Example Applications - RFID: Fundamentals and Applications in Contactless Smart Cards and Identification - page 333

Market drivers

Pay-phone

ID-Card Arline

ticketing

GSM

Telecom
contact
(contactless)

University

Company
card

Pay-TV

Public
Transport
contactless

Park&ride

EFTPOS
terminal

Banking
contact
(contactless)

Road toll

Credit card

Electronic
purse

http://www.
xx.yy.at

Geldkarte
Internet banking

Health care

Loyalty schemes

M F, ##, //, ED, Rev. 0, (AH)

Philips semiconductors

Figure 13.2 The main fields of application for contactless smart cards are public transport and
change systems for telephone boxes or consumer goods (groceries, cigarettes) (reproduced by
permission of Philips Electronics N.V.)

traffic associations are still operating at a huge loss, sometimes as much as 40% of
turnover (Czako, 1997), which must be made up by subsidies from the community and
country in question. Due to the increasing shortage of resources, long-term solutions
must be sought that will cut these losses by reducing costs and increasing income.
The use of contactless smart cards as electronic travel passes could make an important
contribution to improving the situation (AFC = automatic fare collection ). In the field
of fare management in particular there is a great deal of room for improvement.

13.2.1 The starting point

The unhealthy financial situation of transport companies naturally has many differ-
ent causes. However, the following factors are worth mentioning in connection with
electronic travel passes:

• Transport companies incur high costs through the sale of travel passes by automatic

dispensers. For example, the sale of a travel pass through an automatic dispenser
in Zurich costs Sfr 0.45, where the average sales price is Sfr. 2.80 (Czako, 1997).
Thus, 16% of the sales price is lost from the outset by the provision of the dis-
penser, maintenance and repairs alone (filling with notes and coins, repairs, damage
by vandalism).

•

In vehicles, too, expensive electronic ticket printers or mobile devices are required.
Sometimes the tickets are even sold by the driver, which causes long waiting times