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CHAPTER 5
Findings of Data Flows Between
Agencies
This chapter identifies the data that need to reside on a smartcard and the information that
needs to be exchanged between participating agencies. There are two types of information flows
in an interoperable smartcard system:
· Institutional Information-Related to the business rules and policies that provide the guide-
lines for participation in the smartcard system. The institutional information is discussed in
detail in Chapter 2.
· Transaction Processing Information-Consists of the following data as depicted in Figure 12:
Resides on the card,
Flows between the card and reader,
Flows between the reader and agency,
Flows between the agency and clearinghouse, and
Flows between clearinghouses.
To prepare the transaction-processing information flows, the following tasks must be completed:
· Development of a conceptual fare payment system architecture,
· Identification of the data types, and
· Analysis of the data flows.
5.1 Development of Conceptual Fare Payment System
Architecture
A smartcard fare payment system architecture consists of the following five functional tiers:
1. Card or Data Input Tier-Data repository for holding the value required to acquire the ser-
vices desired;
2. Device Tier-Reads the card and conducts the transaction according to the business rules
embedded in the software;
3. Station or Local (Garage or Depot) Tier-Manages the assigned devices and consolidates and
transfers the transactions to the next tier;
4. Agency Tier-Manages the transfers of device configuration data and the transactions with the
central system and may also be used as the agency interface with the central system for sys-
tem management and reporting; and
5. Central System Tier-Primarily responsible for clearing and settlement; the database also sup-
ports the card services operation.
This five-tier model is referenced for most of the standards development efforts in the United
States and Canada, particularly the APTA Universal Transit Farecard Standards UTFS). Figure 13
illustrates the five tiers of an interoperable regional smartcard fare payment system.
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