A patent troll is generally understood to be someone who abuses a patent to extort money from good-faith manufacturers. Plenty of people apply for patents just so that they can claim that they're 'inventors', without ever intending to even enforce these patents, let alone abuse them with specious lawsuits. Whether this Joel Goheen is a patent troll depends on his behaviour while the patent was extant, not the fact he registered it.
Nonetheless, it is clear to me that the patent itself does not describe a novel invention. There is basically nothing original about the idea: plastic magnetic strip cards, databases, consumer credit - all of these were around for decades prior to 1994. The composition of these into a transport booking or payment system was obvious even then; stored-value smartcards had already been in development for multiple years.
All in all, I certainly share the interest in the history of electronic ticketing, but I would dismiss any singular claim of 'inventing' the technology. I think it was inevitable from the moment digital computers started to be viable.
Nonetheless, it is clear to me that the patent itself does not describe a novel invention. There is basically nothing original about the idea: plastic magnetic strip cards, databases, consumer credit - all of these were around for decades prior to 1994. The composition of these into a transport booking or payment system was obvious even then; stored-value smartcards had already been in development for multiple years.
All in all, I certainly share the interest in the history of electronic ticketing, but I would dismiss any singular claim of 'inventing' the technology. I think it was inevitable from the moment digital computers started to be viable.