Developing the Client Referral, Ridership and Financial Tracking (CRRAFT) Transit Management System: CRRAFTing a Bridge to Coordinated Interagency Transportation (PDF: 796KB/21 pages) presented at the 82nd Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 2003.  Accepted for publication in the 2003 Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board.

In the past decade, a growing number of human service programs have identified transportation as an allowable, and necessary, support service for clients. Some human services agencies are improving clients’ transportation options by funding local transit operators to expand service areas and hours or to start up new service in areas that are being underserved. With these new funding streams come requirements to track the number of clients served, the number of trips provided, and the costs according to each funding agency’s criteria.

The ATR Institute (ATRI), University of New Mexico, under contract with the Public Transportation Programs Bureau, New Mexico Department of Transportation, has developed a Web-based software program, the Client Referral, Ridership, and Financial Tracking system (CRRAFT). CRRAFT is designed to integrate human service transportation referral with daily rural public transit operations. For human service agencies, CRRAFT standardizes client transportation referral, improves accountability of transportation use and costs, and may reduce misuse of transportation assistance. Because the CRRAFT is Web-based, and therefore available to be used at any time, from any place, by authorized users, funding agencies can view reports in real-time and track their transportation funds as they are being utilized. For the transit operators, CRRAFT standardizes invoicing, ridership reporting, and simplifies scheduling.

In New Mexico, the following human service agencies are referring clients for transportation through CRRAFT: selected developmental disability service providers; the Welfare-To-Work Program of the New Mexico Department of Labor; and the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families and Food Stamps Programs of the New Mexico Human Services Department. The cooperating rural transit operators also receive funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Sections 5311, 5310, and/or 3037 Programs.

With funding from the FTA/Federal Highways Administration Joint Program Office, ATRI is enhancing CRRAFT to generate financial and client tracking reports for each agency that sponsors clients. CRRAFT also can generate FTA Sections 5311, 5310, and 3037 reports. Sponsoring agencies will have the capability to monitor their clients’ transportation usage.

Smart Card System High Level Design

New Mexico is to be among the first states in the nation to implement Smart Card technology in a rural setting, making the state a front-runner among a select group of states utilizing Intelligent Transportation Systems in non-urban areas. In the past, the geographically large and rural nature of New Mexico has been seen as a barrier or a challenge to create innovative transportation solutions and alternatives to improve mobility and independence. Governor Bill Richardson and his Administration, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the ATRI are committed to creating innovative, technologically sound solutions that will improve the quality of life of our citizens as we move forward into the 21st century.

The ATRI is creating an interface to integrate contactless Smart Card technology with the CRRAFT software. This integration will further streamline ridership reporting and serve to eliminate stigmatizing passes that indicate a client is receiving public assistance benefits. The contactless smart card system will provide a convenient, secure and discrete method of providing transportation benefits to clients. The system will also reduce the data entry requirements of the transit system operators and drivers. Furthermore, the accuracy of the data collected will be improved. This document provides a high level design of the system on page four.

The CRRAFT contactless smart chip for transit will piggyback 
on the NM Human Services Department's magnetic stripe EBT 
card for agency sponsored trips.

Transit System Synchronization Process

At the beginning of a shift, the driver will login to the handheld PC connected to the transit system’s network or computer. After a successful login, the driver’s scheduled trips for the day will be downloaded from the CRRAFT Scheduling Module. Once the download is complete, the drivers will take the handheld device to the vehicle and place it in the cradle in the vehicle. At the end of a shift, the driver will return to the transit system and place the handheld device in the cradle that is attached to the transit system’s network or computer. The device will transmit the data collected by the driver during the shift. The device will also download any new information from CRRAFT (i.e., vehicles, funding providers, drivers).

Transit Vehicle Ticketing Process

The driver will pick up the passengers on his schedule. Because the smart chip is contactless, clients do not even have to remove the card from their wallets or purses to enter or exit the transit vehicle. The client needs only to wave the card within four to six inches of the contactless chip reader for the reader to collect the information. The card reader will transmit the card serial number (CSN) to the handheld device. The handheld device will match the CSN it read with the CSN associated with the scheduled trip. The handheld PC will signal the card reader to display a green light and decrement the card ride count/amount. The handheld PC will record the time that the passenger boards and exits the vehicle.

In addition to storing the driver’s schedule and log for each day, the handheld PC will be equipped with a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) sleeve and can provide maps, as needed. During the shift, the GPS receiver will be queried for position information at short intervals (every 5–10 seconds). The position information will be saved with the exact time. The GPS feature will enable the system to record actual people miles traveled per trip, route information, and vehicle location. At the end of each shift, the transit driver will download all transactions stored in the reader onto a driver’s smart card. Information on the smart card will be transferred to the transit operator’s main computer. Trip data will then be sent via the Internet to CRRAFT where each client’s total number of authorized trips remaining will be updated on the server.

For human services passengers, the transit smart chip will be designed to piggyback on the State of New Mexico’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Card. The EBT Card is a high-coercivity magnetic stripe card containing a unique 16-digit number correlated to the client’s social security number. Included on the EBT Card will be the transit smart chip. Disposable transit cards with a contactless smart chip will be available for purchase by tourists, the public, or by sponsored clients who have used all their sponsored transportation benefits.

ATRI is also in the process of creating an electronic referral form that sponsoring agencies can use to refer clients for transportation benefits. Currently, referrals are faxed to the Transit System. ATRI is working with selected developmental disability service providers and the New Mexico Human Services Department and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the State Department of Education to implement this system. This new technology holds great promise in moving New Mexico toward fully coordinated interagency transportation.