Universal Transit Farecard Standards (UTFS)Task Force

Tom Parker (TF Chair), BART

Martin Schroeder, APTA

Henry Rosen (Fare Media Chair), PATH

Dave Phelps, APTA

Chung Chung Tam (Fin Mgmt Chair), CTA

Leisa Moniz, Volpe

Rick Barrett (Fin Mgmt Vice-Chair), Quattran

Tim Weisenberger, Volpe

The revised IP Policy and UTFS By-laws documents will be balloted at the Task force level for a 60-day period. Approximately 3 weeks into the ballot period, Martin will hold a Q&A teleconference.

Once approved, the IP policy will be implemented and an IP educational Webinar will be held.

Action: Martin will distribute a plan of action to the TF leaders to be discussed at the next meeting.

Martin reported:

Martin completed the revisions to the IP policy and the UTFS By-laws that will reference the policy. Additionally, Martin created a scope statement that the IP policy will reference. Tim distributed these documents on 3/3. There were no comments to the documents.

Martin opened a discussion of the process for approval and implementation of the IP policy. Martin stated that the By-laws state that revisions to the By-laws must be balloted at the Task Force level for 60 days. He asked if the group would agree to a shorter ballot period. He stated that he would like to ballot both the IP policy and the By-laws on one ballot to avoid confusion.

After discussion, the group decided that the ballot period must be full 60 days. They also directed Martin to hold a Q&A teleconference approximately 3 weeks into the ballot period. Finally, the implementation of the IP policy will include an IP policy Webinar to educate the UTFS participants and leaders on the appropriate use of the policy.

Action: Martin will distribute a plan of action to the TF leaders to be discussed at the next meeting.

The next Fare Media call is proposed for 3/28. The Magnetic Stripe Instrument Guideline and Farecard Procurement Procedures document action plan will be developed

Action Item: Henry and Tim must generate an approach and estimate for completion of the documents.

Tim reported:

Fare Media Committee has not met in several months, but Henry is attempting to call a meeting for March 28. This is pending availability of key work group leaders. At this meeting, the Farecard Procurement Procedures and Magnetic Stripe Instrument Guideline documents will be discussed and an action plan arrived at

WP1- A subgroup is resolving comments to the smart card specification. The WP1 group will meet 3/24 at Booz Allen offices in San Francisco.

WP3- Committee-level ballot on the Security Guideline is due April 1.

WP4 has concluded discussion of the PANYNJ proposal to split WP4’s work into 2 pieces, one spec based on RIS Pt 4-based system and a second spec that takes this first spec and creates a more generic spec that can accommodate non-WP1 spec compliant card schemes. Ballot will be issued 3/14/05. Ballots are due 3/18/05.

Tam reported:

A WP1 subgroup is resolving comments to the smart card specification at the rate of approximately 5 per week. The WP1 group will meet Thu, Mar 24 at Booz Allen offices in San Francisco.

The WP3 deliverable, the Security Guideline, is in committee ballot. The ballot period closes 4/1/05.

The WP4 team is debating the PANYNJ proposal to split WP4’s work into 2 pieces: 1. A spec based on RIS Pt 4-based system and 2. A second spec that modifies the spec in (1.) and creates a more generic spec that can accommodate non-WP1 spec compliant card schemes.

Discussion on the issue has concluded. WP4 participants are reviewing the wording of the ballot. Comments are due 3/14. The ballot will then be distributed to the WP4 team. Ballots are due 3/18/05.

The WP4+ project scope was distributed for review on 3/3. No comments were made to the document, however the leaders expressed confusion on the reporting relationship between UTSF and the SCA Transportation Council.

The leaders decided to vet the scope document through the Financial Mgmt Committee prior to any agreement to proceed.

The next SCA Transportation Council Steering Committee meeting will be 7-8AM Thu, Mar 24 at BAH offices in San Francisco. This meeting will not interfere with, nor interface with the WP1 meeting to be held immediately after the SCA meeting.

Action Items:

Tim W. will ensure Greg Garback can present the proposed project to the Fin Mgmt Committee on the 4/4/teleconference.

Leisa M./Chung Chung Tam will add the item to the meeting agenda

Tim W. will send the scope document to Leisa for distribution to the Fin Mgmt Committee

Martin reported:

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council Steering Committee met again 3/8. The committee members were informed that the UTFS TF leaders were reviewing the scope document for the proposed project to develop a draft work plan for the WP4+ specification and that they would discuss it in today’s meeting. Tim distributed the scope document on 3/3 to the TF leaders for review. There were no comments to the scope document. The group expressed confusion as to which entity (UTFS or the SCA would take the lead on the project, and what the reporting structure would be. Martin and Tim both stated that UTFS would lead the effort and SCA members would be recruited due to their expertise in systems integration, chip development, and payment processing. Martin and Tim emphasized that the scope of the transportation Council project was very limited and would only feed the UTFS program a draft work plan for the WP4+ work including suggestions on scope and schedule. This document would then be a source document for the future WP4+ team to use to create a final work plan.

Tam stated that he felt the scope document should be vetted through the Financial Mgmt Committee for comment. The group agreed to do this. Based on the comments of the committee, the process could potentially proceed.

Martin added that the SCA is creating a press release that would announce the Council and that APTA was a key participant. The group expressed concern that the UTFS program was not ready to announce this relationship. Martin pointed out that the press release would be high level and would not give details about this specific proposed project nor the UTFS program specifically. The announcement will simply include the partnership and support of APTA. The group expressed that this level of detail was acceptable.

Martin announced that the next meeting of the Transportation Council Steering Committee would be Thu, Mar 24 at BAH offices in San Francisco. The meeting would immediately precede the WP1 meeting held there. The group expressed confusion as to why the meetings were co-located and if there would be cross-over between the groups. Tim stated that the Steering Committee chose the date and location due to the fact that multiple steering committee members (APTA, Volpe, ERG, Cubic, and WMATA) would be at this location and date. It presented a good opportunity to get a large portion of the steering committee together face to face. A similar desire drove the selection of WMATA for the meeting on 3/8, due to the Government ID conference in Washington, DC.

Action Items:

Tim will speak with Greg Garback to ensure he is available to present the proposed Transportation Council project to the Fin Mgmt Committee on their Apr 4 teleconference.

If Greg is available, Leisa Moniz and Chung Chung Tam will add the item to the Apr 4 meeting agenda. Tim will send the scope document to Leisa for distribution to the Fin Mgmt Committee.