Orlando Regional Alliance for Next Generation Electronic Payment Systems (ORANGES)

ORANGES "Smart Card" can be used to pay for garage parking, tolls, and bus fare at designated routes and locations across the partner agencies.

ORANGES is a multiagency collaborative intelligent transportation systems (ITS) project involving the Central Florida regional Transportation Authority (LYNX), the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, and the City of Orlando Parking Bureau. This $5.3-million-project is cofunded by the Federal Transit Administration as an operational test for seamless electronic payment systems for transit, tolls, and parking. The objective is to plan, develop, and implement a multipayment instrument that provides a single clearinghouse approach to electronic payment systems in the Orlando metropolitan area. Primary goals of the project are to develop an increased level of customer service, provide more value for customers, improve efficiency of shared “back office” functions, and deliver innovative services to the customer. Equally important is the development of a focus point for business model and technical concept development and understanding.

The activities within ORANGES are closely linked to those of the ITS America Payment Systems Task Force, providing a stream of valuable information on suitable interagency and public-private business models, as well as practical experience in the application of payment systems technologies. The use of a single, regional electronic payment medium will enable participating agencies to offer a number of programs and enhance multimodal transportation system performance. Additionally, once the core electronic payment infrastructure is in place, ORANGES hopes to further enhance the efficiency and deliver more value to customers through private sector involvement, such as retail purchases. The ORANGES field operational test was launched in August 2003 and will proceed for one year.