OpenFare is now Universal Ticket Agent. Please refer to that site for up-to-date information.
Go to Demo Version to see how OpenFare works or continue reading to learn more about OpenFare.
In short, OpenFare is the only known method that allows implementation of open-loop transit fare payment systems on moveable validators (on buses, streetcars, etc.) in public transits which do not have closed-loop cards.
OpenFare is an account-based open-loop transit fare collection system. It implements a patented method that allows a holder of practically any credit, debit, or bank contactless card, as well as some other contactless tokens, to get access to transit vehicles of participating public transit agencies.
The holder of such a card can use any web browser to register his or her card (token) with OpenFare and prepay a certain amount he or she is planning to spend in public transit worldwide. Within seconds, he or she becomes a welcome patron of any participating transit agency worldwide.
The patron can enjoy all existing transfer discounts and loyalty programs implemented in the particular transit agency. The patron can use the transit service up to the full exhaustion of the prepaid balance (which he or she can always top-up using his smartphone or laptop browser, several seconds prior to a ride).
With OpenFare, a transit system can implement distance-based or zone-based fares on bus and streetcar routes and bear no risk related to abuse of cards in bad standing or prepaid balance overdraft, even when the cards are tapped at wireless validators on buses and streetcars.
This is how OpenFare works. While the patron enjoys his or her ride on a bus, the bus validator reports the patron’s fare parameters to OpenFare and OpenFare propagates the new state of the patron’s account as well as up-to-date fare history to all other validators. When the Patron boards another bus, the validator of this bus already “knows” everything it needs to apply all possible discounts and make a decision on granting access to the transit service, within milliseconds, without need to access any remote host.
Read more about OpenFare advantages.