This research examines the potential for the adoption of a standardized fare payment system throughout California’s transit operators; to better serve their customers and provide seamless trip-planning and payment. This study addresses the Caltrans goal of Exploring Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for reducing friction in fare payments by investigating the challenges faced by California’s rural and urban transit agencies and operators in the adoption of DLT for fare payments. Challenges with cash payments and the growing abilities of digital payments have led to growing interest in DLT and integrated payments in the future of California’s public transit. This will require transitioning over 350 transit agencies operating in the state to coordinated fare payment systems. There is a huge diversity among transit agencies in California, and as such, these agencies face different challenges and to different degrees, when considering the adoption of DLT, as well as participation in the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP).
