AFC system equipment, as an electromechanical product directly facing people, has frequently appeared in various newspapers and magazines in recent years, and has been concerned, studied and discussed by more and more rail transit builders in the capital construction industry. In fact, most people are dealing with AFC system every day: subway, light rail, bus, garden and so on. Both involve buying tickets and checking in. AFC system is a bridge between people and charging equipment. It is a symbol of modern management, and its importance is self-evident. On the occasion of the second AFC Forum in Ning, this magazine specially interviewed Ms. Chen, a pioneer and authoritative expert in the field of AFC in China, and asked her to introduce the development and future of AFC system in China.
Card market: In many places, you can often see the publicity of AFC system, subway, light rail, bus, parks and other places where fees are charged. As the first person in domestic AFC system, please give us a brief introduction of the basic concept of AFC system.
Chen (hereinafter referred to as "Chen"): Actually, it was not me who first put forward the concept of AFC in China, but my teacher, our chief engineer, Mr. Wang Zhenxin. I was the first person who devoted himself to realizing his concept. The full name of AFC system is automatic fare collection, which means automatic toll collection system. It not only refers to the field of rail transit, but also can be used in any place where fees need to be charged. For intercity railways, the Ministry of Railways is also planning to implement AFC system.
Card Market: Under what background did China's AFC system develop?
Chen: The development of AFC in China has also gone through a tortuous process. In China, Shanghai is the first city to put forward the concept of AFC system. 1985 In March, Shanghai Metro Company was established. At that time, Shanghai Metro planned to introduce foreign AFC equipment, and in June 1986, it submitted the feasibility study report of Shanghai Metro 1 Line, including AFC system and screen doors. 1987 the State Council's review comments came down, and both of them were approved as "deferred". There are three reasons for AFC's delay: first, insufficient investment; Second, the high degree of automation affects employment; Third, advanced advanced, ordinary people will not use it, not suitable. From the perspective of capital construction, "slow" means "beat".
Since the Shanghai subway was built and put into operation in the 1990s, a modern rail transit system has no matching automatic toll collection system, just like "wearing a suit and sandals". So after many efforts, three suggestions are given above: 1, reserve the space in the station; 2. Embedded pipes in the station hall; 3. Find relevant domestic manufacturers and research institutes for research and development, and then promote the application after the technology is mature. So "slow boarding" doesn't mean that we can't catch up, so at 1988, Shanghai Metro put forward the project of independently developing AFC system equipment. After three years' efforts from 1989 to 1992, six prototypes (2 ticket checking machines, 2 ticket vending machines, 1 ticket replacement machine, 65438) have been developed. From 1993 to 1996, 39 sets of equipment were developed and tried out in five stations in the southern section of Shanghai Metro 1 line, and the project was expanded. These tests and development should actually be called the functional prototype stage. The practice of product development tells us that it takes at least four to five years from functional prototype to product. However, since Shanghai Metro 1 Line has been put into operation and Line 2 has also started construction, there is no time for further research on AFC prototype equipment. So with the approval of the Shanghai Municipal Government, it was agreed to change from domestic self-development to introduction. At that time, Shanghai Metro 1 and Line 2 spent nearly $28 million to purchase AFC equipment from American CUBIC Company, and 1 March 19991was put into operation.
With the construction of rail transit, the automatic fare collection system is gradually recognized and accepted by people. Now almost every subway planning and design includes AFC system. Some domestic manufacturers saw the business opportunities, so Shanghai Post, Shanghai Huaming, Shanghai Hua Hong and Shenzhen Hyundai appeared. From 1999 to now, after domestic manufacturers entered this field, AFC equipment was no longer simply developed by subway companies and research institutes, but by manufacturers from functional prototype research and development to product development stage. Now domestic enterprises and foreign enterprises are bound together to realize complementary advantages and mutual benefit, thus shortening the cycle of AFC productization. The cooperation between Nanjing Panda Factory and French Guotai Reyes is such an example.
This is the development course of China AFC system "introduction-domestic development-introduction-combination of redevelopment and introduction".
Card market: From AFC functional prototype to products, it shows that AFC equipment has really entered the market, and domestic enterprises have begun to take on heavy responsibilities in this emerging field. At what stage is AFC equipment in China? Compared with some developed countries or regions in the world, what are the gaps?
Chen: Personally, I think it is still in the stage of product prototype to product finalization, which can be said to be a sub-mature stage, because there is still a certain gap between domestic AFC products and the equipment produced by international established AFC manufacturers. Moreover, there is no fixed professional organization to identify and test AFC products in China, which is the gap between us and some developed countries and regions in AFC technology.
Card market: As AFC equipment is still in the sub-mature stage, it also reflects that the development of AFC system in China has encountered some obstacles. According to your years of experience, what are the main aspects of these problems? Is it technology, standards or talents?
Chen: I think the obstacles exist objectively. After all, our development and application are many years behind foreign countries. We are not short of talents. China people are very clever. Although there is no AFC major in colleges and universities, anyone who studies weak electricity such as radio, communication, signal, automation, computer and other majors can learn by analogy.
Regarding standards, in recent years, national and local standards related to AFC are being formulated, and some local standards have been released.
As for technology, we should learn more from foreign countries with R&D level, because we don't have the technology of AFC. However, Japan, the United States and France all developed in the 1950s and 1960s, and there was a gap of nearly 30 years between them and China.
I very much hope that enterprises can combine China's situation in AFC product development to produce a system suitable for China people, especially to develop software suitable for China's national conditions. After all, we are still different from foreign countries. For example, some countries in Europe have a small population and are unlikely to be crowded, and the natural environment is better than ours. However, China has a vast territory and a large population. For example, since the opening of the Shanghai subway, there are still people who have never taken the subway, and the use of AFC equipment is even stranger. Therefore, how to make AFC product development and design more convenient, safer, more reliable, more accurate and more people-oriented is the goal that we should all work together.
Card market: Some people say that AFC system will cause a group of people to be laid off. Do you think so?
Chen: It is said that "getting on the AFC system will lead to people being laid off", which is similar to the reason why the AFC system project of Shanghai Metro 1 Line is listed as "slow boarding". Of course, this understanding is not groundless. According to some data, when the United States implemented AFC system in urban transportation, it also encountered the intervention of trade unions. However, this prejudice was corrected after the efficiency of the AFC was fully demonstrated. So I think it is very important to know the AFC and establish a correct concept. It can promote and support the implementation of the automatic fare collection system, on the contrary, it will only interfere with and hinder the construction and development of the automatic fare collection system.
First of all, the application of AFC system is not only to reduce the number of people, but also to improve efficiency and management level. For example, passenger flow statistics, some buses and subways in China sent many passenger flow observers to do statistics in the early years, but in the end it was time-consuming and laborious, but the statistical results were incorrect. Mainly people have their own thoughts, their own joys and sorrows. If he has emotions, he won't give you serious statistics and counts. The AFC system counts passenger flow, fares and information through computer system, which is much faster and more complete than manual statistics.
Secondly, after adopting AFC system, people are saved in the front desk and not in the background, such as research and development, maintenance and so on. What has changed is that the simple labor of killing tickets manually has become a more advanced and technical job. AFC system does not need personnel, but needs people to improve their own level and compete for posts.
Thirdly, we should fully understand the important role and position of AFC in rail transit system. I remember when a French friend introduced AFC system more than ten years ago, he said: AFC system is equivalent to the face of the subway, and people enter the subway to buy tickets first. If this system is not good, it will be difficult to achieve the goal of giving people a "safe, comfortable and convenient" rail transit. Moreover, AFC system directly faces every passenger (different from communication, signal, power supply, environmental control and other majors in the subway, which are operated by people themselves), so it can better reflect the standards of rail transit designers, builders and managers.
Card market: As you said above, the related equipment is still in the sub-mature stage. Can it be considered that the AFC industrial cluster in China has begun to take shape? What are the key technologies of AFC system?
Chen: I don't think so, especially the professional products of AFC. As far as its industrial cluster and production scale are concerned, it is different from the production of televisions, refrigerators and computers. AFC equipment, especially it is a software product involving system management and application. Different cities and different owners have different management models and concepts, so it is impossible to unify them, and their scale benefits cannot be measured by production batches.
There seems to be a lot of domestic advertising manufacturers about AFC equipment manufacturing, but only a few access controls can be produced, which cannot be regarded as AFC. I think it can be called AFC system, which must include terminal equipment such as ticket checking, computer management, statistics, control and application software, and can be implemented in a certain scale of rail transit. At present, the domestic AFC system equipment contractors can basically meet this requirement mainly in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and Beijing has also begun to set foot in it, but it is only the beginning.
As for the key technology of AFC, I often talk about its invisible things and software system. In the operation of rail transit, it is not easy to calculate, count and record the daily, weekly, monthly and annual ticket card, passenger flow information, ticket income and the operation, maintenance and repair data of equipment at all levels in the system, which requires considerable experience accumulation.
In terms of hardware, we haven't reached the level comparable to foreign products. Because our country's basic industrial base is relatively thin, quite a few materials can't reach abroad, and the processing technology is not very particular, so the parts are not too hard, which will affect the performance of the whole machine and the quality of system engineering, so we must make continuous efforts in this respect.
Card market: Are there any policies to promote domestic AFC industry? How should enterprises use policies to grow and develop?
Chen: At present, there is no relevant policy for AFC industry in China, which is a pity. I think the AFC industry needs a policy and needs the support and management of the state.
First, in terms of project investment, enterprises cannot be led to "shopping" for prices for short-term business. "Cheap goods are not good" is a well-known truth. The price is too low. In order to survive, enterprises may choose low-grade or substitutes to produce AFC equipment. On the surface, it seems to reduce the cost, but it also reduces the quality and performance of AFC. This is also the reason why domestic equipment in China is often inferior to imported equipment. Therefore, for AFC projects, I advocate a reasonable price rather than the lowest price.
Second, we must have the support of the state. According to reports, in the process of AFC development in Japan and South Korea, the government ordered enterprises to provide funds and complete them within a limited time. For example, AFC equipment used in Seoul and Busan in South Korea in the early days was from European countries. After the system was put into operation, the contractor's after-sales service could not be guaranteed because of the long distance, so the South Korean government instructed Samsung to complete it, which made South Korea's AFC not only realize localization quickly, but also participate in the international market competition. I believe that domestic manufacturers and enterprises also look forward to the support and care of the government.
Third, integrate the scale and team to avoid repeated development and waste of people and money. It is understood that countries with AFC in the world include Japan, Japan Signal, Omron and Toshiba. South Korea has Samsung, KDE and LG; There are two companies in America: CUBIC and FI. Australia has ERG family; There is a new electronics company in Singapore. In China, there are four or five in Shanghai alone, excluding Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province. There are so many AFC manufacturers, but technically they still refuse to change the goods they need. For example, the ticket card recycling device of the ticket checking machine was developed by Shanghai manufacturers several years ago and has been used in the project, while Shenzhen manufacturers were also developing it last year. Why? You develop yours and I develop mine. On the surface, it is a corporate behavior, but in fact it consumes state funds. Therefore, if we can unify and integrate, we can realize complementary advantages and avoid repeated development.
Kashi: There are a lot of AFC equipments mentioned above. We know that the operation of the equipment still needs to be realized through the final medium. In AFC system, IC card as the medium of ticket card has been more and more recognized by people. Is IC card the best medium at present?
Chen: I don't think so. With the development of information technology, there will be many media for ticket cards, including bar code cards, contact IC cards, contactless IC cards, optical cards and so on. Compared with magnetic cards, ic cards have many advantages and a large amount of information. In China, both magnetic cards and ic cards are in use, but there will be more and more IC cards, showing an upward trend. However, magnetic cards are still used in AFC systems in Japan, the United States, France, South Korea, Britain, Australia and other countries. Why don't they change it? First, the equipment is used better. Second, the environment is better, that is, the habit of using cards is better. At least foreign passengers won't sweat with their ticket cards.
"Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet", no matter the new ticket card technology comes out, I believe AFC system will try first.
Card market: why does TOKEN compete with card IC cards in AFC system of some urban rail transit? In fact, they are all IC cards, but the packaging forms are different. From your years of experience, what kind of ticket card do you think is ideal?
Chen: It can't be said that it is competition. Radish and vegetables have their own tastes. Some people like to use this, while others like to use that. People who like TOKEN will say all kinds of reasons for choosing TOKEN, and so will cards. But let me say TOKEN is better, or card is better I won't express this state because it's still being compared. The forms of tokens are Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Wuhan and Tianjin; Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing and Dalian all use cards. But technically, both of them are IC cards, but their AFC equipment structures are completely different.
In terms of durability, TOKEN is more durable; In terms of operating income, TOKEN can't advertise, which reduces some advertising revenue. So this is not absolute, it is still being compared.
Card market: Compared with the investment of AFC system equipment, the investment of operators in ticket cards is still relatively small, but as a ticket card that communicates directly with passengers, it still plays a great role. How to treat the role of ticket card in AFC system?
Chen: Ticket card is a very important intermediate medium and information carrier in AFC system. It is also the basis of the contract between passengers and operators, and its importance cannot be ignored.
Card market: What suggestions do you have for IC card related enterprises?
Chen: For ticket card suppliers, only by carefully analyzing and studying operators' strategies and understanding operators' needs can they finally win the market. It is important to know the needs of the owners. In order to put forward their own ticket card scheme and cost performance according to the needs of car owners, ticket card suppliers have to do a lot of experiments and speak with data. For the card, these tests mainly include its reliability, security, life and cost. If these data are made and the owners can accept it, the list will naturally come. At present, many card factories are lacking in data collection. In this regard, I suggest that card dealers and machine dealers can unite to form an alliance and promote each other.
Kashi: What suggestions do you have for the development of AFC?
Chen: I want to put forward my suggestions to government departments and enterprises respectively.
I hope the government will come forward as soon as possible to integrate the AFC team and set up several key points in the country to complement each other's advantages. Only in this way can we concentrate our superior forces, do a good job in our AFC cause and go abroad as soon as possible. In fact, due to the cost advantage of Southeast Asia, we have great market potential to tap. If we do well, such as Malaysia, India and Thailand, the markets of these countries are all possible. Integrate as soon as possible, which is what I said earlier.
In the development process of our factory, there are repeated development and waste of resources. If the state leaves it alone, it will continue to waste. At this point, I feel very anxious.
There are two things I would like to remind the enterprises that intend to join AFC manufacturing. One is that you should have enough funds to lay the foundation, and the other is that you should be able to withstand loneliness. Without enough funds, development can't go on, let alone success. Either there are other projects to support the development investment of AFC. The second is to be able to withstand loneliness. Yesterday you were developing, today you are developing, and tomorrow you may be developing, but you don't know when you will get the list, and it may take a long time to get the result, so if you want to engage in the AFC industry, you must have these two psychological preparations. Of course, if things are done well, I believe there will be achievements one day.
In terms of specific practices, I think the current manufacturers often focus on taking orders, focusing only on short-term, quick success and instant benefit, and not paying attention to long-term effects. Although some manufacturers have developed for five or six years, they still can't catch up with the foreign level. Why is there always a gap? The reason is that there is no good attention to the feedback information of the system to improve the level. Only by summarizing can we improve. I suggest that our factory pay more attention to the problems reflected by the equipment that has been put into use. If you don't sum up all the time, it will be a pity that you can't catch up with others. I once suggested that the contractor give bonuses to AFC maintenance personnel, just to get their opinions. Only the views reflected in practice are truly priceless. I have been reading the book Lenovo Fengyun recently. As we all know, Lenovo is a China company, but it has the ability to acquire the American IBM company (referring to the personal computer part, of course). Why can it achieve such success? I think there are many experiences that people in the AFC industry can learn from. Among them, there is an opinion to treat customers: they give customers a trial of the new product and say to them, "Please find out the fault for us and pick out a reward of 3000 yuan." It is because they are so serious that they have created this year's achievements.
When one day we really sell our AFC products abroad and it says "Made in China", I think it may be the greatest comfort to our new and old AFC system practitioners, because our dream has finally come true!
Card market: China's rail transit construction is in full swing in recent years, and there are many projects under construction and planning. How to look at the trend of China AFC in the next decade? What are the business opportunities in the industrial field?
Chen: There is a big market. According to the information provided by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Construction, during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, China's subway construction investment will reach 200 billion yuan, and urban rail transit lines with a total length of about 450 kilometers will be built. By 2020, the subway lines in China will exceed 550 kilometers. By 2050, the total length of subway and light rail lines will reach 2000 kilometers. By then, China's rail transit system will be able to undertake 50%~80% of urban traffic. AFC accounts for about 1% of the total investment of rail transit (according to the total budget of one line 13 ~ 16 stations). If the construction investment of this line is 654.38+0 billion, then AFC is 654.38+0 billion, which only refers to domestic production. There are so many cities in China that it is necessary to build such a long line. For example, Beijing now has the 13 line, so at least the 13 line should be repaired. Shanghai 20 10 pre-repair 1 1 0 post-repair. The whole plan is 19. Nanjing 10 Line, Chongqing Line 7. So if every city wants to build subways, there will definitely be no less than three. If there are less than three companies, it will not form a scale and its social benefits will not be reflected. In this way, more than 20 cities in China will build subways, and with the development and application of AFC system of ground railway network, the future market of AFC system in China will probably contain nearly 10 billion yuan of business opportunities, waiting for enterprises to develop.
Kashi: As a pioneer of AFC system in China, what have you learned from AFC?
Chen: I have been working and exploring in the field of AFC for more than ten years. Over the years, I have a deep understanding. From a technical point of view, I think AFC system is a field that emphasizes comprehensive technology very much. In the past, we said that AFC is a collection of five majors, such as optics, mechanics, electricity, magnetism and computer. Now there is wireless communication technology. If you take out every technical list, it will be less profound. However, it is not an easy technology to integrate these majors well, and it is quite difficult. I compare AFC system to a robot, because it stands there like a human, and it uses its brain to identify and calculate. If not, it will block you with its "hand" and won't let you pass. This is the function of the robot. Therefore, the AFC system we are actually working on is a robot system, with special emphasis on the comprehensiveness of technology.
In addition, the system should be done well, and experience should also be emphasized. If there is experience, there will be strategies to deal with emergencies. For example, some newly developed enterprises have done research and development on AFC terminal gates for a little over a year, and the prototype has not been tried out on actual lines. It wants to bid for a line, and I don't think it will be very sure. Because your "product" doesn't know what will happen in the process of use, how can the owner rest assured? Therefore, AFC system will emphasize whether there are successful cases in the process of bidding and evaluation. Just as the clinical experience of doctors is very important.