Advertorial
Tailoring a Mobile Payment System
to Keep The Pulse BRT Flowing
The GRTC Transit System’s partnership
with Genfare has resulted in many unique
solutions for Richmond’s public transit
system over the years. Recently, the two
organizations collaborated to refresh the
entire fare payment program, installing
Fast Fare fareboxes, integrating them with
GRTC’s Mobile Pass mobile ticketing, and investigating
a variety of solutions to enhance
the passenger experience.
But when it came
time to develop a mobile
fare payment solution
for GRTC’s new BRT, The
Pulse, the collaboration
had to rise to
a whole new level.
The paper ticket
machines on each
of The Pulse’s 14 stations
were designed
to be a traditional
solution for those
who prefer to purchase
a paper ticket,
however, GRTC’s tech-savvy passengers
also desired a mobile payment solution.
There was one major obstacle: The
Pulse was designed to operate without
fareboxes, employing fare inspectors on
the vehicles so that the boarding process
would be expedient, to truly keep The
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“make more time for life.”
So, how do you roll out a mobile fare
payment system when you have no fareboxes
or bar code scanners on the vehicles?
And, how do you build in fraud protections
that will eliminate fare evasion?
Rob Taggart, GRTC Director of Information
Systems, said the Genfare team
CASE
welcomed the challenge. “We have always
been able to rely on Genfare to help us
focus on our forward-looking vision, so we
knew we could work together to develop
a solution.”
“GRTC’s Mobile Pass app had already
been live for some time when we starting
planning for The Pulse,” said Rob Antonio,
Genfare’s Program Manager. “What we
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app allowing the user to display a proof of
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station where the passenger boarded.”
The solution they developed relies on
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each station and is prominently displayed
on the station’s signage, and Mobile Pass
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module. When the user chooses to use
one of their passes (currently the 1-, 7-,
and 30-day unlimited use passes) to ride
The Pulse, the user selects the Pulse pass
option when they activate it so they can
interact with the station’s QR code using
the device’s built-in camera.
Once the user scans the code, the pass
is activated and they receive a screen that
displays where they boarded. The displayed
clock will start at 45:00 and begin to
count down and move around the screen,
which the users leave running while riding
the Pulse as a proof of payment. The
animated screen protects against fraud
from users who might try to deceive fare
inspectors by using screen captures of
activated passes.
Once Mobile Pass users complete their
rides on The Pulse, they can click “Deactivate,”
and they will be done until ready to
ride The Pulse again.
NOVEMBER 2018 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 41
GRTC and Genfare
collaborate to craft unique
proof of payment system
STUDY
The Pulse is Strong and Mobile Fare Sales are Healthy
The Pulse launched its service in June, and ridership is strong. According to
GRTC, there are already more than 30,000 Pulse riders per week. The Pulse now
carries more than 6,000 riders each weekday, almost doubling the goal of 3,500
daily riders.
As important to Taggart is the fact that mobile fare purchases are also quite
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are seeing passengers activate their passes on The Pulse.”
Another important feature of the solution, according to Taggart, is that GRTC is
able to track Pulse ridership data from Mobile Pass usage and activation. “We are
able to analyze how, when, and where the Mobile Passes are used on The Pulse,
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Caption goes here.
/MassTransitmag.com