(DALLAS, Texas. April 11, 1997) An international group of fare collection manufacturers announced support today for a new standard for the connection of this equipment to central and regional computer systems. This standard, Vending Equipment Interface Specification, or VEI, defines how equipment used to sell and collect fares for bus and rail systems should communicate financial, maintenance, and operational information to external local or remote computer systems.

"The VEI standard holds the promise of reduced costs for public transportation authorities, shortened product development cycles for manufacturers, and most importantly, better and more convenient fare collection equipment for use by the traveling public," stated Brian Waters of Agent Systems, Inc., a member of the new group.

The VEI Working Group was created to develop and support an open, non-proprietary standard for data communications for fare collection systems. The VEI Working Group is made up of Ascom Autelca Ltd. of Switzerland, Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH of Germany, and three U.S. based companies, Agent Systems, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, VenTek International of Petaluma, California, and GFI Genfare of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Fare collection systems from these manufacturers represent as much as 50% of the international installed base of modern electronic fare collection systems, and perhaps 75% of all North American systems.

"This is the first real, cross company effort to create a true international standard for our industry," said Russell Macfarlane, Business Manager for Ascom Autelca. "Ascom believes it to be a significant step forward in answering our customers' requirements for compatibility among different suppliers of fare collection technology."

Fare collection equipment is used to collect fares from riders of bus and rail systems. Fares are paid using cash, credit card, and ATM card. The sophisticated electronic equipment that companies use to automate these sales transactions is supplied by a small number of companies, most of which are active in this market world wide. This specialized fare collection equipment connects to external computer systems for 1) the reporting of financial information, 2) the processing of cashless, electronic transactions, 3) reporting of equipment status, and 4) remote equipment configuration and control.

In the past, each manufacturer used its own proprietary data formats to communicate with these external computer systems. This practice created incompatibilities that prohibited customers from mixing equipment from different suppliers, and resulted in inefficient systems.

"The absence of industry standards has also created higher costs for manufacturers, extending both the design and development time necessary to create and deliver new technology," commented Mr. Waters. "The introduction of broadly supported standards such as VEI will result in lowered costs, and increased quality. These are big benefits to the transit companies that buy our products, and to the riders that use this equipment every day on their way to and from work."

Vending Equipment Interface (VEI) Specification was originally introduced in October of 1996 by Agent Systems of Dallas, Texas. The VEI Working Group was created to allow other manufacturers to provide input into the VEI standard. A revision of VEI based upon the comments of both suppliers and users of fare collection systems is expected to be approved and released by the working group this month. Copies of the VEI specification are available without charge from any member of the Working Group.

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