Glossary

acceptance  The act of receiving a credit or debit card as a form of payment.

account based  In fare collection, a system that maintains an account in a central computer, rather than storing value on the card. Compare stored value.

acquirer  Also merchant acquirer, acquires and settles credit/debit transactions between the merchant and the issuing bank.

antenna  The part of a reader that communicates with smart cards.

array  A group of gates.

authorization  The process of validating a transaction before submitting it for settlement.

acquiring  In the credit card system, submitting transactions to an issuer for settlement.

AFC  automated fare collection.

APTA  American Public Transportation Association.

bank, issuer  These two terms are used interchangeably for card issuers.

banked  Said of a rider who has a bank account, as opposed to unbanked, those without a bank account.

chargeback  The process of reversing a credit card transaction.

DOT  Department of Transportation, a Federal agency.

e-purse  An account-based card system where the user must put funds into the account before using the card.

EMV  The standard devised by Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMVco ) for contact smart credit and debit cards, to replace existing magnetic stripe cards with a more secure format.

farebox  Bus cash register or automated device that collects bus fares.

gate  Subway or train entry/exit point that accepts fares.

integrator  A company that provides transit systems, including design, procurement and installation.

ISO  Independent Sales Organization. Not to be confused with the International Organization for Standardization, an ISO in the credit-card system is a sales company that gets customers for acquirers and manages customer service for them.

ISO 14443  A standard for smart cards in the credit-card format. This standard was developed by the International Standards Organization, a network of national standards institutes from 148 countries working in partnership with international organizations, governments, industry, business and consumer representatives. The ISO is the source of ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and more than 14,000 International Standards for business, government and society.

issuer A bank or non-bank credit card issuer.

lost transaction  A transaction lost by a card-processing system due to being torn or for other reasons.

merchant  A store that sells a service or product. In credit-card processing, the creator of transactions.

MSP  Merchant Service Provider. A type of ISO, particularly one which manages customer service for the acquirer.

negative list  An anti-fraud method also called hotlist or blacklist. A list of bad card numbers.

POS  point of sale [device], the gizmo where a credit or debit card is swiped or tapped to submit a transaction to the financial system.

RFID  Radio frequency ID, a tiny chip used to tag cartons, animals or other items for ready identification at a distance. Although the term generically includes smart cards, it is not to be confused with a smart card. An RFID tag has only 96 bytes of data and no processor.

RFP  Request for proposal, a bidding method used by public agencies.

RIS  Regional Interoperability Standard, a standard for card-based fare collection systems created by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in order to promote interoperability.

reader  Also called terminal. A device that reads information from and writes to cards.

reduced fare  The conditions of use for classes of riders such as children, students, seniors and disabled.

RFP Request for Proposals. In a public bidding process, the document requesting proposals from contractors for a certain work.

settlement  The process of settling funds generated from a transaction.

smart card  Also chip card, or integrated circuit card, any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. There are two broad categories of smart cards. Memory cards contain only memory storage components, and perhaps some specific security logic. Microprocessor cards contain memory plus microprocessor components. The standard perception of a "smart card" is a microprocessor card of credit card dimensions (or smaller, e.g. a SIM card) with various tamper-resistant properties and capable of providing security services. Not all chip cards contain a microprocessor (e.g. memory cards), and therefore not all chip cards are necessarily also smart cards. However, the public usage of the term is often inconsistent.

spoof  1) To deceive for the purpose of gaining access to someone else's resources (for example, to fake an Internet address so that one looks like a certain kind of Internet user or server). 2) To simulate a communications protocol.

stored value  Monetary value that is stored on a card. It is equivalent to cash. Customers purchase value on the card ahead of its use. Compare account based.

submission  In a settlement, the act of submitting a the transaction to the acquirer and to the issuer for fund settlement.

tap  Bringing a smart card to within 4 inches of the reader in order to effect a transaction. Depending on the settings of the reader, no actual tapping may be necessary; the card may be read through clothing or a purse.

time pass  Or time-based pass. A pass sold for unlimited rides on a system within a period of time.

torn  Said of transactions incompletely written to the card at the gate or farebox. Usually caused by the customer moving his or her hand too quickly for the gate to finish writing to the card, a torn transaction can create a lost transaction and/or make the card inoperable.

t-purse  An e-purse for transit fares.

trip pass  A fare that pays for one ride.

unbanked  Said of those without a bank account.

UTFS  Universal Transit Farecard Standards, a standard created by APTA to ensure that vendors will not lock transit agencies into proprietary solutions.