Business Plan “Electronic Payment System in Action”

University of Wollongong IACT 304 Principal of eBusiness Autumn 2005

Business Plan “Electronic Payment System in Action”

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz (2666182) Chun Sing, Chan (2592472) AHMED SHIHAM (2664872) David (

Contents S/NO

Topics

Report By

01

Executive Summary

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

02

Background - The Business

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

03

The Motivation

Shiham

04

The Idea

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

05

Choice of Technology

David

06

Investment

Chun Sing, Chan

07

Hurdles

David

08

Results

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

09

Future

Shiham

10

Financial Summary

Chun Sing, Chan

11

Conclusion

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

12

Reference

Nurhazman Abdul Aziz

Page

Executive Summary This paper describes a consultancy business approach to consult a statutory board in the State Ministry of Transport, New South Wales, called the Land Transport Authority. The Land Transport Authority will act as a consultancy management in the public transport routes, as well as to bring efficient and cost-effective land transportation to enhance our economic competitiveness and quality of life. As the same time, this board would be exploring and implementing new initiatives to make public transport more attractive. Hence, one of the requirements in the tender is on the consultancy advice regarding easy electronic payment system. The purpose of this report is also to give a short consultancy idea for the introduction of an Electronic Payment Systems into the Land Transport Authority’s project. Here, the report has clearly identifies the ideal Electronic Payment Systems, as contactless smart card with the initial phase study on New South Wales’s CityRail. Later on, expand towards the public buses and taxi.

The approach involves a study of a number of world class transportation systems and their fair system, the technology itself and a financial effect. A similar approach too has been conducted with the various clients which are going to be benefit from the systems, especially CityRail. In detail, the background of the business will be introduces, with the motivation behind play behind the idea is one of the key issues on the reasons for the selection of the choice of technology. As a brief technical detail will be illustrated in this report, with the potential investment that will be gains. In contrast, to the hurdles, that has to be concern and overcome, to bring results to the idea. Furthermore, a short future will be discuss if this Electronic Payment System would be taken place, with a concrete financial summary to estimated the cos benefit of the systems.

Hence, this consultancy paper would give a good idea on choice of Electronic Payment System would benefit the Land Transport Authority’s project.

Background “Tap and Go” Pte Ltd is a private consultant company for easy electronic payment system and is formed on April 20, 2004. The core businesses are the sales, consultancy, distribution and management of “Tap and Go” cards. They also include the clearing and settlement of “Tap and Go” card transactions generated in transit and non-transit (retail/merchant) applications. This industry has been a key strength for “Tap and Go” Pte Ltd and also a key leader in the Asia Pacific market using this electronic payment system.

Lately, we have been approached by State Ministry of Transport,

New

South

Wales

to

undertake

a

consultancy tender on one of their future plans. From the overall picture, State Ministry of Transport has decided the plan to integrate all the public transports in NSW to be under one statutory board, called the Land Transport Authority. This board will act as a consultancy management in the public transport routes, as well as to bring efficient and cost-effective land transportation to enhance our economic competitiveness and quality of life. As the same time, this board will always be exploring and implementing new initiatives to make public transport more attractive. Hence, one of the requirements in the tender is on the consultancy advice regarding easy electronic payment system.

Currently, we understand that there are a number of public transport organisations in New South Wales. They range from taxi services, public coaches and the main commuter provider, CityRail. Some of these providers have implemented certain payment systems in their services, while others are still lagging behind. Commuters take advantage of the systems, especially in the public rail sector. Complains and losses have been reported and made directly to the State Ministry. In addition, these have slight negative effects on the economic earnings. Therefore, the State

Ministry has decided to make prospective plans with Land Transport Authority in the sector of public transport, especially on their fare system.

One of the potential sectors, which will benefits from the proposed plan will be New South Wales’ CityRail. Currently, traveling on CityRail network is easy. It is just by determining which CityRail station you will be starting and ending your journey, the time of day, how often you'll be traveling since there is a range of tickets designed to suit your needs. The tickets can be purchased either at the station ticket office or the available ticket vending machine. Its tickets can be classified into day, commuter, leisure and tickets that will get you to where you want to go. CityRail's extensive network is ideal for both leisure travelers and commuters. The array of tickets also offers the convenience, flexibility and great savings in terms of commuters’ cost. Special conditions apply to those who wish to take bicycles on CityRail services. Hence, CityRail will be our first phase in this consultancy report to undergo our electronic payment system.

Meanwhile,

another

range

of

transportation services that the Land Transport Authority’s plan wishes to seek is the fare systems, which include the public coaches and taxis. One of them is Illawarra Service, which

Sdyney Bus Services

specialised in the coach services in the region of Illawara, Wollongong Taxi Service as well as a couple of taxis and coaches services in Sydney, such as Sydney Bus, Silvercab. (Ministry of Transport, 2005) All of them are streamed with one common goal, that is, to make their fares and administration systems to be more efficient for the sake of commuters and enhance our economic competitiveness and quality of life.

The Motivation It has been few years that New South Wales’s Ministry of Transport has been working and analyzing a way that they can reduce the commuter’s queue to buy the ticket and boarding to the train as well as exit. They have come to know that “Tap and Go” Pte Ltd is leading company who has solution for such electronic payment system. As electronic payment system has been one of the most widely used and improved payment systems, even though it has been only few years since its birth. Its ease of use, and high security features makes it unique and highly demanding for the modern world.

Assume that a commuter wants to travel from Wollongong to Lidcombe, but later he/she decided to go elsewhere, in the current system, another ticket should be bought in order to proceed, but in the new system, no matter where the traveler wants to go, the fare will be deducted only on exit. There are several advantages over the current system. Even though the new system’s initial cost is high, unlike current system it requires no further costs like ticketing machines needing to replace ink and paper. The other benefit will be that the new card systems are capable of topping up the money, since it uses a mechanism to store money value inside it, so there is no need of buying a card every time that one needs to travel. By all this, there won’t be any long queues at the ticket vending machines saving the time of the commuters as well as the cost of running the vending machine or staffs to sell the cards. Also this convenience will drive more people to enjoy the train service making higher revenue for the CityRail. Since the smart card transactions are being encrypted with high security encryption methods, it will be highly secure to use the cards. A lost card will be blocked from the system banning the use of that card.

CityRail is celebrating its 150th years (1855 - 2005) of Rail service but still there aren’t many changes in the way that they had been using the commuter’s entrance and exit to the train. (CityRail, 2004) The card system that CityRail uses now is sometimes such a

disaster when there are whole lots of people to board on the train. The frustration of people at the long queue for the entrance and exit makes us think an alternative way for the entrance and exit to board the train. In other words the card system that CityRail is using is not efficient and it needs to be changed, contactless Multi-purpose Stored Value (MPSV) card which is an ideal solution in their Topping up will be a fast process.

electronic payment system. We have named this new card system as “Tap and Go” card system.

Due to its endless use, the smart card can be implemented in many areas even though its first target is CityRail. So it could be divided into many phases where it can be implemented on success of previous phase. So let the CityRail be the first phase. The second phase which could be targeted is bus payment system; the same concept can be used with minor alteration. Phase three could be taxi and it goes on.

A related solution used in Singapore

To aware the commuters how to use smart card would be very easy since the only thing that changes in smart is that it don’t need to be inserted into the system on the way in or out when they travel.

The Idea Tremendous advancement has been demonstrated in smart card technologies for the past few years. Chips utilized today are more economical than just a few years ago because technological innovations have resulted in chips that possess enhanced processing power and those which have larger memory. The resulting scenario enables cost-effective smart card solutions for a broader array of real world challenges. Smart cards today achieve much more than their original application of replacing cash and coins.

Hence, in this part of State’s Ministry of Transport’s consultancy plan from, we are going to introduce an existing technology, that is, contactless Multi-purpose Stored Value (MPSV) card as an ideal solution in their electronic payment system. Technically, the idea is an efficient one and easy to promote as this idea has been implemented successfully in other parts of the world. For instance, in a report article by electricnews.net, they have noted a number of places where this technology has been launched with great success. (Buckley, 2002) Public transport systems in Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and many Asian cities have electronic payment systems based on contactless cards. Also, both the Paris Metro and London Transport have implemented their own contactless card payment systems. In London, they are known as “Oyster” card (Oyster, 2003), in Singapore as “Ez-link” Card (Ez-Link, 2004), while in Hong Kong as “Octopus” (Octopus, 2004). Amazingly, they are all introduced to improve transportation services. Therefore, in Australia, we are going to introduce “Tap & Go” card as part of the new solution for electronic payment system for the plan. In technical, this electronic payment system is also known as the Enhanced Integrated Fare System. The contactless card or “Tap & Go” will be introduced to relieve commuters of the need to remember distance related transport fares payable, to reduce train queues at the ticketing machine and bus boarding times at bus stops. “Tap & Go” card is a compact card conforming to ISO/IEC 7816 card dimensions, which is similar to a credit

Structure of Contactless Card (Tap & Go)

card. The card surface is a tamper-proof IC chip and an antenna is built into the card. A card reader will be also designed in order to read the data from the card. Both the card and the reader communicate using radio wave via wireless communication. The sensing distance between the card and the reader is up to 10cm. The card itself contains no battery but operates from electromagnetic energy received from the reader. Encryption techniques prevent eavesdropping and fraudulent use. Being contactless, transaction time involving the use of the card is kept to a minimum (approximately 0.2 sec).

Commuters will able to purchase the card from the CityRail’s station, with a certain value preloaded in the cards. The minimum amount of value at the first point of purchase will be $10. Commuters can later top up their value of the card at the self-service kiosk.

Topping Up Machine in Japan

Moreover, during the topping up of the card, the commuters could have three different choices or methods in topping their cards to their range of desired value at $10, $20, $50, or $100. The maximum amount of the card can hold is up to $250.The three methods of topping up can be done at the kiosk by using cash, EFPOS or direct debit from their bank account. Next, commuters will scan their cards before they board the trains or the public bus and later scan again, when they alight from the bus or the train. As for the taxi services, they can just scan their cards once they reach their destination, paying off the taxi fare.

Furthermore, the system is also environment-friendly since the card can be used overand-over virtually forever by rewriting the data. It also features ultimate user-ease since there is no longer any need to retrieve and put away the card for every use. In future, “Tap & Go” card will be a rational throughout for the daily life of the commuters, as the system can be used in other daily applications, such as in the parking lots or gasoline station, restaurants, schools and others.

The advantages of the using “Tap & Go” card can be classified under three sectors. These have been studied and proven through the implementation of Octopus in Hong Kong for their public transports. (Octopus, 2004) Below are the details of the advantages:

Enhanced Operations •

Secure, efficient, flexible and reliable means of revenue collection

•

No long queues at the ticket vending machines.

•

Shorter transaction time

•

Reduced preventive and corrective maintenance activities

•

Reduced faulty card handling

•

Reduced cash handling

•

Just board and scan procedure

Financial Growth •

Increased usage and revenue through enhanced user-friendliness of the system

•

Improved revenue protection through greater security by minimizing fraud and ability to block transactions after card loss

•

Reduction of maintenance costs by as much as 40%

•

Elimination of card recycling costs as “Tap & Go” can be recharged

•

Economies of scale achieved by the sharing of a common system infrastructure by all participating operators

Marketing Value •

Provision of a platform accommodating complex fare collection strategies such as inter-modal discounts and different fares at different times of the day

•

Provision of a platform for implementation of own or joint loyalty programmes

•

Collection of data on customer profiles and behaviours for deeper market insights and service improvements

•

Enhanced corporate image and customer service

Choice of technology The choice of the technology we will use to implement the system would be the use of contact less smart card technology similar to Hong-Kong’s octopus system or Singapore’s ez-link technology. This technology has proven success in the implementation of payment systems for the mass rapid transport systems and public transport in many countries. Furthermore, these developing countries have even extended this form of payment system to convenient stores, supermarkets and even petrol stations. This technology is also relatively easy to implement on existing public transport infrastructure and the low-cost of mass production of magnetic cards for each customers.

Reason for choice The main reason behind choosing this technology is to provide five main benefits for transport payment systems (Octopus, 2004). Hence, these are main benefits below: •

Fast and efficient - Consumers do not need to carry cash at all; neither do they need to give exact tender fares nor do bus drivers need to spend time in giving out changes back to customers who does not give exact fares. Each payment transaction only takes 0.3 seconds.

•

Reliability - Since this technology is contact less, there is no need for the card to come into contact with any device, hence resulting in less wear and tear, therefore, last longer and able to achieve higher stability.

•

Multi-Purpose – This card may not only simply be a method of payment systems for mass rapid transports systems, but could also be implemented in buses, or even taxi, ferry and can even be extended to convenient stores. In the future, it can even be used as a form of authentication and access control.

•

Environmental Friendly – For each company that would stand the test of time, for the products to be environmentally friendliness is a very important aspect,

polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used in the fabrication of the card, this material is environmentally friendly in the sense that it is reprogrammable and its credit is reloadable therefore, minimizing the need of constant disposal. •

Security – For individuals who choose to top up their contactless smart card automatically via registered bank accounts when their smart card reached zero credit, when in the case of theft or lost of the card, they can report back via a hotline within 6 hours and that card will be subjected to termination and a new card will be issued to the individual and credit reloaded on the new card.

The Smart Card The material that the cards is made up of is plastic or more scientific, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), inside is embedded a magnetic core where information is store, it consist of simple digital data that represent the amount of money in it. Below shows a picture of the actual card itself and each card has a special ID unique to that card. (RFIDeas, 2005) The size of these cards is just about the size of a standard credit card, it is thin and flexible enough to be carried in a wallet.

The Smart Card reader There are many types of card readers; they are used in many applications for example, for desktop applications where requires authentication to access resources, however, the one which will be suitable for us will be card readers for doors and kiosks, below is a picture of some card readers (RFIDeas, 2005):

These are some of the products offered by Proximity Company and these card readers manipulates radio frequency (RFID) in the transmission of information. As to be more specific on the reader that will be implemented, a picture of it shows below (RFIDeas, 2005):

These are some specification for the card reader: •

Dimensions 4.65

x 2.95

x 0.5

(11.8 x

7.5 x 1.2cm) •

Power requirements: 5 - 16 VDC

•

Colors Black, *Gray, White, Beige

•

Potted Reader suitable for indoor or outdoor use.

•

Pigtail (18 inches/45.7 cm)

With these specifications, since is compact and requires only a fraction of voltage, it can be easily implemented in anywhere for example, mass rapid transit gates, buses, or anything that requires quick payment transactions.

The Card and Reader Contactless smart card systems are similar indeed to cards that requires contact, they both stores information on a chip that is embedded into the smart card itself, however, unlike contact smart cards, the power supplied to the card as well as the process of information exchange between card and reader are achieved without the use of any contact, magnetic and or electromagnetic fields are used to power the card to exchange data between reader and card.

This is achieved by placing a small antenna which is altogether embedded within the plastic body of the contactless smart card, once the card comes close enough with the electromagnetic field generated by the reader, the chip that resides on the card would be powered on by a small voltage and once when there is power on the card, a form of wireless communication protocol is initiated, this wireless protocol is similar to that of blue tooth technology or 803.11 series, however, much more simpler as it transfers a lot more simpler type of data. After the protocol is established data will then be transferred between card and the reader.

Here is a list of steps of events that will take place when the contactless card is brought near a card reader: •

Energy or power, transfers to the contactless card and powers the integrated circuit within (chip)

•

Clocks the rate at which data transfers

•

Data transfers to the contactless smart card

•

Date transfers from the contactless smart card

The protocol that are used by these cards are described by the ISO/IEC 14443 standard and has a frequency of 13.56 megahertz (MHz) and the reader with an electromagnetic field of approximately 4 inches to 10 centimeters, most often depending on the voltage given to the reader. The higher the voltage, the greater the range, the range is also dependent on the antenna of the card.

Some questions were ask on security about the card, whether anyone with a reader can access those cards, however, in order to access the data from the card, the application need to know the secret keys on the card itself. If no secret key is found, the card’s microcontroller will block any attempts to access the data on the card. (SmartCard Alliance, 2004)

Customer’s operation Basically, the usage of this system from the customer’s point of view is simple, at first, a customer will need to be issued a card, the customer will not be asked to purchase the card however, but the issuer will hold a certain amount of deposit from the customer, this deposit can be refunded back to the customer whenever he or she is wants to give in the card. Next, the customer will initial top up the card from either top-up machines (Add Value Machine) or from transport operators in charge of topping up customer’s credit.

These top-up machines can be placed in noticeable areas of the train stations where there is less people or in less congested areas, the operation of these machines will mainly be

similar to current ticket purchasing machines, basically, it will consist of a touch screen panel that will be used to interact with the user, the user will be able to choose the amount of money that needs to be toped up. Next the user will insert the note into a slot similar to current machines, then when the machine verifies of the money inserted, the user will then need to place the smartcard close to the reader in the machine, the machine will then write the data on the card.

Here is a diagram of how it works:

Choose amount of money from touch screen

Insert the cash into the slot

Reader updates card data

Place card near reader

Here is a picture of a top up machine:

(From LUAS SMARTCARD, 2005) There will be a minimum amount of money that is required for topping up as well as a maximum amount of money that can be topped up. Once the smartcard is programmed with data that contains the amount of money the customer has topped up, he or she will

then be able to use it on any card readers so as long as the reader’s key matches with the card’s key, in other words, only with card readers of the company can read the cards manufactured by them. Once the customer has money on the smartcard, he or she will then be able to use the transport system, the customer will need to place his or her contactless smart card in approximately 2 inches from the card reader, the card reader then will power up the circuit within the card, and authenticate with the secret key, and write data to the card, this data will consist of the source of which the customer enter the transport system. Upon exiting the transport system, the same process is repeated and the card reader will then be notified of where the initial source of the customer is, and check it with current source, it will then deduct the money from the card according to previously programmed data by the central database.

The Migration Path Implementing this system on the current existing system will not be a task that is achieved in a couple of months, but rather over a period of 3-4 years, firstly, contact less smart card readers can be place in existing gates that lead to the trains, however, it can be implemented with both systems of contactless smart card and the current paper magnetic cards, therefore, this will give customers, technicians and personals in charge of implementing this system, time to adapt to a new technology. Top-up machines can be implemented in train stations however, with customers which are unsure of the operation of the machine, can reach a teller in the station and have an operator top-up the card. Advertisements can be made to educate customer on the usage of the system and inform customers of the changes made.

In short, contactless smart card systems, will no doubt increase the speed in which transactions are performed, as transactions are only at approximately 0.3s, this will increased the efficiency, stability and speed of these transactions, moreover, it will promote less fare evasion because this system would require gates installed at every station and the system can be installed at every station at a reasonable price. In the future, this system not only can be used in train stations, but it can be integrated with other transport systems such as busses, taxis and ferries. It can further be integrated into stores

located within the train stations or even any stores that choose to implement this payment system.

Investments For evaluation purposes, the following scenario was developed for CityRail (CityRail, 2002): Fare Media:

-“Tap & Go” replace tickets approximately 400,000 smart cards required for CityRail customers’ cash is accepted on recharge machines

Fare Collection:

- smart card reader on all stations - recharge machines on all stations - station data automatically upload to server

Fare Sales:

- station services center sell smart cards and can recharge the smart card

Investment Cost Estimates Station System Equipment There are four things for each station need implements. First, if the station have existing gates, it is easy for retrofit to a smart card compatible. If the stations do not have gates, it is need to be adding some new smart card compatible gates in the station. For instance, in Singapore, smart cards readers are built into the gates. Therefore, as the computer passes through the gate, they will scan the card and proceed to train platform. (ez-link, 2004)

Readers are to be installed on the gates

Second, each station needs to replace ticket vending machines to a touch screen recharge vending machine which is a faster, easy-to-use, userfriendly, low-failures rates machine to recharge the smart card. This will also reduce the queue process, when purchasing a ticket from the booth, call “Add Value Machine”. Similar to Hong Kong Public Transport System, the Add Value Machine is a Smart Card recharging terminal, where the principal function(s) is to reduce time taken and make day to day processes. (Australian Design Awards, 2005) Moreover, the Smart Card and Add Value Machine ensures more people can travel easier, and Add Value Machine had to be simple enough to allow patrons to complete a transaction quickly and accurately due to the sheer volume of

Add Value Machine installed on

people using the public transport system.

Third, each station will install a computer to handle the smart card transactions and upload to the central server (Sony, 2005).

A Normal Transaction Flow

Fourth, each station will install the account balance checker for the customer to check their smart card balances. The last transaction details such as the date, mode of transport and the fare deduction and remaining balance will be displayed. (Chinetek, 2005)

Central Computer Facility

Account Balance Checker

“Tap & Go” system will need a main-frame server to handle all the customer’s smart card transactions on the same time and store the transaction data in the database, therefore it need a powerful, faster, security server in a security and safety place. On the other hands, it also needs information technology experts to design and develop the software and implement the hardware. (Octopuscards, 2004)

Global views of Network Architecture

Facility Modifications For most of the facility, such as power, network

Screen of Station

cabling, ducting is needed to be modified and upgraded to make the “Tap & Go” system more efficiently. Because of the “Tap & Go” system will have larger number of transactions data to be transferred.

Others For the efficiently and work properly, spare equipment is need to make the operating keep continues, it is acceptable for allow 10 percent of the total equipment cost to buy the spare equipment. On the other hand, it is recommended to allow the cost for the technical support area such as staff training.

The following Table 6 summarise the capital investment cost estimate of installing a “Tap & Go” system on all surface bus, and in all stations. Hardware and equipment unit costs were based on prices provided by our system consultants, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers.

Table 6 Capital Investment Cost – “Tap & Go” System for CityRail (Order-of-Magnitude estimate in Australia Dollars) Requirements

Estimated Capital Cost

Descriptions

Equipment

Station System Equipment

$7 M

Central Computer Facility

$0.8 M

Total Equipment Supply

$7.8 M

Facility Modifications

$2.2 M

Other

$1.4 M

Subtotal

$11.4 M

Standard Add-ons

$2.6 M

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST

$14 M

Retrofit existing gates Replace ticket vending machines Stations computers Install new account balances checker(Smart card readers) Network computer hardware Proprietary software ( design and development) Station electrical and communications Modifications ( power, cabling, ducting) Equipment spares, technical support Marketing, contingency

staff

training,

For the most of the dollars invested, approximately more than half of the estimated costs which are seven million and eighty thousand Australian dollar are required for buying station equipments such as gates, touch screen recharge vending machines, station computers, account balances checker, center computer, etc). Second, there is three million and sixty thousand Australian dollar for the facility modification process. It included modified and upgraded power, network cabling, and ducting. Third, there is two million and sixty thousand Australian dollar for the staff training.

Hurdles From the technology point of view, the implementation of contactless smart card system would not be a problem, however, to actually integrate it with current system, poses a great challenge, firstly, engineers, designers and analyst will need a certain amount of time to actually understand the existing systems. This is because it is impossible to actually start a system from scratch and remove the existing infrastructure. Another challenge would be that during the course of migration, it will require a certain time frame for adding the function of contactless smart card onto the gates, however, this is going to heavily disrupt normal day operations, it would be a challenge to make a balance of both. One solution is to actually, do virtual testing of the system in certain labs and implement it in non-working hours.

Another challenge is that the writing of the software itself for the system, what methodology to take during the course of software development and how to build the software so as that it has new features of contactless smart card while still having the functionality of the current existing system.

Lastly, implementing a massive system like this on a large scale will require a lot of human power and field expertise in adopting this system, the question is, would it be possible to find these resources locally or is it necessary to outsource it from overseas, and if it is required, where is the best place to oursource a system like this. These are some of the main questions needed to be addressed from the first step of migration. Once, again, after implementation of the system, the marketing of the system implemented have to go on a hard campaign. This is to educate the commuters on the procedure how to use the cards. Therefore, the hurdles will not be only face by the developers and the implementers, but also from the perspective of the commuters.

Results Using contactless smart cards does gained acceptance for use in physical access control systems for the three main reasons presented here. (Hidcorp, 2005)

1. A contactless presentation of the card is much more user friendly and convenient for physical access control.

2. Contactless smart cards and readers are much more durable in harsh, dirty, or outdoor environments such as those typically found in access control applications.

3. Contactless card transactions are designed to be faster than contact transactions.

With contact smart cards, users (commuters) must properly orient the card to put the contact in the correct position, find the opening in the reader, insert the card and leave it there until the end of the transaction before removing it. Moreover, contact smart cards were not optimized for fast transactions, but for very high-security applications like financial services and debit card PIN protection. Since, contactless card were targeting high-throughput applications like transit fare collection and ticketing, fast transactions were mandatory while still maintaining high levels of security. For that reason, as contactless technology developed it was optimized for fast reading and authentication, an advantage in access control systems as well. (Hidcorp, 2005) In contrast to the current CityRail’s ticket, contactless smart card would definitely replace the system with much benefits and improvements.

Hence, this technology has proven the results of success in a number of national transportation systems in the world. For instance, in Singapore, their transportation system has integrated all their public transportation like the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), public buses and taxis using one common electronic payment fare system, which they call ez-link. (ez-link, 2004) This system is being well adopted by their commuters traveling

all around the island, with worrying about the different fare, they have to pay. Moreover, they are eligible to get discount, when they frequently travel using the public transport. This scene does save. In Hong Kong too, the commuters there, have seen the same benefits, just like in Singapore, when Octopus is being implemented. (Octopus, 2004)

In addition, this contactless smart card has a number of benefits, which have been discussed in other parts of this report. This is also in terms of safety of the commuters, and the operators of the public transports. They do not have to carry a large sum of money when either they are traveling or on duties, as for the public transports operators. Commuters also are able to move flexible and able to travel at a fast pace from one transportation to another. As millions of commuters travel using the CityRail and public buses in New South Wales, there will be an increase in the economic earnings for the public transportation. Furthermore, contactless smart card are now extending beyond public transport to carparks, fast food outlets, convenience stores, supermarkets, vending machines, pay phones, leisure facilities and schools. What's more, it has been introduced successfully in payment uses such as access control.

Future Until mid eighties, Smart Cards were still at the research and development level due to many factors. Since then, the industry has been growing at tremendous rate is shipping more than one billion (1,000,000,000) cards per year (since 1998). (SmartCard, 2005) Today, there would be a population of more than 7 billion Smart Cards around the world.

As the population of the Smart Cards indicates increasing the public acceptance of this unique innovative technology, and if CityRail adopts the proposed contact-less smart card system, they would have tremendous benefits on long run. As there are many areas in which it could be integrated to, like the buses, taxis, and shops in the train stations. It could be encouraged to use public transport system and use this card more frequently from traveling from city to city by train or inside the city by buses and give discount as they travel more. Or even accumulate some points if they use this card to certain extent and they can be given a special discount from shops where this card is accepted. Another scenario would be that the travelers simply can buy the low priced items from Contactless Smart Card without having to use the ATM Cash Card or Credit card.

This technology is advancing day by day; even now also there are keychain (Figure-1) which are used as multi purpose Smart Cards. (TechTrend, 2005) It may not take time to manufacture accessories like watches, pendants, baggage tags which have built-in RFID inside it, which in turn may bring luxurious way of life where customers don’t have to carry any kind of cards to travel. In the future, one traveler may pass through the gate of CityRail by just waving his hand over the contact-less Smart Card reader, who may happen to have a watch or pendants which have built-in RFID. This brings ease of use as well as overcomes some security issues like taking the card from the wallet in a crowded area which may lead to wallet theft.

Figure-1 keychain

Increasing the storage of the Smart Card will enhance the service as well as benefit to the company and to the country as a whole, as it will be capable of storing data such as biometrics information of the cards owner, personal medical history and cryptographic keys for authentication, etc. In the event of an accident or a stroke to a person, his or her Smart Card can be used to quickly identify what is the medical history of the particular person.

Even the card readers are becoming more advanced, a contact-less Smart Card which is kept inside person’s back pocket can be used to deduct his fare by just walking through the gate without manually taking the wallet or card from it. The side-way card readers are so sensitive it just reads even when the person does not stop for a scan. There are contacts-less Smart Card payment systems in which they a person can linked their Bank account to the Smart Card so that it will be topped-up when the amount of the card becomes zero or set value or even topped up using top-up machine without having to transferring money from his or her bank.

With all this promising advancement and innovative technologies CityRail’s future prospects in the next three or four years look very exciting and great development. The Integration and implementation with up-coming technologies would not be a problem since the proposed system can easily adopt those. The company would fly to the top by serving the public, utilizing the modern technologies available to date, boosting the revenue of the company with satisfaction of all the customers without them being in long queues.

Financial Summary (Over 2 Years) Based on our experiences, the followings summarise the capital expenditure, operational expenditure and the revenue growth for first year and the second year in CityRail.

Capital Expenditure In the first year, it will have a large number of implementation for the “Tap & Go” system, such as “Tap & Go” system install on all surface bus, and in all CityRail stations. It will have a larger number of the capital expenditure for buying the hardware and equipment which is about fourteen million Australian dollars. All hardware and equipment are installing on all surface bus and in all CityRail stations. It included station equipments such as gates, touch screen recharge vending machines, station computers, account balances checker, center computer, etc. The costs were based on prices provided by our system consultants, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers

In the second year, most of the implementation for the “Tap & Go” system should be finished. The capital expenditure will have a sharply decrease compare with the first year which is about sixty thousand Australian dollars. But, it still has smaller number of buying hardware or equipment and the facility modification. Because of the hardware or equipment may damage, lost or out-of-order, etc. So it needs to keep ten percent of total equipment or hardware for spare use.

The followings figure 10.1 is showing the different between first year and the second year of the total capital expenditure:

Capital Expenditure Graph – Figure 10.1

15 Australian Dollar 10 ( in Million) 5 0

First Year

Second Year

Operational Expenditure In the first year, the operational expenditure does not have many of changes, because of most of the implementation have not been finished. Only administration, data management and information technology maintenance and support will have a slight increase. For the administration, it may need to rearrange and train the current staff or add new staff for the smart card administration such as customer service, enquiries, lost, damaged, stolen cards, claims, refunds, etc. Second, it should have some information technology experts for computer back office support and database management such security. Third, it also should have some information technology experts for maintenance and support. The estimated cost show as the following table 10.2.:

Table 10.2 Operational Expenditure of “Tap & Go” for CityRail in the 1st Year Potential Increase in AUD Administration

$0.4 M

Data Management

$0.3 M

IT Maintenance & Support

$0.3 M

Total

$1 M

In the second year, most of the stations with “Tap & Go” system will become functional. Therefore the weights of operational expenditure also have a big changed. For revenue operations, the replacement of tickets with a smart card would have a relatively small impact on the revenue operations work force. Cash would still be accepted, so there would be no change in the daily process of recharge smart card. Second, the introduction of a smart card system would result in marginal labour savings in station collectors. Third, Material expenses for tickets would be eliminated, and this would result in an operating cost saving of two million fifty thousand Australian dollars annually. Forth, administration, data management and information technology maintenance and support will increase to normal operational expenditure level. For the administration, it may need more staff to rearrange position and keep training or add more new staff for the smart card administration such as customer service, enquiries, lost, damaged, stolen cards, claims, refunds, etc. Then it also need more information technology experts for computer back office support and database management such security. Finally, it also needs more information technology experts for maintenance and support. The following Table 10.3 summarise the potential operating cost on the CityRail.

Table 10.3 Operational Expenditure of “Tap & Go” for CityRail in the 2nd Year Potential Savings $ Revenue Operations

($0.2 M)

Station Collectors

($3.0 M)

Potential Increase $

Fare Media Expenses (production costs – tickets, tokens)

($2.5 M)

Administration

$0.8 M

Data Management

$0.6 M

Revenue Equipment &

$0.5 M

Maintenance IT Maintenance & Support

$0.6 M

Sub-Total

($5.7 M)

Net Change

($3.2 M)

$2.5 M

Revenue Growth As the “Tap & Go” system has been implemented successfully, it brings high-efficient, cost and performance effective, lower operational cost to CityRail. By the user-friendly interface of the system, it is reasonable to forecast that the increased of usage and revenue. And the “Tap & Go” system also minimizes the fraud and ability to block transactions after loss card to improve the revenue stability. On the other hand the reduction of maintenance costs also is an important fact to increase the revenue such as elimination of card recycling and use economies of scale to produce smart card and sharing of a common system infrastructure for all same facility. As all the benefits to improve the revenue, it is reasonable to forecast that CityRail can increase their revenue for five percent in the second year. The followings figure 10.4 is showing the different between first year and the second year of the total revenue growth:

Revenue Growth Graph – Figure 10.4

Australian Dollar (in Billions)

10.4 10.3 10.2 10.1 10 9.9 9.8 9.7 9.6 First Year

Second Year

As the pervious experiences in Hong Kong, there are “8.8 million cards and 75 million transactions a day in circulation for a population of 6.5 million”. (Card Technology, 2003) It is a strong reason that we recommend CityRail to use “Tap and Go” system to replace the ticket system. “Tap and Go” system can reduce the operational expenditure and increase the revenue to make the business more profitable. For the higher rates of cost and performance of “Tap and Go” system, fourteen million Australian dollars is worth to invest for the business future.

Conclusion In this paper, we have described the consultancy research in the evaluation of choice of technology which integrates ideas and motives to consult the Land Transport Authority’s project, regarding a suitable electronic payment system. The approach leads to rich data that can be collected and analyzed in an efficient manner, with the technical evidence and support from other world class transportation system with their solutions towards the transportation fare system.

In conclusion, we have also look into the investment, hurdles, results and future in the choice of the technology, with a concrete financial summary. These would strongly support with confidence in the idea and motivation for such consultancy business plan in solving the electronic payment system for Land Transport Authority’s project’s tender.

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