Transaction system supporting universal ticket solutions for transportation

A method of managing a transportation fee account of a user, said method comprising:

• determining by a fund managing device that a first fund of an account of a user has sufficient credit to satisfy a transportation fee imposed by a first city, the account of the user including separate funds for different cities, wherein the separate funds include credit in different national currencies;
• determining by an account managing device that other funds of the account of the user have additional credit to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city when the first fund of the account of the user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city;
• determining by a financial managing device costs for transferring credit to the first fund from the other funds of the account of the user, the costs including at least one of transaction fees, exchange rates, and taxes;
• selecting by the account managing device a fund of the other funds having a lowest cost for transferring credit to the first fund;
• identifying a future city that the user is scheduled to visit within a predetermined time period;
• excluding a transfer from a fund from a country of the identified city to the first fund to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city;
• identifying user preferences, the user preferences including a ranked list of two or more funds in the other funds to be used when a fund in the account of the user has insufficient credit;
• and
• transferring credit to the first fund from the other funds based on the ranked list of funds,
• wherein the other funds of the account of the user include a pool fund with funds from a plurality of individuals,
• wherein transaction fees of the pool fund are lower than standard transaction fees when the user does not use the pool fund when at least one of a threshold amount of funds in the pool fund is reached and a threshold number of transactions using the pool fund is reached, and
• wherein credit from the pool fund is transferred to the first fund of the account of the user when the first fund of the account of the user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy a transportation fee based on a preference set by the user.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon:
• first program instructions executable by a device to cause the device to determine that a first fund of an account of a user has sufficient credit to satisfy a transportation fee imposed by a first city, the account of the user including separate funds for different cities;
• second program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to determine that other funds of the account of the user have additional credit to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city when the first fund of the account of the user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city;
• third program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to determine costs for transferring credit to the first fund from the other funds of the account of the user, the costs including transaction fees, exchange rates, and taxes;
• fifth program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to identify a future city that the user is scheduled to visit within a predetermined time period;
• sixth program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to exclude a transfer from a fund from a country of the identified city to the first fund to satisfy the transportation fee imposed by the first city;
• seventh program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to identify user preferences, the user preferences including a ranked list of two or more funds in the other funds to be used when a fund in the account of the user has insufficient credit;
• and
• eighth program instructions executable by the device to cause the device to transfer credit to the first fund from the other funds based on the ranked list of funds,
• wherein the other funds of the account of the user include a pool fund with funds from a plurality of individuals,
• wherein transaction fees of the pool fund are lower than standard transaction fees when the user does not use the pool fund when at least one of a threshold amount of funds in the pool fund is reached and a threshold number of transactions using the pool fund is reached, and
• wherein credit from the pool fund is transferred to the first fund of the account of the user when the first fund of the account of the user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy a transportation fee based on a preference set by the user.