Ticketing & Fare Collection Systems Flashcards

When a farebox malfunctions during active service, the revenue control technician's first priority should be to:

Answer: Follow the agency's equipment failure protocol and document the incident

Equipment failures must be handled per established protocols to protect revenue integrity, ensure accurate reporting, and create an audit trail for the malfunction.

'Revenue leakage' in a fare collection system most commonly refers to:

Answer: Loss of fare revenue due to evasion, system errors, or process failures

Revenue leakage encompasses all unintended revenue losses including fare evasion, equipment malfunctions, human error, and process gaps in the collection chain.

A transit card that stores monetary value directly on the card's embedded chip is called a:

Answer: Stored-value card

Stored-value cards hold an electronic balance on the chip itself, allowing offline transactions without needing to connect to a central server.

Account-based ticketing (ABT) fundamentally differs from stored-value card systems because:

Answer: The account balance is stored on a central server rather than on the card

In ABT, the card or device is simply a token identifying the customer's server-side account, enabling more flexible rules, auto-top-up, and easier card replacement.

In transit fare systems, 'interoperability' refers to:

Answer: The ability of different transit systems' fare media to work across multiple agencies

Interoperability allows a single fare card or account to be used across multiple transit operators, reducing barriers for multi-agency travel.

When performing a vault pull from a farebox, a revenue control technician should always:

Answer: Work with a witness and follow dual-custody chain-of-custody procedures

Dual-custody procedures require a witness during vault pulls to deter theft, verify counts, and maintain an unbroken chain of custody for collected revenue.