Transit has evolved into a vital part of most cities' infrastructures, and is used by large numbers of commuters and citizens to get from one place to the next. Public transportation use is only expected to grow as urban density increases. Traditionally, commuters on buses, subways, light rail and street cars pay for fare with individual tickets or paper monthly passes. These options work for the occasional rider, but paper tickets can be worn out, lost, ripped or damaged unintentionally by frequent riders who rely on public transportation. Many cities around the world have instated transit card programs which provide riders with durable, renewable transit passes. Fargo ID machines create durable, high quality transit cards with the security features needed to give riders an easy commute.

ID CARD OPTIONS WITH A FARGO ID MACHINE

Fargo ID machines offer a wide variety of options when it comes to creating transit cards. The combination of possible transit cards is endless, but here are some possibilities:

• High Coercivity (HiCo) Magnetic Stripe – These more secure magnetic stripes store more information that standard, Low Coercivity (LoCo) stripes, permitting the exchange of information like trips taken, funds available, and the addition of more funds if need be.
• Smart Chip/Smart Card – Smart chip cards look like normal ID cards, except they have a small chip embedded in the front. Information, like rider name and pass permissions, are stored in this chip. Encoding smart chip-embedded cards requires a special ID maker, like a Fargo HDP5000.
• RFID/Contactless Smart Card – These cards work much like smart cards, except they communicate information through an antenna embedded in the card, and do not require contact with a reader to exchange relevant passenger information.

Some transit bureaus may choose to add rider photos to their passes, to discourage fraud. Other security options include holograms and lamination for sturdier cards and to prevent tampering. A Fargo ID Machine can all of these features, making it the perfect printer for creating high quality, durable transit cards that will be useful for years to come.