the network and had face-to-face discussions at its transit centers.
Genfare was really committed to getting us whatever we needed. Their support really made a difference. Sometimes vendors are like, ‘this is my baby.’ But I don't think we ever heard a ‘no’ or a defensive answer from Genfare.
Results & Takeaway
More than 6,000 open payment transactions were completed at VIA bus fareboxes in the first four weeks of its tap-to-pay rollout, and data shows the agency started reaping the benefits of its upgraded fare collection system right away. It recorded a 5.4 percent year-over-year improvement in bus on-time performance in February, its first month with tap-to-pay functionality, and a 4.5 percent improvement in March.
“It can take months to see any improvements in these cases, but we started seeing it right away,” Brianna says.
Events went smoothly
The 2025 NCAA Final Four basketball championship and the annual Fiesta San Antonio gave special event riders the opportunity to skip long, hot lines to purchase fares. With the new fare options, they could tap their bank cards or mobile wallets and board quickly to enjoy air conditioning and Wi-Fi on the buses.
Maintenance calls fell sharply
There has also been a huge reduction in unscheduled maintenance calls, reports Kellen. By replacing the former TRiM unit for magnetic card processing with a barcode printer and reader, VIA said goodbye to jams and other heat and humidity-provoked problems throughout the fleet.
Unjamming TRiM units “was just a part of our daily maintenance,” he says. With the new hardware and fare media solutions, those problems “disappeared overnight,” he adds.
Reporting provided clear insights
In addition, VIA’s consumer analytics team was immediately able to use Genfare Link’s data collection and reporting capabilities to be more structured and strategic about customer education. It has identified routes with a high utilization of open payment, allowing precisely targeted marketing and outreach efforts along those routes.
“We’ve never had that line of sight before,” Brianna says. And it will only get better – the team expects the insights will become even more impactful once the data is completely consolidated into Genfare Link.
Service and support got easier
The agency also continues to take full advantage of Genfare’s Software Support Agreement, with priority access to customer care and technical support, and access to its Customer Portal for easier management of the new farebox experience.
“Genfare was really committed to getting us whatever we needed,” Brianna says. “It’s been wonderful. Their support really made a difference.”
I personally stayed for two months in San Antonio to make sure that they got up and running. Going through a major transformation like this really requires having strong partners to support you.
We’ll make it work for you
We understand the funding and timing constraints transit agencies face. Whether you need a rapid, full-solution fare collection implementation or a phased approach spread out over multiple years, Genfare can make it happen.
Contact your Business Development Director to learn more about how Genfare can support your transit agency’s needs within your budget and timeframe.