tayser
July 12th, 2005, 05:47 AM
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/us-bidder-wins-500m-ticketing-contract/2005/07/12/1120934223813.html
US bidder wins $500m ticketing contract
By Dan Silkstone
Transport reporter
July 12, 2005 - 1:21PM
Related
* Ticketing: How it will work (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/how-it-will-work/2005/07/12/1120934225520.html)
The State Government has announced the winning bidder for the $494 million contract to supply the state's new public transport smart card.
American company Keane Incorporated was announced this morning to build, install and run the new system, which will begin operating in 2007.
Premier Steve Bracks said the system would create 100 jobs, but the biggest winners would be the state's commuters.
"The ticket they use to catch a train from Bendigo will be the same as the ticket they use to catch a tram to St Kilda," he said.
Mr Bracks said commuters would not need to know what zone they were in when they bought a ticket, what zones they were travelling through or what the cheapest available fare would be.
The card automatically recognises the user's position in the transport network and the cheapest available fare.
The founder and chairman of Keane, John F Keane, said he was delighted to be the winning bidder.
"We are 100 per cent committed to the success of this program . . . and committed to making this the benchmark to which other ticketing systems compare themselves," Mr Keane said.
Keane, an IT and business services firm, is the major partner in a consortium known as KAMCO.
The consortium also includes ASCOM, which will provide fare-collection equipment; Perth company ERG, which will be responsible for installation and maintenance; and Melbourne firm GND, which will provide the cards.
ERG was a surprise latecomer to the bid. The firm was behind the introduction of the current metcard in 1997 and had put in a separate bid for the smartcard contract, which was eliminated earlier in the tender process.
Keane operates in the US, Canada, India and the UK.
The company's other transport clients include CSX Technology, a Fortune 500 company, and Railinc.
The State Opposition had earlier raised concerns about the tender process.
FOI documents revealed that Victoria's Transport Ticketing Authority paid Keane $230,000 for a three-month consultancy last year on an "open-architecture" system, which would avoid the need for the Government to be locked into a contract linked to specific hardware.
The Liberal Party says on its website that two consultants worked in Melbourne for as much as $15,000 a week.
But the authority's general manager, Duncan Bryce, said the open-architecture requirement was only a small part of the tender process, and that Keane had been asked to provide advice because there were a limited number of experts in the field.
Melbourne is the first Australian city to opt for a such a system, although it is becoming popular overseas. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have recently decided to adopt systems that do not feature open architecture.
Some industry sources say the focus upon open architecture could have given the American company a competitive advantage because it is expert in such systems and, unlike some of the other bidders, is not a developer of ticketing hardware.
More than 71 million metcards were sold in Melbourne last year.
- theage.com.au
US bidder wins $500m ticketing contract
By Dan Silkstone
Transport reporter
July 12, 2005 - 1:21PM
Related
* Ticketing: How it will work (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/how-it-will-work/2005/07/12/1120934225520.html)
The State Government has announced the winning bidder for the $494 million contract to supply the state's new public transport smart card.
American company Keane Incorporated was announced this morning to build, install and run the new system, which will begin operating in 2007.
Premier Steve Bracks said the system would create 100 jobs, but the biggest winners would be the state's commuters.
"The ticket they use to catch a train from Bendigo will be the same as the ticket they use to catch a tram to St Kilda," he said.
Mr Bracks said commuters would not need to know what zone they were in when they bought a ticket, what zones they were travelling through or what the cheapest available fare would be.
The card automatically recognises the user's position in the transport network and the cheapest available fare.
The founder and chairman of Keane, John F Keane, said he was delighted to be the winning bidder.
"We are 100 per cent committed to the success of this program . . . and committed to making this the benchmark to which other ticketing systems compare themselves," Mr Keane said.
Keane, an IT and business services firm, is the major partner in a consortium known as KAMCO.
The consortium also includes ASCOM, which will provide fare-collection equipment; Perth company ERG, which will be responsible for installation and maintenance; and Melbourne firm GND, which will provide the cards.
ERG was a surprise latecomer to the bid. The firm was behind the introduction of the current metcard in 1997 and had put in a separate bid for the smartcard contract, which was eliminated earlier in the tender process.
Keane operates in the US, Canada, India and the UK.
The company's other transport clients include CSX Technology, a Fortune 500 company, and Railinc.
The State Opposition had earlier raised concerns about the tender process.
FOI documents revealed that Victoria's Transport Ticketing Authority paid Keane $230,000 for a three-month consultancy last year on an "open-architecture" system, which would avoid the need for the Government to be locked into a contract linked to specific hardware.
The Liberal Party says on its website that two consultants worked in Melbourne for as much as $15,000 a week.
But the authority's general manager, Duncan Bryce, said the open-architecture requirement was only a small part of the tender process, and that Keane had been asked to provide advice because there were a limited number of experts in the field.
Melbourne is the first Australian city to opt for a such a system, although it is becoming popular overseas. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have recently decided to adopt systems that do not feature open architecture.
Some industry sources say the focus upon open architecture could have given the American company a competitive advantage because it is expert in such systems and, unlike some of the other bidders, is not a developer of ticketing hardware.
More than 71 million metcards were sold in Melbourne last year.
- theage.com.au