This project supports the efforts of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission to design a Regional Fare System. The system will integrate the fare collection operations of separate commuter rail, bus, and rail-commuter operators. The project follows on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority's decision to implement the recently demonstrated "Go Card" throughout Washington, DC's Metrorail system. Building on this successful demonstration, this project will assist the transportation agencies of the Washington, DC area to integrate their transit fare and transportation payment systems.

The project was initiated in June 1997, and placed in a "hold" category for several months pending reconciliation with similar regional projects. It was started up for the second time in November 2001.