Calgary Transit will be going back to the drawing board to find an electronic fare collection system for the city after a second attempt to bring CONNECT to riders failed to meet reliability targets.
Transit initially contracted Telvent, Schneider Electric, to create an Electronic Fare Collection (EFC) system in 2010 but technical problems popped up and the project was cancelled by the city in 2012.
Telvent notified transit in November 2013 that the system was almost complete and promised it could be implemented quickly so the city decided to give the company another chance to deliver the system.
Transit says recent testing of the equipment identified reliability issues and Telvent told the city that it would not be able to meet the agreed reliability targets for the system.
Transit officials were concerned that system failures could negatively impact customer experience, funds and transit revenues so they decided to cancel the contract.
So far, the city has paid Schneider Electric $5M and officials say they will try to recover the money through legal means.
Telvent released a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying…
“We are disappointed that the City of Calgary has chosen not to move forward with the completion of this project to improve the transit experience of its citizens. When completed, we believe the system would have provided value to the city, its residents and the visitors Calgary hosts each year. Beyond that, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on a matter involving one of our customers.” - Tony Good, Telvent Spokesperson
Transit officials say they will continue to look into and monitor advances in fare payment technology to find the best option for the future.
