Ubiquitous computing for mobile based payments in localised intelligent transportation systems

Abstract

The current system of ticketing and payment for parking at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, faces several challenges, such as frequent malfunction of the ticketing machines, fraud by the system employees, difficulty in locating a payment point for motorists, and hefty fines of 50000 Ugandan shillings for lost tickets. These challenges result in inconvenience, inefficiency, as well as revenue loss for both the system’s managers as well as motorists using it. To overcome these challenges, we propose a low-cost secure and reliable system that consists of a mobile app that enables cashless digital prepayment of the parking fees using local popular payment platforms such as MTN mobile money. The app interacts with an embedded microcontroller at the gate that scans the QR codes and the motorist access after it verifies their payment. We describe the design and implementation of the app and the microcontroller, and examine its benefits as well as shortcomings. We argue that our system offerers a more convenient, efficient, and transparent way of managing toll payments not just in the university context, but other premises with a similar payment system in place