Cape Cod Tourist Transit Pass Program
e-transit
comes to the Cape
The Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority has joined with the Cape Cod
Chamber of Commerce to promote the use of transit by Cape Cod summer
visitors using the Internet and advanced electronic payment systems on
transit vehicles. The program matches Cape hoteliers who have moved to
e-commerce business solutions with the advanced technology features of
the Cape's transit system to provide significant benefits to tourists
who will use transit rather than their cars while on Cape Cod.
Those hoteliers who are located within .25 miles of a CCRTA fixed
route have been identified using geographic analysis techniques at
Bridgewater State College's Moakley Center for Technological
Applications. Further, those with e-mail and web-sites are selected to
be invited to participate in a demonstration of electronic fare media
that provides a free pass for their guests to use transit during their
visit to Cape Cod. The prerequisites for participating in the program,
besides location near the Cape's bus routes, are
- the provision of
Internet access for their guests to use the Cape's Advanced Travel
Planner on www.e-transit.org,
- a commitment to receive staff training on the use of the Advanced Travel
Planner and the procedures for distributing the electronic transit
passes,
- a commitment to record (over the Web) the distribution and
re-distribution of transit passes to their guests during the Summer
season, and
- a commitment to store the electronic transit passes in a
secure and controlled environment.
The program features are as follows:
- The hoteliers within the geographic proximity of the Cape's bus
routes with an e-mail address will be invited to participate in the
Cape Cod Tourist Transit Pass Program.
- The hoteliers will enroll in the program electronically, using the
Internet to register on the Moakley Center's secure web server. Much
of the registry information will already reside on the Moakley
Center database, saving the hotelier time. It also precludes those
who have not made initial investments in e-commerce technology from
receiving electronic transit passes.
- CCRTA/Moakley Center interns will pay a site visit to the Cape
hotelier, verifying Internet connectivity, training staff in the use
of the Cape Cod Advanced Travel Planner, explaining program
objectives and rules, and distributing an initial supply of transit
electronic fare media (the Cape Cod Tourist Transit Pass). The
transit fare media will be pre-assigned to the hotelier on the
Moakley Center web-based database and the intern will establish the
hotelier's user name and password.
- The hotelier distributes the electronic fare media to their
customers upon check-in (much like an electronic room key). They
provide one pass for each registered guest.
- Within 24 hours of distribution, the hotelier enters the (minimal)
customer information on the Moakley Center web site database. Many
data fields will be pre-filled out to speed data entry. (This
information will be used for program verification and fraud
prevention.)
- The customer uses their card on any CCRTA vehicle during their stay
on Cape Cod. All CCRTA vehicles are equipped with mobile data
computers to read the cards. The customer simply hands the card to
the driver upon entering the vehicle (in lieu of fare) and again
upon leaving the vehicle. The driver swipes the card through the
card reader and the mobile data computer automatically enters the
date, time, geographic location, bus route, and pass ID and sends
the data to CCRTA's operations center.
- CCRTA pays the discounted fare for the tourist customer out of the
transit demonstration account. The hotelier's customer rides the
system for free while they are on Cape Cod.
- When the customer ends their stay on Cape Cod, they surrender their
card to the hotelier, who may re-issue the card to another guest
after notifying the GeoGraphics Laboratory at the Moakley Center.
Alternatively, the customer may turn in the card to the nearest
CCRTA bus driver. If the customer does not turn in the card, the
database will identify expired cards and create a cancellation list
of invalid cards for distribution to hoteliers and drivers.
- The CCRTA/Moakley Center intern will restock hotelier supplies of
electronic fare media as usage patterns emerge over the summer.
- At the conclusion of the summer, the program will be analyzed for
the most internet-proficient hoteliers and customers, e-business
patterns of significance to loyalty or strategic partnerships will
be identified, and a fraud audit will be conducted on the use of
electronic fare media.
- Moakley Center analysts will evaluate the impact of the program on
eliminating some automobile use by the Cape tourist visitor.
If you have further questions on the Tourist Transit Pass Program or
have suggestions on how we may improve the program, please contact
Aparna Sachidanand
800-352-7155
aparna@capecod.net
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