INIT: Yenlo helps transform Seattle’s Public Transportation

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Background
The public transportation agencies and their respective systems located in the Central Puget Sound Region provide essential services to the greater Seattle area. Each contributes to a healthy community and thriving economy by providing safe, equitable, and sustainable services locally and regionally. The importance of public transportation to the region is evident in the system’s continued growth, including newly opened light-rail lines, expanding bus service, and long-term plans that include the expansion of light-rail service throughout the region.
Originally launched in 2009, the ORCA system is the regional automatic fare collection system, a collaboration between four Washington counties and seven transit agencies. As a card-based system, the first generation of the ORCA system had account values and transaction data written directly to a transit card. Card readers provided fare validation but relied on non-real-time batch processes to record and reconcile transaction data, recognize new card values, and make changes to fare structure. ORCA provided easier transfer between services and introduced online payments and account management to the system’s users. The ORCA system proved popular with riders, and by 2019, 68% of transit trips involved an ORCA card.
The challenge
While the initial, card-based ORCA system was both highly adopted and experienced continued growth by riders within the region, the limitations of card-based technology became evident as the system aged and consumer demand for additional value continued to rise. The non-real-time nature of the system had several limitations, including a delay between when value added to a card was available to be used. The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) and the six additional regional transit partners needed a next-generation, account-based, electronic fare system to improve the customer experience.
Sound Transit partnered with INIT to supply their next-generation ORCA fare system. The contactless, account-based solution enables riders to conveniently add value to their accounts and use various payment methods in real time. It introduced new PCI and EMV-compliant fare validators, mobile apps, websites, customer service terminals, vending machines, a customer relationship management system, retail outlets, and back-office and reporting systems. Importantly, the new system requires flexibility and scalability as continual improvements and opportunities for additional services and unidentified integration partners are expected over the system’s life.
“The scale and complexity of the Seattle project required us to find a partner who could not only provide software but also provide services, consulting, engineering, operations, and support of such a critical integration component.”
DAVID PAGE, DIRECTOR OF IT AT INIT