Smart Card is an innovative transportation card idea that 2 of my friends and I did it for our school final

2. Mission Statement………………………………………5

3. Management & Ownership…………………………… 5-6

4. Product of Service……………………………………... 7-8

5. Market Overview/ Competition/ Market Share……... 9-13

6. Customer Profile………………………………………. 14 -15

7. Financial Summary / Sales Forecast…………………. 16

8. Objectives & Strategy…………………………………. 17-19

9. Advertising & Promotion………………………………20-23

10. Current & Future Outlook…………………………….24

12. Income Statement – One year by month……………...iii

13. Cash Flow Statement – One year by month…………..iv

16. Smart Card carries services with SFMTA (Muni), BART, Cal Trans, AC Transit and Sam Trans with more than nine different cities and counties; customers may also pay for their BART and Cal Train parking. Customers can buy grocery in Walgreens and purchase beverages with Starbucks using our Smart Card. The wonderful thing about these cards is that each one has a built-in sensor chip; this is convenient for the consumer so that they won’t have to show their card every time they pass the gate. They can simply put it in their wallets and purses, and then tag it on our Smart Card machine and go.

17. For security purpose, we have a Smart Card register program which is free for the customer to register their card online. Each card has a serial number on the back of the card that verifies the owner therefore; the customer can create their profile in our official website. When logged into their account, they can easily check their balance, add values, and sign up for service for auto load values with their credit card when the balance has less than $3. If the customer reports a loss of their card, our system will block the card immediately and replace a new card for them to pick it up in our booth locations and/or mail it directly to their home.

19. Nearly every company, business, government and consumer in the world is, to some degree, dependent on the transportation industry. As such, the shipping of supplies, products and consumer goods is essential to the domestic and international economic system. Since 1998, the transportation industry has accounted for 3% of the U.S. GDP each year. The transportation industry can be broken down into three major groups of companies: Shipping, passenger transport, and equipment manufacturers. In some cases, particularly within shipping and passenger transport, companies provide services in multiple areas of the industry. Shipping companies are responsible for the transportation of supplies, and products to businesses, governments and individual consumers and operate on a global basis. The passenger transport segment provides people with the means to get anywhere on the planet, whether it is by air, sea or land. Finally, the manufacturing segment produces the trucks, planes, ships and railcars along with all the technology that allow transportation to exist in its current form. These manufacturers are just as essential to the transportation of materials and people as are the companies that transport them.

20. Marketplace Analysis

21. The San Francisco Bay Area is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas. Overall, the Bay Area consists of nine counties, 101 cities, and 7,000 square miles. The nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma The Bay Area when defined as a Combined Statistical Area, is the sixth largest in the country, with approximately 7.4 million people. It encompasses the metropolitan areas of San Francisco (12th largest in the country) and San Jose (31st largest in the country), as well as four other smaller, surrounding metropolitan areas. The Bay Area hosts many cities, towns, military bases, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a massive network of roads, highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels and commuter rail. The combined urban area of San Francisco and San Jose is the 46th largest urban area in the world. San Francisco is the cultural and financial center of the Bay Area, and has the second highest population density of any major city in North America after New York City. San Jose is the largest city in terms of population, land area, and industrial development. Oakland is a major manufacturing and distribution center, rail terminus/hub, and has the fourth largest container shipping port in the United States. The Bay Area is renowned for its natural beauty, liberal politics, affluence, diversity, and new age reputation. The nine-county Bay Area region grew at a slightly faster rate of 1.4 percent, adding 100,443 residents for a total of more than 7.3 million people. San Francisco's population of 824,525 is the city's biggest ever, the state figures show. San Jose, which grew by 1.8 percent last year, now numbers just a shade under 1 million people - 989,496. The city of Dublin's 7.7 percent growth was the highest in the Bay Area in 2007. Only three cities in the region saw their populations shrink: St. Helena (down 0.3 percent), Yountville (0.3 percent) and Sebastopol (0.2 percent). California's overall growth means 1 in 8 Americans now lives in the state.

22. Competition

23. TransLink is a new transit fare payment system being implemented in the San Francisco Bay Area. It utilizes a reloadable card with a dual interface, making it capable of both contact and contactless transactions. TransLink was introduced as a pilot program in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to reduce the number of fare systems and help integrate transit systems in the Bay Area. TransLink is being rolled out in phases; currently five transit agencies, AC Transit, BART, Cal rain, Golden Gate Transit, and Muni accept the card on all routes except for Muni's San Francisco cable cars. TransLink is fully functional for five transit agencies:

24. AC Transit (including its subsidiary, Dumbarton Express) - Starting October 1, 2009, passengers will no longer be able to use paper 10-Ride and 31-Day Transbay tickets for rides across the Bay. Passengers can only obtain an AC Transit Transbay pass via TransLink, or they may pay their fares in cash. Transbay magnetic-stripe tickets will no long be accepted throughout the AC Transit service area, including lines operating over the Dumbarton and San Mateo Bridge.

25. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District's public transportation services: Golden Gate Transit & Golden Gate Ferry.

26. Muni (SFMTA - San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) - TransLink is accepted for payment throughout the Muni system except for cable cars. Customers can load both e-cash and a monthly Fast Pass onto their TransLink card. A TransLink card with a Fast Pass loaded is also good for free trips on BART within San Francisco.

27. BART - BART has begun a rollout of TransLink to its customers, which started on August 3, 2009 and will last for approximately five months. All TransLink cardholders are now able to use their cards on BART.

28. Cal Train – Cal Train has also begun use of TransLink as of August 17, 2009 with a select group of customers. While the commuter rail agency encourages people to register to participate in surveys, TransLink welcomes all cardholders to use the rail system.

29. The TransLink system's expansion will continue in 2010 to include the VTA network, part of which participated in the pilot program, and the SamTrans bus network, which did not participate in the pilot program at all. Finally, WHEELS, Tri-Delta Transit, WestCAT, County Connection and other smaller transit agencies which did not participate in the pilot program are expected to install TransLink on their bus and ferry lines in 2011 or later.

30. Important transit agencies that will not install TransLink capability include Amtrak and the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE), both of which provide rail links between Fremont and San Jose. Some VTA bus lines serving this corridor, however, have been TransLink-equipped since the start of the pilot program.

31. Statistics

32. Approximately 182,000 cards have been distributed throughout the region as of August 2009. The average number of weekday transactions in that month was 31,850. AC Transit riders accounted for about 44% of the riders using TransLink, Golden Gate Transit and Ferry accounted for 31%, Muni riders 21%, and BART and Cal Train together under 4% (both systems began accepting TransLink in August 2009).

33. Each transit agency has conducted surveys of its customers to determine customer satisfaction. Below are some highlights of the findings:

34. AC Transit: 89.9% of customers surveyed would recommend TransLink to a friend. (May 2008)

35. Golden Gate Transit: 85.5% of customers surveyed are satisfied or very satisfied. (October 2008)

37. Executive Suites

38. Upper-Mid, Middle Age w/o Kids - Executive Suites consists of upper-middle-class singles and couples typically living just beyond the nation's beltways. Filled with significant numbers of Asian Americans and college graduates--both groups are represented at more than twice the national average--this segment is a haven for white-collar professionals drawn to comfortable homes and apartments within a manageable commute to downtown jobs, restaurants, and entertainment.

39. Money & Brains

40. Upscale, Older Family Mix - The residents of Money & Brains seem to have it all: high incomes, advanced degrees, and sophisticated tastes to match their credentials. Many of these city dwellers are married couples with few children who live in fashionable homes on small, manicured lots.

41. Young Influentials

42. Midscale, Younger w/o Kids - Once known as the home of the nation's yuppies, Young Influentials reflects the fading glow of acquisitive yuppiedom. Today, the segment is a common address for younger, middle-class singles and couples who are more preoccupied with balancing work and leisure pursuits. Having recently left college dorms, they now live in apartment complexes surrounded by ball fields, health clubs, and casual-dining restaurants.

43. Winners Circle

44. Wealthy, Middle Age w/ Kids - Among the wealthy suburban lifestyles, Winner's Circle is the youngest, a collection of mostly 35 to 54 year-old couples with large families in new-money subdivisions. Surrounding their homes are the signs of upscale living: recreational parks, golf courses and upscale malls. With a median income over $100,000, Winner's Circle residents are big spenders who like to travel, ski, go out to eat, shop at clothing boutiques, and take in a show.

45. Suburban Pioneers

47. Smart Card is designed to make transportation convenient for people who often use multiple methods to get around the Bay Area. By having a card that can be used in multiple transportation outlets, consumers do not have to worry about carrying other cards or change around. Smart Card also allows consumers to customize their cards with images of their choice (done for free) on our website. This will let the consumer feel as if they can interact with our company and have decisions made on their own. Customers will choose Smart Card because it gives them variety in many areas and convenience is an important aspect in a person’s life when they are busy and always on the run.

48. Place/Distribution Strategy

49. Smart Card will be sold in all Walgreens location found in the Bay Area, on our online site, 15 stations, and 6 booths. Booths will be set up at participating locations: Powell, Millbrae, Santa Clara, Downtown Oakland and Gilroy. These locations are specifically tailored to meet the needs of our consumers as they are strategically placed in all areas of the Bay Area. Consumer will have a variety of places they can buy the Smart Card in case they are not in close proximity to another location.

50. Price Strategy

51. Our pricing will be to either buy at Walgreens $3 per card (with zero amount) or $20 per card (with $20 to spend). Either of these cards can be constantly refilled with money by doing so at the booths or online. The better deal is the $20 card and ultimately that is our strategy at getting more consumers to buy those cards. The $3 cards are for those who are trying to test out Smart Card and putting in $10 just for a trial. The maximum anyone can put into a car will be $300 and these Smart Cards will never expire.

52. Sales Strategy

53. Most of our sales will done through Walgreens stores and booths located in certain places of the Bay Area, and online through our website. We will have part time workers that will be available at the stations to help customers if they have any questions on how to buy a ticket at the booth. As said before, because most of our sales do not need workers unless someone has an issue/question on how to purchase a card through a machine. Therefore, we do not need to hire a full staff that is part time (only technicians – in the case of technical difficulties). In order to support the sales effort, management will check up on how sales are doing and think of promotions to draw in more consumers.

54. Operations Strategy

55. We are using our workers as the main way to add value for customers for they will be available to help when/if consumers have questions on how to operate the machine. Machines will be clearly labeled for assistance and will be easier for the customers to understand. Smart Cards will be manufactured in China and be shipped overseas two times a week in order to supply enough cards to consumers. The quality of the cards is considered low quality because it is made of plastic; as long as it functions through the machines, then that is all that matters. Much stress will be emphasized on giving assistance to those who need help or assistance with the new machines. We want the customers to feel comfortable asking us for help if they do not understand how to work the machines.

56. Development Strategy

58. Advertisement

59. Promotion

61. Motivated team player with dedicated talent for deploying research and organizational skills toward analyzing and upgrading

62. Enthusiastic self- starter who can boost productivity, cut cost, foster efficiency, and ensure profitability

63. Goal-driven achiever with strong organization skills, detail orientation.

65. Managed inventory

67. Skilled in problem solutions and customer relations

69. Analyze regular corporate retail sales reports and tailor each local marketing profit-plan with retail leadership.

71. Set-up trunk shows and attended clinics for new incoming fashion lines

72. Worked with tailors and seamstresses for fittings

74. Designed more attractive merchandise presentation strategies and special marketing campaigns; resulting in increased store traffic and profits

75. Hired and trained sales staff

76. Increased store inventory and expanded merchandise purchases

77. Purchasing, merchandising, customer service

79. Responsible for increased sales through use of aggressive city-wide marketing campaign and more attractive department layout

80. Daily operations included cash deposits and inventory controlWorks Cited <br />AC Transit. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. <http://www.actransit.org/main.wu?r=n>. <br />quot;
Bay Area Population May Reach 9 Million In 2035.quot;
CBS 5. 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. <http://cbs5.com/local/population.bay.area.2.450413.html?detectflash=false>. <br />Bay Area Rapid Transit. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://www.bart.gov/>. <br />quot;
Consumer Spending.quot;
Demo Dirt. 10 July 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://www.demodirt.com/index.php/us-demographic-data/consumer-spending>. <br />SamTrans. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.samtrans.com/>. <br />SFMTA Municipal Transportation Agency. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.sfmta.com/cms/home/sfmta.php>. <br />TransLink. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <https://www.translink.org/TranslinkWeb/index.do;jsessionid=6E8BD9445C79EED7ACE3AF6EC9DCB58B>. <br />Yi, Matthew. SF Gate. Bay Area population now more than 7.3 million, 2 May 2008. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/02/BABH10FC3H.DTL>. <br />