Passenger monitoring model for easily accessible public city trams/trains

Most of the public transportation infrastructure in European cities is easily accessible. The majority of the tram/train stations are located in an open and “gate-free” environment, easy available to everyone and hence introduces potential malfunctions in the system. This is why fare dodging (hopping on the tram/train without paying for a ticket) is simple. This paper suggests a conceptual framework and architecture to capture free riders (fare dodgers) in an early stage by using a RFID distance scan combined with people counting techniques as a tool to locate and monitor passengers. As a case study this paper uses the ticketing system in The Netherlands. It is a RFID-based ticketing system which uses a smartcard called OV-Chip card. It explains the current setup in The Netherlands, systems and architectures used and shows where possible problems and improvements could be achieved. An experiment is done to measure certain basic distance read ranges in different situations and locations. The results show that by making use of a different system architecture (RFID technology and People Counting Techniques) an improvement in catching free rides (fare-dodgers) in a much earlier stage is possible as well as simplifying manual tasks done by ticket inspectors.