Chat with our sales team
Whole Network Most Recent TOP10 Market Size RFID Basics Tags and Readers

 

RFID Tickets for Mass Transit

Filed in archive Case Studies by Anita Campbell on November 04, 2006

cetwhitepaper.jpg
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).


Advertisement


Permalink: RFID Tickets for Mass Transit
Tags: rfid  ticket  tickets  transit  mass  mass+transit  rfid+tickets  tickets+mass 

Trackback: http://www.creative-weblogging.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.pl/40048



Advertisement


Advertisement


CW ToolbarInstall
RSSrss   | See all blog subscribe options
Googlegoogle   |   What is RSS?
Yahoo!yahoo
AddthisAddThis Feed Button
BloglinesBloglines
Newsletter
Advertisement - Book yours here.

Use our search feature to look for other interesting posts

Just this blog Whole network
Magazines.com, Inc.
 
  • Would you like to see your text link here? Let us know!
Advertisement
Book yours here.

Blue Nile, Inc.


  • Other blogs in the same channel in the Creative Weblogging Network

Advertisement -
Book yours here..
Magazines.com, Inc.






Advertisement - Book yours here..
Apple iTunes
 
Tagcloud: Case Studies Companies Contactless Payment Systems contest EPC Standards Healthcare Implementation Interviews Libraries Market Size Near Field Communication Patents Privacy and Security Report Retail RFID Basics RFID Employment Software Applications Special Events Sponsored Posts Sports Stocks Supply Chain Tags and Readers Ubiquitous Computing Wireless