OCTA to Install Electronic Fare Boxes on Buses

Under a $10-million contract approved Monday, transit officials will install high-tech fare boxes on hundreds of Orange County buses in an effort to improve service, reduce fraud and accurately measure ridership.

The board of the Orange County Transportation Authority unanimously agreed to contract with GFI Genfare, an Illinois manufacturer that has done business with major transportation agencies nationwide.

OCTA officials say GFI’s electronic fare box, which accepts credit card-style passes and automatically records each boarding, represents a vast improvement over the devices installed in their buses in 1991.

“I’m thrilled to see that we are being brought into the 21st century,” said OCTA Director Sarah Catz, a board member from Aliso Viejo. “This should help increase bus ridership.”

The new boxes, which are about 4 feet high, accept coins, currency and bus passes equipped with magnetic strips. When boarding, riders with prepaid debit cards or day and monthly passes run them through slots on the fare box that record the transaction and check the validity of the passes.

The devices are scheduled to be installed in almost 600 buses and shuttles by early 2002. OCTA estimates that it has almost 60 million bus boardings a year. Riders now pay fares with coins, currency and a variety of passes that are shown to drivers.

James Ortner, OCTA’s technical services manager, said the electronic fare boxes will improve the recording of ridership because the old devices were difficult for drivers to reach and enter the type of fare received.

The GFI fare box will record the time, location and amount of each fare--information that can be relayed to OCTA’s transit communications center in Garden Grove, which monitors daily bus operations.

Ridership emerged as an issue earlier this year, when the transit agency predicted it would fall 3 million riders short of projected boardings.

While a countywide change in bus routes was cited as a possible explanation for the decline, some OCTA officials suspect the shortfall might be partly due to drivers failing to record fares. The authority is trying to get an accurate assessment of its ridership.

“There is a question that our ridership is down, but I don’t really think it is,” said OCTA Director Greg Winterbottom, an alternate board member from Villa Park. “This will help us count our riders. I think we will see our ridership accurately represented.”

OCTA officials also predict that the GFI devices will reduce fraud because they can reject slugs and foreign coins and currency. Just as important, credit card-style passes prevent multiple riders from sharing a pass to avoid fares.

Ortner said fare boxes that accept passes with magnetic strips have helped increase ridership in other major cities, such as Chicago and New York. Credit can be given for overpayment of fares, he added, and passes can be activated on their first day of use, allowing riders to buy them days or weeks in advance.

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Digital Fare Box

The Orange County Transportation Authority plans to install new electronic fare boxes in 600 buses and shuttles by early next year. The devices will be equipped to handle coins and currency as well as a variety of passes and so-called smart cards. Here is how they work: