Automated Fare Collection System & Urban Public Transportation

The fiscal crisis of the 1970’s (the aftermath of a 1966 12-day strike by the City workers) resulted in nearly a decade of neglect of the New York City transit infrastructure. This was exacerbated later by the early 1990's economic recession in the United States, which reflected adversely on transit ridership in New York City as it did in most other regions in the nation. At the end of that recession, however, ridership on the City’s transit system remained sluggish, and showed no signs of improving. In response to the dual effects of fiscal crisis of the 1970’s and the 1990’s, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) initiated search for more effective marketing tools and strategies to stimulate and improve ridership on its subway and bus systems as a means of revitalizing the transit network. The MTA’s search led to the introduction of Automated Fare Collection system (AFC) in early 1994 and by 1999, the agency has invested nearly $34 billion in upgrading and rehabilitating its infrastructure and rolling stock (MTA, unpublished). With a population of 8.1 million as of the 2000 United States Census, New York City is not only the most populous city in the nation but it also has the largest transit network in the entire North American Continent. Additionally, the socioeconomic, cultural, and political backgrounds of the city are very complex compared to most other cities where automated fare collection system is used. Automation in transit fare collection represents a major technological advancement in the history of urban public transportation. “The move toward changes in the technology and methodology of fare collection has indeed become the order of the day as older and larger transit systems search for more efficient collection, better revenue control and effective marketing technique” [Jones, 1985]. Automation in transit fare collection is a fairly new idea in urban transit systems but urbanites are quickly adopting and embracing this special piece of new technology. Automated fare collection system is preferred over the traditional mechanical system of fare collection and will make positive impact on both transit ridership and revenue, if efficiently operated. Society would be better off financially with AFC. New York's rapid transit system was created in response to the extraordinary economic and population growth sustained by the city after the 1820s. During that period, the city's geography was poorly suited to this explosive development, and as the result, a drive for a high-speed, high-capacity subway system began in 1888. New York City's first official subway system began operation for paying passengers on October 27, 1904 in Manhattan, the city's central business district [MTA New York City Transit, 1996]. However, the world's first underground railway (the Metropolitan Railway) opened in London in 1863 [Clifton Hood, 1993]. New York City subway is a relatively unusual transit system operating a non-stop public transportation service twenty-four hours a day, every day throughout four of the five boroughs of the city: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The subway serves approximately 3.7 million customers on an average weekday (surpassing the city’s population of 3.5 million at its annexation in 1898) and approximately 1.3 billion passengers per year. Each weekday, nearly 6,000 subway railcars are operated, with an average of 627 passengers carried per railcar, per day. Cumulatively, the subway fleet travels about 300 million revenue miles each year. In terms of ridership (Table 2.2), New York City subway ranked the fifth most used subway among the world's subway systems in 1997; exceeded only by Moscow (3.16 billion), Tokyo (2.74 billion), Mexico City (1.42 billion) and Seoul (1.39 billion) [New York City Transit, 1998]. This represents improved performance compared to its ridership in 1995, when it was ranked the sixth most used system. Investment on automated fare collection system is worthwhile, i.e., feasible, even under the most conservative appraisal with no ridership growth, and in fact, majority of the interviewed transit patrons approved of the new fare collection system. Furthermore, the approval of the automated fare collection method has been further confirmed by the findings of our research survey, which showed that at least 90% of the surveyed New York City Subway riders approve of the AFC system. With its unique features (presented in nine chapters and grouped into five major parts), Automated Fare Collection System And Urban Public Transit: An Economic & Management Approach To Urban Transit Systems provides a wealth of resourceful information to everyone with interest in mass transit: Part I: Public Transportation, Urban Economy And Automation in Fare Collection Part II: Models of Transportation Pricing Part III: Transportation Research Methods And Models Part IV: Approaches And Trends in Urban Transit Ridership Part V: Epilogue In these parts of the book, Clifford N. Opurum reveals the impact of the automated fare collection system on mass transit and particularly, on the New York City rail rapid transit system. Various effective urban public transportation pricing techniques are presented. Transportation research methods and models including the alogit model and different approaches to transportation research analysis are featured. Alternative scenarios of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) are used extensively along with other feasibility studies strategies to determine the economic and social benefits of the automated fare collection system. The author concludes that as in the case of other industrial sectors, the financial health of the transit industry is very much dependent upon the level of transit patronage, and that automation in fare collection has further encouraged the later. Furthermore, Dr. Opurum added that automated fare collection (AFC) is preferred over the mechanical and traditional system of fare collection and will make positive impact on both transit ridership and revenue, if efficiently operated. Finally, he stresses that society would be better off financially if the benefits of automation in transit fare collection are fully utilized, and that automation in fare collection has in deed influenced the travel pattern of most mass transit patrons. This book is a must read for urbanites.