Task Order 5108
Policy and Behavioral Research


Designing a Policy Framework for a Statewide Transit Smart Card System

Brian Taylor
Urban Planning
University of California, Los Angeles

Overview

Designing a Policy Framework for a Statewide Transit Smart Card System, will research the issues involved with implementing a statewide transit smart card fare system. Smart card technology has been used in transit operations as a tool to reduce costs, improve service, offer flexible fare policies, and increase revenues. The technology has become cheaper and more reliable, and transit agencies throughout the state have pressed forward with design and installing smart card fare collection. However, as metropolitan transit systems have begun to adopt the technology in their systems, California is in danger of having many dozens of non-compatible systems, severely affecting the ability to provide riders with a "seamless" experience of using one card across multiple agencies, modes, and jurisdictions.

The California Legislature considered legislation (Assembly Bill AB-684) requiring all transit operators that use public funding to follow uniform statewide requirements for implementing intermodal, interoperable smart card systems. While this bill was not passed, there remains substantial interest in doing so. A major concern of the Assembly and Caltrans is that uniform smart card standards and protocols are not established, and some transit agencies in the state are already installing smart media systems. In order to reach the potential of smart cards, specific goals and objectives of an intermodal, interoperable smart card system must be identified.

The obstacles to smart card implementation across agencies are less technological as they institutional, financial and political. Our research will focus on addressing major challenges to implementing inter-modal, inter-operator transit smart card systems. These challenges include: inter-agency decision making structures; which institutional partners should be responsible for setting and enforcing standards, protocols, and performance criteria; fair revenue sharing among transit operators; and developing smart card systems flexible enough to meet the widely varying needs of transit operators. The products of this research will be clear sets of policy recommendations - for both the state and its institutional partners in transit - to overcome these challenges to inter-agency smart card implementation.

Tasks

This study focuses on the four major challenges to implementing inter-modal, inter-operator transit smart card systems: 1) obstacles to inter-agency decision making, 2) unclear roles and responsibilities among institutional partnerships, 3) lack of revenue sharing models, and 4) difficulties in meeting a wide variety of transit operator needs. These four issues will be explored in two major phases of this study

  1. We will first conduct a survey of transit operators in the state to ask about: 1) levels of knowledge about the smart card technology, 2) the degree of planning, if any, toward adopting the smart card technology, 3) levels of participation in planning for regional smart card systems, and 4) levels of actual participation in any interagency collaboration (e.g. fare programs with schools or colleges, employment centers, or social service programs, etc.).
  2. Data obtained from the survey will then be used to select six to eight transit operators or projects for in-depth case studies. For these transit operators, we will interview stakeholders, such as transit managers, private vendors of the smart card equipment, citizen advisory groups, and planners at metropolitan planning organizations and other regional agencies. We will obtain public and agency reports, if available, for the system development; analyze ridership and fare revenue data; and analyze the experiences of agencies in overcoming obstacles to implementation.
The purpose of these case studies is to highlight some experiences at the regional level of integration, and extrapolate these lessons learned to a statewide program. Through understanding the various roles of partner agencies, the use of incentives, and the challenges to implementation at the regional levels; one can better frame issues likely to emerge with a statewide effort.

To develop our specific survey and interview questions, we will work closely with an advisory committee composed of representatives from Caltrans, statewide transportation commissions, metropolitan planning organizations, transportation authorities, key transit agencies, academics, and technology vendors. The committee will guide our research progress and focus our attention on the concerns of the various stakeholders, as well as provide insight for the issues raised through a literature review. In case studies, it is essential to directly obtain input from stakeholders for local perspectives and challenges to meeting a statewide smart card platform. It is also essential to include both transit operators and regional and state level agencies, such as Caltrans and Metropolitan Planning Organizations to explore appropriate administration and support for a statewide program. The combination of a statewide survey and the use of agency case studies will provide both an overview of transit agencies as well as some in-depth exploration of related issues.