A U T O M AT I C FA R E C O L L E C T I O N

AFC Systems for Metro

Components, transaction flow, payment technologies, performance monitoring, and SCADA
integration

11 slides • Components • Operations • Payment Tech • SCADA

 Main Components of an AFC System 02 / 14
Front-of-house equipment, station infrastructure, and back-office systems

TVM AVM FA R E G AT E S VA L I D AT O R
Ticket Vending Machine Add-Value Machine Entry / Exit Barriers Contactless Reader

TOM S TAT I O N S V R CENTRAL A N A LY T I C S

Ticket Office Machine Station Computer (SC) Back-Office / Clearing Reporting & Reconciliation

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Field Equipment — Station Side 03 / 14
What passengers and agents physically interact with

Ticket Vending Machine (TVM) Fare Gates

■ Self-service kiosk for ticket sales and card top-up ■ Physical barriers with contactless validator on top
■ Accepts cash, coins, contactless & EMV bank cards ■ Bi-directional flap or tripod mechanism
■ Touch screen, receipt printer, anti-vandalism cabinet ■ Handles entry/exit, free-pass mode, anti-tailgating sensors
■ Reports stock, jams and cash levels to back-office ■ Logs every transaction with timestamp & device ID

Standalone Validator Ticket Office Machine (TOM)

■ Tap-point for buses, trams and gateless metros ■ Agent-operated terminal at the customer-service window
■ Reads smart cards, mobile NFC, EMV contactless, QR ■ Card issuance, refunds, claims, name changes, exemptions
■ Audio/visual feedback in < 300 ms ■ Reads ID documents, prints personalised media
■ Local blacklist & offline operation when SC is unreachable ■ Strong audit trail for cash & non-cash transactions

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Back-Office & Central Systems 04 / 14
The brains behind the gates — clearing, settlement and analytics

Station Computer (SC) Central System (Back-Office) Reporting & Analytics

■ Local server at each station ■ Fare engine, clearing & settlement ■ Revenue reconciliation reports
■ Aggregates device transactions & device status ■ Customer accounts (CRM) and ABT logic ■ Device & line performance dashboards
■ Buffers data when central is unreachable ■ Blacklist / hotlist management ■ Passenger flow & OD matrices
■ Pushes alarms to station SCADA ■ Integration with banks, PSPs, clearing houses ■ Audit logs and regulatory reporting
■ Distributes tariff, blacklist & firmware updates ■ Master data: tariffs, products, calendars ■ Fraud detection and exception management

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 How the AFC System Works 05 / 14
From media acquisition to clearing — the end-to-end transaction flow

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

Acquire Media Entry Tap Travel Exit Tap Clearing

Passenger buys/recharges fare Validator reads media, checks Station Computer caches Exit validator computes fare Back-office consolidates trips,
media (smart card, mobile QR, blacklist & balance, opens transactions; central system (distance/zone/time) and settles with banks/PSPs,
EMV card, account). gate, logs entry. updates trip in near real-time. deducts balance or posts to updates reports & KPIs.
account.

Key Data Exchanges

Station ↔ Central Central ↔ Bank/PSP Central ↔ Clearing House
Transactions, blacklists, tariffs, device health EMV authorization, settlement files, chargebacks Inter-operator revenue split (ABT, multimodal)

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Payment Technology — Closed Loop 06 / 14
Operator-issued media: smart cards, magnetic tickets, paper QR

C L O S E D L O O P What it is
■ Fare media issued by the metro operator itself
Operator-Issued Media ■
■
Examples: MIFARE DESFire, Calypso, magnetic tickets, paper QR
Fare logic stored on the media (card-based ticketing)

Strengths
■ Very fast tap — fully offline at the gate
■ Resilient to network outages
■ Strong control over fare policies and security

Limitations
■ Only usable on the issuing network
■ Card issuance, distribution & lifecycle cost
■ Less convenient for occasional / visiting riders

Reliable, fast, offline-capable — but limited to the issuing Examples

network. ■ Paris Navigo, London Oyster (legacy), Hong Kong Octopus

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Payment Technology — Open Loop 07 / 14
Contactless bank cards and mobile wallets used directly at the gate

O P E N L O O P What it is
■ Passenger taps a contactless bank card (Visa, Mastercard) or mobile wallet
EMV Contactless & NFC ■
■
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay supported
Validator reads EMV / NFC; no proprietary media required

Strengths
■ Frictionless onboarding — no card to buy
■ Excellent for tourists & infrequent riders
■ Encourages cashless conversion

Limitations
■ Requires online authorization with PSP / acquirer
■ Need deny-lists, fare-capping, and chargeback handling
■ Stricter PCI scope and cyber-security obligations

Lowest barrier to entry for occasional riders — needs Examples

strong back-office risk control. ■ London TfL, NYC OMNY, Singapore SimplyGo, Sydney Opal+

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Payment Technology — Account-Based Ticketing 08 / 14
Identifier on the gate, fares calculated in the back-office account

A B T What it is
■ Identifier (card, phone, biometric) is just a token
Account-Based Ticketing ■
■
All fare logic lives in the central account in the back-office
Trips are aggregated and priced centrally

Strengths
■ Enables daily/weekly fare capping automatically
■ Multimodal: same account for metro, bus, tram, parking
■ Personalised products, loyalty, post-pay

Limitations
■ Requires reliable connectivity to the central system
■ Higher back-office processing load
■ Privacy & data-protection design is critical

Foundation for modern, multimodal, capped fare networks Examples

— needs reliable connectivity. ■ LA Metro TAP, Boston MBTA, Lisbon ViVa Viagem evolutions

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Passenger Experience — Faster, Frictionless Journeys 09 / 14
How AFC removes friction at the gate and makes travel feel effortless

AT T H E FA R E G AT E Smoother for the passenger

< 300 ms Less waiting, less thinking, more travelling

per tap
Faster taps, shorter queues
Sub-second validation keeps gates flowing — even at peak hours.

No tickets to buy
Tap a bank card or phone to enter — onboarding takes seconds for
tourists and infrequent riders.

Automatic best-fare & capping

ABT calculates the cheapest fare for the day or week — riders never
overpay.

Consistent, predictable journey

Same tap, same feedback, same fare logic across every line and station.

Trust at the gate

Strong fraud / blacklist controls in the back-office without making the
rider feel them.

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Passenger Experience — Personalised & Multimodal 10 / 14
A connected account that follows the passenger across the network

O N T H E P H O N E — R I D E R A P P From ticket to travel companion

Mobile + ABT turn the fare card into a connected service

METRO • RIDER
One account, one identity
Hello, Sarah ABT links phone, card or wallet to a single rider account — top-up
Balance €18.40 anywhere, travel anywhere.

D A I LY C A P R E A C H E D
Best-fare guarantee
Daily and weekly caps applied automatically — no need to predict which
No more charges today ticket to buy.

Multimodal in one tap

Tap-to-Pay / QR
Metro, bus, tram, scooter, parking — all sharing the same fare and
EMV • Wallet • QR ticket credit.

Real-time journey help

M U LT I M O D A L J O U R N E Y Push notifications for service status, route changes, and platform
information.

Personalised offers
Targeted discounts, loyalty perks, student/senior products provisioned
remotely.

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Passenger Experience — Inclusivity & Trust 11 / 14
An AFC system that welcomes every rider and earns their confidence

E V E R Y O N E T H R O U G H T H E G AT E Built for every rider

EN FR AR ES ZH Accessible, transparent, and reassuring
Multilingual TVMs & app

Accessible by design
Wide gates, step-free routes, screen reader-ready TVMs, audio feedback
Live agent help at validators.
TOM at the ticket office
Multilingual interfaces
TVMs, apps and signage in multiple languages — welcoming for visitors
and minorities.

Transparent fares
Clear price displayed before the tap, receipts on demand, history in the
app.

Help when needed

Agents at the TOM, intercom at gates, in-app chat for refunds, claims
and assistance.

Privacy & safety

Step-free access Step-free & priority Wide gates Families Senior products
Pseudonymous travel by default; PII protected, PCI scope contained,
clear data policies.

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Checking AFC Performance 12 / 14
How operators supervise the system — KPIs, dashboards and the NOC

NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTRE — AFC SUPERVISION

Key Performance Indicators
What the operator watches in real time

Equipment Availability
Uptime % per gate / TVM / validator; MTBF & MTTR.
TRANSACTIONS /
G AT E T H R O U G H P U T ALARMS
HOUR

Transaction Success Rate

% successful taps vs. rejected / timeout.

LIN E-1 ● A V A IL 99.2% | G ATES 412/415 U P | TP S Throughput

2,418 | S LA G R EEN
Passengers / hour at gates; queue length; peak utilisation.

Revenue Reconciliation
Sales vs. settled funds; back-office flags differences.

Fraud & Blacklist Hits

Invalid media, repeated denials, tailgating alerts.

SLA & Alarm Dashboards

NOC view; incident tickets auto-created from device alarms.

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Interface with SCADA 13 / 14
How AFC equipment is supervised from the station SCADA control room

STATION SCADA CONTROL ROOM

AFC ↔ SCADA Integration
Yes — AFC equipment is typically integrated into the station SCADA.

What is exchanged
Device up/down, door/lid open, jam, cash-box full/empty, tamper, comms loss, emergency
AFC PWR COMMS
open (free-gate) command from SCADA.

Typical protocols
OPC UA / OPC DA, IEC 61850 (when on station bus), Modbus TCP, SNMP, or proprietary
XML/JSON over TCP defined in the ICD.
FIRE VAC CCTV

Direction of control
Mostly status / alarms AFC → SCADA. Commands SCADA → AFC are limited (e.g. free-gate
A FC A LM -LV 2 G ATE-12 JA M • TV M -04 C A S H 95% • CO M M S
during evacuation) under strict cyber-segregation.
OK

Security boundaries
Fare data & PII stay inside AFC. SCADA only receives operational telemetry — keeps revenue
and PCI scopes isolated.

Operational value
Operations sees AFC alarms on the same HMI as ventilation, power, lifts, PSDs — single
pane of glass for the station. O P E R ATO R

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview

 Key Takeaways 14 / 14
What to remember about AFC for metro systems

Modular architecture Standard transaction flow

AFC = field equipment (TVM, gates, validators, TOM) + Station Computer Acquire media → entry tap → travel → exit tap → clearing & settlement
+ Central back-office. in back-office.

Three coexisting media worlds Passenger experience is a feature

Closed-loop (operator card), Open-loop (EMV/NFC bank cards), and ABT Faster taps, fare capping, multimodal, inclusivity — AFC is also a service
(account-based). for the rider.

Operations is data-driven Integrated, but segregated, with SCADA

Availability, transaction success, throughput, revenue, fraud — Status & alarms go to station SCADA via OPC UA / IEC 61850 / Modbus;
monitored from the NOC. fare data stays inside AFC.

Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) — Metro Systems Overview