Skip to main content

RIPTA partners with Init for electronic fare management project

The Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA) has selected Init Innovations in Transportation (Init) to implement an account-based electronic fare and back-office revenue management system on their fixed route fleet of over 240 buses. The technology is designed with the intention of allowing passengers to board faster and have more convenient fare options. Additionally, RIPTA hopes to eventually transition most of its fare transactions to mobile, retail, web and agency-internal e-fare smartcar
February 8, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA) has selected Init Innovations in Transportation (511 Init) to implement an account-based electronic fare and back-office revenue management system on their fixed route fleet of over 240 buses. The technology is designed with the intention of allowing passengers to board faster and have more convenient fare options.


Additionally, RIPTA hopes to eventually transition most of its fare transactions to mobile, retail, web and agency-internal e-fare smartcards which will allow them to utilize closed-loop and open payment options.

Once completed, passengers will be able to pay for fares by tapping their card or mobile device on a validator. Mobilevario, Init’s back-end processing software, will calculate and validate the transaction against the account and display the remaining balance in real-time.

Init will implement its open architecture for the project to help RIPTA integrate its new and existing partners more easily.

The contract includes EMV-capable e-fare validators, the integration of a Byemark mobile ticketing app and the option to implement platform validators and ticket vending machines in future phases of RIPTA’s fare collection upgrade.

Amy Pettine, Interim CEO of RIPTA, said: “RIPTA is excited to bring this innovative system to our riders. This update will not only make it easier for riders to manage their fares, but it will also speed up boarding times and cut back on the time people have to spend counting coins and bills. Fare products will be available at the touch of the fingertip.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Citymapper & Masabi on board for West Midlands ticketing
    June 19, 2024
    Passengers have all-in-one plan, pay and ride experience for UK’s National Express
  • Cellular communications drive the way forward for tolling
    January 18, 2012
    For more than 20 years prior to joining the ITS industry, Mike Payne of Idris, part of Federal Signal Technologies, worked for Vodafone - the world's biggest mobile operator. Here, he considers how the road tolling sector can grow and learn from the cellular industry. The global cellphone has been one of the most successful collaborative technology projects in the last 30 years. Mobile phone technology developed throughout the 20th century with the first public service in the early 70s. This was followed by
  • Octopus to deploy China transit pay card 
    April 26, 2021
    Contactless solution will be available to transport users in 300 cities in mainland China
  • Geotoll’s payment app could be the smart answer to tolling interoperability
    July 30, 2013
    Jon Masters looks at a smartphone app which could be the ‘disruptive technology’ that eases the way to interoperability in tolling systems. Consumer demand may soon drive the biggest step change yet in tolling. In the United States a new start-up company, Geotoll, has launched a smartphone app for electronic toll payment. It is not beyond possibility that rapid growth of the market for smartphones will continue – an estimated 50% of US citizens and 80% of Europeans now have one – and that the Geotoll brand