Manual fare collection
Encyclopedia
Manual fare collection is the practice of collecting
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...

 fare
Fare
A fare is the fee paid by a passenger allowing him or her to make use of a public transport system: rail, bus, taxi, etc. In the case of air transport, the term airfare is often used.-Uses:...

s manually (without the aid of an automated machine). "Fare collection" generally refers to the collection of fares in the transport industry in return for a ticket
Ticket (admission)
A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...

 or passes to travel. Commonly used on buses and train transport systems, manual fare collection is increasingly becoming obsolete with the introduction of smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

s such as the Transport for London
Transport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...

 'Oyster card
Oyster card
The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands...

'. However, in the face of this trend, some companies have opted to retain more traditional methods of manual fare collection to both save money (automatic equipment is expensive) and ensure reliability. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, examples of this can be seen on the Transport for London Heritage lines and the FirstGroup FTR routes in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

, and Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 where bus conductors
Conductor (transportation)
A conductor is a member of a railway train's crew that is responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve the actual operation of the train. The title of conductor is most associated with railway operations in North America, but the role of conductor is common to railways...

 (dubbed 'customer hosts') have returned to work.

Equipment

A range of fare collection equipment has been developed over the last century in the United Kingdom.

Cash bag

Perhaps the simplest of these developments is the leather cash bag. At one stage, held by bus conductor's nationwide, the cash bag today commonly has two compartment
Compartment
In heraldry, a compartment is a design placed under the shield, usually rocks, a grassy mount , or some sort of other landscape upon which the supporters are depicted as standing...

s inside and can be held like a satchel
Satchel (bag)
A satchel is a bag, often with a strap. The strap is often worn so that it diagonally crosses the body, with the bag hanging on the opposite hip, rather than hanging directly down from the shoulder. They are tradionally used for carrying books....

. The advantage of the cash bag is that it gives a secure and easily accessible place to store the money collected from tickets. In general it is necessary for a conductor to use the cash bag; it is too cumbersome for bus or taxi drivers to manage.

Coin dispenser

Perhaps the biggest development in manual fare collection is the coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

 dispenser
Dispenser
-Containers and machines:Various machines that dispense things:* Automatic toothpaste dispenser* Cash dispenser * Hearing aid dispenser* Label dispenser* Klik Rockets Dispenser, a candy dispenser* Paper towel dispenser...

, invented by Jacques L. Galef. Mounted either in a driver's cab or on the belt
Belt (clothing)
A belt is a flexible band or strap, typically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist. A belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing.-History:...

 of a conductor, the coin dispenser usually takes the form of a number of tubes fitted in a line together. Each tube holds a different denomination and tends to have some sort of trigger
Trigger
-Technology:* Trigger , a mechanism that actuates the firing of firearms* Image trigger, a device used in highspeed cameras* Schmitt trigger, an electronic circuit* Trigger circuit, IBM's name for a flip-flop...

 which will release the coin from the bottom. In Britain, the Quick-Change and Pendamatic units, for example, has labelled plastic funnel
Funnel
A funnel is a pipe with a wide, often conical mouth and a narrow stem. It is used to channel liquid or fine-grained substances into containers with a small opening. Without a funnel, spillage would occur....

s at the top, which filter the coins into the tube. A trigger on the front of the machine then releases the coin by pushing a kicker, which holds the coin, forward in a pivotal motion. Other models in Britain, the Cambist and Metro Coin Dispensers, works on a similar principle but also have the option to be attached to the fare collection table allowing the operator (usually the bus driver) to simply slide the coins into the respective tubes. Generally, coin dispensers in the UK are configured with the £1 coin to the left (as the machine faces you), then the 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p, 1p. However, some operators have customised their dispensers to better suit their individual needs.

Tender tray

Other fare collecting equipment includes tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....

 tray
Tray
A tray is a shallow platform designed for carrying things. It is larger than a salver, a diminutive version commonly used for lighter and smaller servings, and it can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, wood, melamine, and papier-mâché...

s which can be fitted to bus driver doors to allow the customer to put the fare down. These are common on most buses in the United Kingdom now, since they facilitate quick payment and also allow for the driver to have a screen protecting his cab, yet still securely collect change (the tray is placed with a small gap above it to allow room for the drivers hand to pass through).
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