Sacramento taps INIT for fare collection

INIT Innovations in Transportation, Inc. says it has been awarded a contract with California’s Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) for the installation of a multi-agency electronic fare collection solution on approximately 500 of the agencies’ buses and at more than 80 locations on light rail station platforms.

INIT claims the contract with SACOG “is the first of its kind in the North American market.” The contract calls for the implementation of smartcard passenger terminals (PROXmobil), Add Fare Machines (AFM), GPS enabled onboard computers, customer service workstations, retail sales terminals (EVENDpc), and a sophisticated back-office fare management system (MOBILEvario) for the Council’s new Connect Transit Card System.

The installation of INIT’s electronic fare collection technology will give SACOG the ability to increase efficiency and on-time performance by reducing boarding times at stops and decreasing driver workloads, INIT says. Using INIT’s PROXmobil smartcard reader, passengers will tap their fare cards when boarding buses or at platforms before boarding trains which will automatically debit the exact fare for that ride.

SACOG has opted for INIT’s EVENDpc as a retail sales terminal, which allows SACOG riders to purchase or top up smartcards at 42 retail locations throughout the region. Additionally, INIT will supply and install Add Fare Machines at 28 rail platforms. The process of managing all relevant fare details, including revenue share between agencies, will be easily handled through INIT’s back-office system, MOBILEvario.

Chesapeake, Va.-based INIT Innovations in Transportation, Inc. is part of init AG, based in Karlsruhe, Germany. The parent company also has subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, Dubai, and the United Kingdom.