RFID Tickets for Mass Transit

Filed in archive Case Studies on November 4, 2006

Recently the people at Hong Kong-based China Elite Technology sent me a copy of their white paper about "Smart Tokens" for ticketing in mass transit. Steven Wong, Product Development Director, writes:

"In this white paper we share what we learned developing a RFID token for single journey ticketing in mass transit. We have shipped millions of these Smart Tokens over the past 2 years and it appears that they have made good on their initial promise.

Most recently, the Guangzhou subway system ordered an additional 800,000 smart tokens. The commuter taps the contactless token on a turnstile to enter the subway system, then drops the token into a turnstile slot to open an exit gate when leaving, allowing transit operators to recover and reuse the coins. The tokens are designed to solve the problem of how to provide chip-based tickets for one-time or occasional transit riders without providing them with relatively expensive contactless smart cards. The tokens cost between 40 and 50 U.S. cents when customers order 1 million or more, with the price depending on the performance characteristics required of the chip.

The Guangzhou subway system has now ordered a total of 3.6 million tokens, and CET has sold 10 million tokens in all, mostly in China. The tokens come in three sizes, ranging from 25 to 35 millimeters in diameter, which makes the smallest token about the size of a 2-euro coin.

Some unusual and interesting topics discussed in the white paper include the impact of smart tokens on public health in the event of a contagious outbreak, and the possibility of re-useable advertising space on tickets."

One of the things I found fascinating is on Page 9 of the white paper. It points out that in the future, advertisers may employ near field communications to enable interactive advertising on the tickets. Thus, a consumer's mobile phone could be used to pick up advertising and messages from the token. What that means is that even the tickets will be talking to us! We are not that far away from the scenarios envisioned in the movie, Minority Report.

It is an interesting paper and well worth a read. Download the smart tokens white paper here (PDF).