All aboard - So long as you have a card

Following tests, an electronic fare-management system is set to revolutionise public transport. With the EasyRide program, a special chipcard is all you need to travel from one end of the line to another.

It's 8:15 am on a bright May morning in the Swiss city of Basle. Philippe Quinche is about to board a train on the S1 suburban line of Swiss Railways (SBB). As ever, his destination is Rheinfelden, some 17 km to the east.

At 8:23 am, as the train is pulling out of the station at Pratteln, an unobtrusively dressed woman with the SBB emblem on her lapel enters the railcar.

It's a ticket inspector, and Philippe Quinche doesn't have a ticket!

Yet he stays calm, secure in the knowledge that he's got everything he needs in the form of a special chipcard stowed away safely in his jacket pocket.

You might call it the electronic version of a clear conscience - something better than a good memory, and certainly easier to acquire.

When Quinche entered the railcar, the onboard electronics of a high-tech Siemens system registered the card and, along with it, the time, date and station at which he boarded the train. In fact, the system not only logged information on his current journey but also has details concerning the previous 199.

The electronic system even knows that on this day, he has moved from one railcar to another. The 50 year old travel agent is one of 1800 volunteers who took part in a special pilot project conducted with several Swiss public transport operators.

From March to June this year, Quinche and his fellow human guinea pigs were involved in trials for a new electronic fare-management system known as 'EasyRide'.

The field tests covered bus and rail services in the Geneva metropolitan area as well as cross-border transport between the town of Altkirch in France and the Swiss cities of Basle and Frick. For the purpose of the trials, a representative sample of 'EasyRiders' was provided with the special chipcards.

Participants were also asked to keep a meticulous written record of their journeys so that the accuracy of the system could be checked afterwards. In the end, the electronics notched up an impressive score of 99.7% accuracy. The response from the participating public was also very positive. "It's all quite simple and highly convenient," says Quinche. "I could easily get used to the system permanently."

Multimodal travel

EasyRide could revolutionalise fare management in the public transport sector. Someone boarding a train in the countryside could travel to the city of Lucerne, walk from the station down to the waterfront, take the boat across the lake to Vitznau, and from there, travel with the mountain railway all the way up to Rigi.

"And you could do it all with EasyRide - there'd be no standing at ticket machines for each leg of the journey, no need to worry if you've got the right change," says Aldo Rebsamen, project manager at Hani-Prolectron, the Swiss subsidiary of Siemens that was responsible for the registration system and onboard electronics for the Basle part of the trials.

"There are still a few technical details that need to be ironed out - things like the capacity of the card's battery," Rebsamen explains.

"But if everything goes according to plan, EasyRide could be introduced throughout the entire Swiss public transport network by 2006." Admittedly, there are still some hurdles to be overcome. For a star, there's the small matter of raising the projected implementation costs of SF 600 million ($350 million), even if a quick return seems a formality."We also need to boost acceptance of the system among the various operators," says Rebsamen.

"EasyRide will only make sense if as many of Switzerland's 300 public transport companies as possible are prepared to come aboard."

But, once in place, nothing could be simpler. Mr Quinche from Basle would apply at his nearest transport operator to join the EasyRide program, be required to produce proof of his creditworthiness, sign a form authorising the company to debit money from his account and, in return, receive a special chipcard.

And that's about all there is to it. As soon as an EasyRide passenger enters a train, bus or boat, a transmitter installed by the door automatically reads the card, initially putting it into standby mode - ie, provisionally registering the time, date, place of entry and vehicle number.

There is no need for the passenger to actually produce the card, as tests have shown that it will function even when packed away in an aluminium case.

As long as the vehicle doors remain open, the EasyRide card is merely on standby, without actually having been activated for the forthcoming journey. "In other words, you would be able to carry a suitcase onto the train for someone and then get off again," Rebsamen explains. "Alghouth the card is on standby all the time you're on the train, it is deactivated as soon as you get off."

Indeed, it is only when the train, bus or boat actually starts to move that the journey - from a legal point of view, at least - can be said to have begun. It is then that 'Access-Point' - a second registration system that can be hidden away in the ceiling of the railcar - draws up a list of all the passengers present. This data is then sent to the onboard computer, where it is provisionally stored. With the help of the satellite navigation system GPS, the position of the train, bus or boat can be permanently monitored.

In this way, it is also possible to calculate the precise distance travelled by each cardholder. This information is then transmitted via the GSM mobile communications network to a central computer, which is responsible for logging all the journeys and billing passengers monthly. If requested the system will also provide travellers with an itemised list of all journeys made in the previous month.

A majority in favour

Despite the technical feasibility and enhanced convenience of the system - not to mention the fact that transport operators abroad have already expressed strong interest - EasyRide also has its critics.

At present, passengers buy a daily or monthly ticket in advance. With EasyRide, however, they only find out at the end of the month how much they have to pay. "At first, passengers will have to develop a feeling for how much their travel is costing them," admits Rebsamen.

And there are some who dislike the fact that the system registers the details of every single journey. A prepaid card designed to guarantee anonymity will therefore also be available for those who prefer to keep such personal data strictly private.

On the other hand, there are substantial benefits to be expected from such a flexible and finely-graduated fare system.

EasyRide will give transport operators the option of announcing, via radio advertising, last-minute fare reductions - on the day of big events such as pop concerts, for example. "Or they can calculate prices right down to the very last cent and charge fares of, say, SF 3.83 - prices that would normally be rounded up or down," Rebsamen explains. And, last but not least, the system also makes it easier to process family and company tickets. The next task is to persuade the remaining sceptics of the virtues of the system. And that includes assuaging specific fears, such as those among people with pacemakers. "The transmitters have an output of 10 milliwatts - by comparison, an average mobile phone puts out 2 W," says Rebsamen.

And tourists and business people need not worry, since they will be able to use their credit card to purchase day and weekly tickets from EasyRide machines at airports and train stations. Naturally, the needs of the internet community have also been taken into account. "Using a special password, I can log into the system from my home PC and check the record of all the trips I've made," says Quinche.

Date and time of journey, place of entry into the system, full route details - the data is very comprehensive.