Cover Page

1. Introduction

Completing a monetary transaction between two parties without the use of cash or direct
contact between two parties is known as contactless payment system. Contactless
payment is achieved by using mediums that operate on radio frequency to transfer data
between the user and the receiver. Some popular forms of these mediums are RIFD
cards, key fobs or tags that transmit radio frequency which is then read by a scanner.
This exchange of data between the medium and scanner allows users to not use cash
for monetary transaction.

With all the advantages of contactless payment system has over traditional payment;
referenced in the next section, it would allow users to have faster transactions, easier
travel and familiarize themselves with technology which other countries have been using
for a while.

In a country where 95% of transactions are still cash based (Neupane, 2018),
implementing contactless transactions into suitable sectors brings a lot of advantage to
the economy in general (Durkin, 2018).Even with or without the concerns of coronavirus,
cashless transactions help businesses a lot (Xiao, 2020). In the current scenario of the
world, this technology sides to the advantages provided by cashless transactions over
its disadvantages. (Pettinger, 2020).

With all these things in mind, I have decided to make a contactless payment system for
public transportation which is suitable for Nepal. Using this technology in the most basic
state of transportation would encourage people to use modern solutions for primitive
problems which would not only be limited to this scenario. A user will be able to use card
for payment on public transportations and the amount in card can be loaded using a web
application, and a mobile application, which will have a subset of features from web app,
will allow a user to see their travel data and statistics.
1.1 Problem Scenario
1) Cash based transaction, especially in transportation industry is slower than
contactless transaction (Gundaniya, 2019).

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2) Students and other people who can claim discounts in public transportation need
to show their cards along with money every time they board a bus which makes it
tedious if the person is travelling multiple times a day.
3) Middlemen like drivers and conductors of the vehicle have the ability to manipulate
the total amount of cash that the bus owner makes or spends in a day. 4) Cost
calculation methods for passengers is outdated in public transportation, since there
is no proper implementation of bus stops in Nepal.
5) Foreigners visiting Nepal might not have the proper understanding of currency
which makes it difficult to travel to spontaneous trips without planning. 6) Although
cash is not the primary source of transmission of corona virus, it can be unsanitary in
public transportation where one note is handled by a lot of people in a single day.
7) In Nepal, if a public transportation staff is tested positive for corona virus, there is
no efficient way of contact tracing their passengers (Khabarhub, 2020).

1.2 Project as a Solution

This project acts as a direct solution to all of the problem scenarios stated above. People
will not need to use cash in public transportation which will make the experience faster.
Students won’t need to carry both their money and ID cards to claim a discount since the
discount data will be stored in their RFID card itself. Since all the transactions are done
digitally, there is no need for drivers to submit their earnings to the main counter and it
eliminates the time and effort to gather and deposit all the cash that needs to be
distributed throughout the chain of vehicles.

The cost for the consumer will be calculated per kilometre basis which means that the
customer will be charged per kilometre that they have travelled. This in turn makes it
easier for tourists to understand how the travel fares work in Nepal and encourages
them to spend more to travel on local transportation.
Since all records of passengers who have used a vehicle is stored in a database, it
makes it easier to contact trace them. With this in mind, it can even make crime rates
drop as investigators can use the travel history data of a person to determine their
location in a particular point of time if they have used any public transportation.

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2 Aims and Objectives

2.1 Aims
The aim of this project is to create a contactless payment system to make travelling
within Nepal seamless, technology friendly and easier than currently existing system. A
web application will be built where users can sign up and verify their credentials to use
the cards, and login later to view their travel data and pay for the card. A mobile
application will be built for registered users who can login and view their travel log and
data.

2.2 Objectives
The objectives which are the basis of the completion of the project are:

• To learn about web applications, mobile applications and their workings. • To use
IOT devices to build a prototype of contactless payment system for the end user.
• To understand and implement usage of database along with web application and
the card reader.
• To understand about API programming (street distance API and writing API to
store and retrieve data).
• To learn about user interface.
• To learn about cost calculation in the travel market.
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3 Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

The completion of the project would make it possible to achieve these tasks:

• A prototype of contactless payment device/system which can be scaled to work in

real life.
• Usable RFID cards to simulate the demonstration of payment in public
transportation.
o Scanning RFID card on scanner will store the location and time of the scan,
along with user details in the database which can be shown as travel log.
Raspberry pi along with its modules will be used as the card scanner.

• The same hardware will be used to write the cards. (To avoid cost of duplicate
hardware)
• Web application for user (for registered user and unregistered user): o Sign
up for the service and provide their credentials for verification. o
Simulation of pay or ‘load’ the card using available e payment options. o
View log of their travel history.
o View the longest and shortest ride.
o View possible cycling or walking distances to promote eco friendliness. o
View total amount of carbon emissions caused by their travelling and number
 of trees that the user could plant to help the environment.

• Mobile application for registered users:

o Sign into their accounts
o View travel details as in the web application.
• Web application for management:
o Verify user
o Deploy card
o View user data
o View necessary travel log
o Manage faulty travel details

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To register for the service, users need to sign up into the website and upload their official
credentials. Users need to have their credentials confirmed by the administration before
they can receive their cards.

After the cards have been received by the user and they start using it, they can view
their data on the website and the mobile app. Registration and payment functionality for
the mobile app will be added if it fits into the submission deadline.
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4 Projects risks, threats and contingency plans.

4.1 Risk and Threats

• Hardware failure during development or deployment.
• Libraries for hardware might be unavailable.
• Lack of internet connection from the card reader may cause the service to be
 disrupted indefinitely, crippling the resources.
• Miscalculation in calculating cost per kilometre.
• API could limit usage quota.
• Difficulties in implementing user specific data in the web application. •
Newer iterations of the project could break the existing stable version.

4.2 Contingency plans

• Backup hardware should be purchased to increase redundancy. •
Vendor independent libraries should be used.
• A system where data should be stored offline until connection is established should
be created.
• Proper research should be done to calculate cost which should be tailored
according to Nepali market.
• Use free API services that fulfil the needs for development and write backup code
to use other API services.
• Research about web frameworks that can implement user specific data. • Use of
version control system like git should mitigate the problem of unstable releases.

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5 Methodology

For the development of this project, I have decided to follow the Rational Unified
Process (RUP) methodology. This is a software development process from Rational
which is a division of tech giant IBM (TechTerms, 2005).This methodology categorizes
development of an application in four steps which have been listed, explained and
categorized according to my project below.

• Inception
 This is the first stage of this methodology where the idea of project is initiated. It
mainly focuses on analysing the requirements for the projects and the estimation
of resources that come with the requirements. Inception phase for this project
comprises of:
o Finalizing the preliminary project idea.
o Determination of hardware and software requirements.
o Determination of feature requirements.
o Discussion about development and documentation procedures with
supervisor/s.
• Elaboration
This second stage of this methodology further analyses the requirements that
were assumed in the first stage of the development. Furthermore, architecture for
development and planning with designing of the project is done in this stage of
development. Elaboration phase consists of these steps for my project.
o Time and cost re-evaluation of hardware and software.
o Risk assessment of potential calamities during development.
o Finalization of circuit diagram for the required IOT devices.
o Finalization of tech stacks to be used.
o Determination of expected expenditure and actual expenditure.
o Development of diagrams essential for development including UML
diagrams, class diagrams, ER diagrams etc.
o Documentation of proposal.

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• Construction:
This is the penultimate stage of the development methodology. As its name
suggests, this stage includes the main development of the project. The outcome
of this development should be ready to use and deployed to the required
destination. This involves coding, documenting and testing of the product. The
construction phase will be carried out in these steps.
o Building the system.
 o Testing and refining iterations of the build.
o Completion of system operational manual and user manual.
o Documentation for the project.
o Development and conduction of test cases.
• Transition:
This is the ultimate stage of this methodology which involves in the deployment of
the product that comes out of the construction phase. Installation in case of
software and teaching the users how to use the product, falls under this category
which is one of the simplest yet vital part of this methodology. Transition phase for
this project will carry out in these steps.
o Verification of requirement completion.
o Deploy hardware and applications.
o If released in market:
▪ Train professionals and public about the usage.
▪ Publication of user tutorials for web application and hardware.
▪ Collection of user and management feedback.

This methodology is particularly helpful for me as it allows for an iterative building

process of the hardware and the software along with change of requirements during the
development phase which could happen in this type of system. Things to consider using
this methodology properly are,

• Polishing requirements before design

• Add believable estimates according to the project
• Develop iteratively

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6 Resource Requirements

• Hardware Requirements:
o Raspberry Pi to act as the brains of the operation which uses the sensors
accordingly and store the data to the database.
o RFID cards to store the user ID which will be used for reading.
o RFID module to read the data present in the RFID cards to identify the
 user. o GPS module to collect the position of the vehicles to identify where
the user enters or exits the vehicle.
o Components to connect these modules (breadboard, wires, jumper wires)
etc.
o Hardware OS: Raspbian
o Local machine to develop the application.
• Software Requirements:
o For Web Application
▪ Python and Django
▪ Django-rest
▪ HTML/CSS (bootstrap)
▪ JavaScript
▪ APIs for street distance
▪ Git for version control
o For Mobile Application
▪ Flutter for front end
▪ Django for backend
o For Hardware GUI
▪ Python guizero module.

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7 Work Breakdown Structure
Figure 1 Work Breakdown Structure
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8 Milestones:
 Figure 2 Milestone Chart

The actions for construction phase will be done concurrently, as shown in Gantt Chart.

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9 Project Gantt Chart
Inception Elaboration Construction Transition
Figure 3 Project Gantt Chart

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10 Conclusion

This payment system for public transportation will be a gateway to make transportation
within Nepal fast, hassle free and sanitary. Most of the developed nations in the world
have implemented contactless payment system and leading Nepal to the same path
would make Nepali citizens open to the world for seamless travel. This prototype is just
the starting for the wave of contactless travel for the system, there could be many
possibilities using the same technology where proprietary cards are abandoned in favour
of a universal card or a universal card reading system which could be implemented all
over Nepal.

The possibilities of contactless systems are endless, and this project is aiming to be an
implementation that everyone can easily use and make their lives a lot easier.

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11 Bibliography & References

Durkin, A. (2018) Trade Vistas [Online]. Available from: https://tradevistas.org/toward-a

global-cashless-economy/ [Accessed 31 August 2020].

Gundaniya, N. (2019) Digipay [Online]. Available from:

https://www.digipay.guru/blog/towards-a-cashless-society-major
benefits/#:~:text=Transaction%20speed&text=Sweetgreen%20and%20Salad%20chain
s %20also,than%20that%20of%20card%20transactions. [Accessed 15 August 2020].

Hribernik, U. (2020) Transit [Online]. Available from: https://lit-transit.com/insights/the

future-of-payments-in-public-transport/ [Accessed 31 August 2020].

Khabarhub. (2020) Khabarhub [Online]. Available from:

https://english.khabarhub.com/2020/03/116909/ [Accessed 4 August 2020].

Neupane, A. (2018) New Business Age [Online]. Available from:

https://www.newbusinessage.com/MagazineArticles/view/2339#:~:text=(NCHL)%2C%
2 0excluding%20cheques%2C,rural%20population%20are%20prime%20factors.
[Accessed 31 August 2020].

Pettinger, T. (2020) Economics Help [Online]. Available from:

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/164246/economics/pros-and-cons-of-a-cashless
society/#:~:text=There%20are%20several%20advantages%20of,and%20with%20bad
% 20credit%20histories. [Accessed 31 August 2020].

TechTerms. (2005) TechTerms [Online]. Available from:

https://techterms.com/definition/rup [Accessed 24 April 2020].

Xiao, Y. (2020) WeForum [Online]. Available from:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/digital-payments-cash-and-covid-19-
pandemics/ [Accessed 20 August 2020].

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