An Improved model design for fare collection in local buses using RFID technology

Transportation is one of the most important public sectors in a country. With the increase of population, transport sector is getting a tough challenge to meet the public demand and satisfaction. To meet the increased expectation, local transport systems have been improved with the help of modern technology. For an easier and comfortable way of collecting fares based on the passenger's destination different technology have been used so far. Smart card reading techniques (like Oyster in United Kingdom) are well used in this case where cards store cash required for a journey. Though RFID technology is used in these techniques, there are still some problems with these systems. For example, in some cases a fixed amount of fare is deducted without considering the destination length the passenger is traveling. This is beneficial for someone moving far but might not be good enough for someone going to a near marketplace. In a short, public transit fare collection technique is still not developed at a satisfactory level even though other applications like toll fair collection, car parking authorization etc are well improved through successful deployment of RFID system. This study proposes an improved model based on RFID where passenger's starting and ending point of journey is considered and so it will be possible to deduct fares only for the distance travelled. The paper also describes detail implementation strategy and advantages of the system over others.