Automating Fare Collection in Public Transportation

Transit fare collection technology has evolved from the manual-based cash and coins systems in use before 1970 to automated systems with computer-based hardware and software. These major advancements in fare collection have been made possible through advances in technology. This has brought about the reduced handling of cash by staff and increased convenience for passengers. Metromass Transit employs manual ticketing system with attendant increased handling of cash and revenue leakages. Despite these challenges, very little research has been done so far to access the benefits of an automated fare collection system in Ghana and in Metromass in particular. This research begins with a review of the current fare collection practices, a review of the concept of Automatic Fare Collection, fare media, policy and components of available technologies. Next this research presents a systematic approach to define and describe an alternative to the manual fare collection system. Following this is analysis of data collected, a summary, conclusion and recommendations of a model.