Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

Evaluation of the Central Puget Sound Regional Fare Coordination Project

5. Report Date:

April 13, 2006

6.  Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s)

Chris Cluett, Jon Bottom, Patrick Balducci, Catherine Taylor

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organizations Name and Address

Battelle CRA International
1100 Dexter Avenue North        John Hancock Tower
Suite 400          200 Clarendon Street, T-33
Seattle, WA  98109-3598           Boston, MA  02116-5092

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61-96-C-00077

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Federal Highway Administration, HOTO

400 Seventh Street, SW

Washington, DC  20590

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final, February 2003 – July 2005

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes:  Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) –

Joe Peters, FHWA

16. Abstract

The Central Puget Sound Region in western Washington State covers over six thousand square miles and a population of 3.5 million persons.  Seven public transportation agencies, operating bus, rail, and ferry services in four counties in this region, are partnering to offer their public transportation customers a single electronic fare medium – a fare card – that will enable seamless travel across the region using multiple transportation service providers.  The Regional Fare Coordination (RFC) Project partners currently include: King County Metro Transit (the largest agency), Community Transit, Everett Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and the Washington State Ferries.  The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) contracted with Battelle to evaluate the RFC Project.  The FHWA sees great value for other locations and agencies in documenting the processes that have been followed by the partners and the strategies that they have applied to address institutional, technical, organizational, governance, financial, contractual, and other challenges.  Battelle, teamed with CRA International (CRA), has conducted interviews with representatives of each partner agency, as well as with the staff of the Regional Team that is responsible for administering the vendor contract and overseeing the complex day-to-day system development process.  The RFC Project holds great promise not only to improve the transit travel experience of residents of the Central Puget Sound region but also to serve as a template for the implementation and operation of a large, complex fare card system for transit agencies across the nation.  The evaluation seeks to convey a clear understanding of the range of institutional, organizational and governance issues addressed throughout the development of the project and how they were resolved.  The report offers an objective outside perspective on those institutional and process elements, including a set of “lessons learned,” that will be of most value to a general audience, including in particular other transit agencies that are considering developing or participating in similar regional fare card initiatives.  Building on the experience of the Central Puget Sound RFC Project, and the lessons of this and other fare card systems around the country, offers transit agencies perhaps the best opportunity to identify a path to successful project implementation.  Working with these examples, the challenge will be to adapt them to successfully fit the unique needs and conditions in other locations.

17. Key Words

Fare card; fare coordination project; public transportation; transit; evaluation; institutional assessment; lessons learned; Washington State

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions.  This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA  22161.

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

None

20. Security Classif. (of this page)

None

21. No. of Pages

            101

22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7            (8-72)     Reproduction of completed page authorized