Xerox Helps Transit Riders in Southern California with Single, Smart Ticket

A universal payment system called TAP now makes it faster and simpler for passengers in Southern California to transfer between passenger trains, buses, subway and light rail.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and Metrolink recently teamed up with Xerox (NYSE: XRX) to develop TAP-enabled Metrolink tickets that are compatible with the Metro TAP smart fare payment system.

“Xerox helped deliver on a ticketing solution capable of accepting a single-payment method across multiple regions — a tall order with many challenges involved.”

The new TAP tickets, which are embedded with a “smart chip” and antenna, allow Metrolink passengers to easily access Metro gates with a quick tap of their ticket at all turnstiles. Once tapped, the chip relays a signal to unlatch the turnstile gates so riders can move between transit systems, eliminating the need for gate agents to view riders’ tickets. Under the old system, agents had to quickly scan tickets by eye to ensure they contained a unique transfer symbol.

Passengers can buy TAP tickets from any of the 118 Xerox-managed ticket vending machines (TVMs) found throughout Southern California.

“The new TAP payment system is a tremendous improvement to Southern California’s transit network that will save passengers time and reduce stress between transfers,” said Robert Turnauckas, chief administrative officer, Metrolink. “Xerox helped deliver on a ticketing solution capable of accepting a single-payment method across multiple regions — a tall order with many challenges involved.”

In 2014, two dozen transit providers – from San Bernardino to Santa Monica and Lancaster to Long Beach – will be a part of the single TAP network.

Xerox systems and services are used by more than 1,000 municipal, regional and national operators in 400 cities worldwide to run more than 150,000 pieces of equipment that enables 50 million passengers per day to use buses, trolleys, tramways and trains. Xerox-deployed solutions include more than 50,000 smart card readers on buses, faregates, turnstiles, and other fare collection devices. Xerox is the largest provider of transportation services to governments worldwide, with projects in 35 countries.

Category: General Update, Transit News