It’s every transit agency’s dream come true: Increased ridership and revenue without increased spending or staff hours on fare collection. For several Genfare customers, that dream is a reality. By using the organizations module in Genfare Link, these transit agencies get more riders in bus seats and more revenue in fareboxes without dedicating more administrative hours.

One of the agencies that has been very successful with the organizations module is Capital District Transit Agency (CDTA), in Albany, New York. At CDTA, more than 100 organizations administer their own transit benefits. Their Universal Access (UA) program is so successful that approximately 1 in 3 riders have their fares or passes issued and paid for by their employer, school, or a social service organization they receive benefits from.

Anya Rozanova, revenue systems project manager at CDTA, explains that the Universal Access program experienced exponential growth with the introduction of Genfare Link. “Before Genfare Link, we had something like 15 colleges on UA and were limited to magnetic stripe media. Today, the program includes mobile and smart cards and is flexible and scalable so we can invite any organization that wants it,” Anya says. “Everybody knows about UA and everyone is interested in it. We couldn’t realistically run this big of a program without adding resources if we didn’t outsource administration to our partners.”

“UA is our biggest driver of ridership. We’re on pace for over 18 million trips at the end of fiscal 2024,” adds Jonathan Scherzer, director of business development at CDTA. “The revenue line is going up and hitting record levels.”

Flexibility means it works for any organization and every transit agency

“Organizations is one of the most powerful aspects of Genfare Link. It’s been a valuable feature since day one and has only gotten better over time.” says Ed Brandis, business development director at Genfare. “Agencies can be creative how they offer transit services. Because it’s not a burden on the agency, they can have quite the reach with organizations.”

How the program works at both the agency and organization levels is very flexible. For example:

  • Shared or dedicated fare media: Transit fares can be added to IDs that students or employees are already using, including magnetic, LUCC, or mobile IDs. The same ID a student uses to buy lunch in the cafeteria, or an employee uses to enter the office can be used for transit. Dedicated smart cards, mobile app tickets, and other fare media are also options.
  • Card-based or account-based: Organizations can use pre-coded cards for limited uses or create accounts for each rider that can have value added to them by the organization or individual rider. Account-based fare media can also be deactivated and replaced if lost or stolen.
  • Single-ride tickets: For organizations such as health care or corrections facilities discharging people, single-ride passes can be created, printed, and distributed in bulk or on demand. Magnetic stripe, printed bar code, or mobile wallet/app tickets are options in this case.
  • Single or bulk uploads: After initial setup, employers can add or remove new or terminated employees one at a time or in batches. Universities can bulk upload new student lists each term. Status changes can also be made singly or in bulk.
  • Encoding options: Organizations can encode physical fare media on site if they have the equipment for it. They also have the option of uploading the lists for the transit agency to bulk encode and ship to them. Some forms of digital and account-based fare media don’t require encoding.
  • Choice of restrictions: Fares can be paid 24/7, just Monday through Friday, or a combination. For example, fares could be free during commuting hours and half price all other times. There can also be a limit to the number of rides available to a rider, if desired.
  • Pricing and invoicing: Pricing and billing is up to the transit agency. Organizations could be billed per ride, for a specific number of monthly unlimited ride passes, a flat fee, or anything in between. Invoices could be sent weekly, monthly, quarterly, or at any other interval.
  • Discounts: Reduced fare passes or fares for students, veterans, seniors, or other riders can be part of an organization’s program.
  • Reporting: Reporting is just as robust for organizations as it is for other fare collection. Organizations can see how many riders are using the program, and when and how they are riding, to help forecast or revise the program. Agencies can use organizational rider data to plan route or schedule enhancements.

“However transit agencies and organizations want to run these programs, we can work with them to figure it out,” says Kyle Gerstner, solutions architect at Genfare.

Why organizations love managing their own transit benefits

Transit agencies that have organizational partnerships are finding that their communities are clamoring for transit benefits. Transit benefits cities and towns by easing traffic and parking pressures as well as keeping the air cleaner, making incentivizing people to ride transit attractive.

“Ultimately it’s a community-building tool and helps us forge better relationships with the organizations,” says Anya. “The organizations like it because they can offer an easy, affordable, tangible benefit. The riders like it because for them it’s free rides all month long and eliminates parking hassles. And we love it because it’s less work for us and more ridership at the same time.”

Organizations at CDTA

CDTA promotes Universal Access on its website.

There are great reasons for organizations of all kinds to administer transit benefits, including:

Employers

As employers struggle to fill open positions or coax workers back into the office, many are turning to transit benefits, and prefer the autonomy and convenience of managing the benefit in-house. Employees enjoy a low- or no-cost commute.

Schools

Educational institutions no longer need to guide students through the process of obtaining passes directly from the transit agency or wait for the agency to have the bandwidth to administer changes. Students like having one app or card that works for every aspect of their school day.

Tourism

Hotels, event venues, and other popular destinations can provide transit tickets to their guests to encourage them to get around town with ease and reduce the need for as many parking spaces.

Nonprofits and government agencies

Social service agencies appreciate not having to purchase large amounts of fares up front, instead paying only for what they distribute or what their beneficiaries use. Providing reliable transportation helps get low-income moms into the WIC office, elderly veterans home from the VA, or released prisoners home from jail.

“Employers are looking to expand their benefit playbook and this benefit is attractive, simple, and important. For the colleges, they can simply upload an enrollment list at the beginning of each term and automatically grant or remove transit benefits.” says Jonathan. “Our partners really appreciate the ease of making immediate changes to keep from having to pay for rides former employees, students, or beneficiaries are taking”

“It’s so easy to administer,” he continues. “Getting organizations on board is an easy sell. Pricing is geared to each organization with bulk discounts and caps that are fair for the customer and agency.”

How organizational partnerships work

Any transit agency with Genfare Link already has access to the organizations feature. The organizations module, like the rest of Genfare Link, is cloud-based and permissions-restricted. This allows the transit agency to extend access to only the people at the organization authorized to administer the program. And the organization can also see only the rider accounts and reports related to them.

Other than optional equipment for encoding fare media, no dedicated hardware is required – all functions are accessible from the user’s computer. Here’s how it works:

  1. The transit agency and the organization partner determine the cost and terms of the partnership, fare structure (such as per-ride or period passes), any restrictions for riders, and other details together.
  2. The transit agency creates a user account for the organization creates and trains the main contact at the partner how to use it, including how to connect its mobile or physical ID cards to the benefit. Genfare has training videos and manuals available on the Customer Portal for this purpose.
  3. The transit agency uploads a list of riders to Genfare Link. If the agency is using dedicated physical smart cards or magnetic cards, it may encode the media on site (if it has the required peripherals) or request the agency bulk encode the fare media and deliver it to their site.
  4. Riders pay their fares using their mobile phone, ID badge, smart card, or other fare media associated with the organization. The organization may enable riders to reload the account directly if the rider depletes the allotted number of rides or the period ends.
  5. The organizations then add new users in bulk, individually, or in small batches. They can also deactivate users or reissue lost or stolen passes as needed.
  6. The transit agency will invoice the organization at the agreed-upon interval.

The possibilities are endless

“By having organizations manage their own riders, it’s little work for the agency and they can support hundreds of organizations and not have to add head count on their own. There’s no limit to how many organizations they can support,” says Ed. “In the past, they would have to turn away new organizations due to capacity at the agency level. This can increase the impact the transit agency has and get more people onto the bus rather than driving.”

See how easy it is to administer organizations in this video. Plus, read our case study of CDTA.

To learn more about Genfare Link and the organization module, contact your business development director.

Genfare Business Development Directors