Ridership Impacts of South Florida’s EASY Smart Card

Smart card-based Automated Fare Collection Systems (AFCS) are being increasingly deployed in transit systems across the US.Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) has recently deployed such a system branded as the EASY Card.The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) also deployed the same system for Tri-Rail.The technology provides a stored value electronic purse or the choice of various period passes, and in that respect is similar to smart card systems in other US cities.The EASY Card system will be used as a case study to document some of the issues related to the ridership and customer behavior aspects related to fare policy when smart card systems are introduced.Given the benefits of such AFCS in terms of reduced fare evasion, cash handling fraud, transfer abuse and increased customer convenience, it is likely that other transit systems in Florida will deploy such systems in future years.17.