Transitional Issues

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2008 Fare Collection Workshop
Transitional Issues
Rebecca Wessling, Ferry Operations
Superintendent Golden Gate Bridge, Highway
Transportation District San Francisco, California
Public Transportation Wherever Life Takes You .
. . Today and Tomorrow
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• TRANSITIONING TO SMART CARD TECHNOLOGY
• The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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Golden Gate Ferry has a long history of providing
quality service to the Bay Area

• Ferry service began in 1970
• Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation
  District is comprised of three divisions
• Toll collection and maintenance of Golden Gate
  Bridge
• Bus service from San Francisco to Sonoma County
• Ferries across San Francisco Bay
• Bus and ferry system spans five Bay Area counties
  and serves over 30,000 customers daily

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Golden Gate Ferry primarily serves the commuter
and tourist community

• Two million riders annually
• Five vessels - 60 trips daily
• Two high-speed catamarans
• Three Spaulding ferries
• Two primary routes
• San Francisco Larkspur
• San Francisco Sausalito
• Limited Service also provided to ATT Park

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Until recently, fare collection was accomplished
using only paper ticketing

• Paper tickets issued using antiquated movie
  ticket dispensing machines
• Manual tracking of ticket inventory
• Passenger counting performed manually
• Incomplete reporting of sales and ridership

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TransLink is Golden Gate Ferrys first move
towards electronic fare collection

• TransLink is the Bay Areas regional smart card
  fare payment system
• Contract managed by Metropolitan Transportation
  Commission (MTC)
• Program managed by the TransLink Consortium
• ERG is contractor primarily responsible for 149
  million DBOM contract
• TransLink will enable seamless multi-modal
  travel across 26 local agencies

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Golden Gate has achieved success with the rollout
of the new system

• Golden Gate Transit was one of the first to fully
  implement TransLink
• 50 of ferry commuters currently pay their fares
  using TransLink

• Over 10,000 Golden Gate transactions processed
  daily
• Surveys show 55 of customers are very
  satisfied with the system
• Success can be attributed to early identification
  and planning around key transitional issues

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Consensus building plays a critical role in
deploying systems in a regional setting
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Staffing concerns must be anticipated and
addressed prior to system roll out
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New fare systems also present new operational
challenges for agency staff
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Customer acceptance is key to the success of a
new system
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The transition to TransLink has provided many
benefits over the old paper system

• Use of costly paper tickets and transfers greatly
  reduced
• Discount fares and transfers applied
  automatically
• Universal fare payment on buses, ferries and
  other operators
• More complete reporting of sales and ridership

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however the new system does not provide a
complete solution

• Paper tickets and transfers still needed for
  infrequent riders
• Multiple forms of fare payment cause confusion
  during boarding
• Passenger counts still performed manually

• Operating new and old systems in parallel is
  cumbersome
• System does not handle reserved ticketing
• Reporting only provides a partial picture

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Golden Gate Ferry is now undertaking a new
project to address these gaps

• Use disposable smart card tickets
• Single smart card reader for all passengers
• Install fare gates
• Increase security through physical access control
• Automate passenger counting
• Consolidate collection of ridership data
• Integrate point of sale systems
• Streamline ticket agent workflows
• Provide single source of sales reporting
• Install ticket vending machines
• Offer self-service option for infrequent riders
• Use in-house reservation system
• Allow electronic ticketing on exception routes
• Reduce reliance on third-parties

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Lessons learned from TransLink will help guide
the success of the next transition

• Make full use of your resources
• Establish reasonable expectations
• Take time to understand business impacts
• Phase in new technology
• Motivate your customers AND your employees
• Train and re-train continuously
• Communicate, communicate, communicate!

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Thank You!