Australia’s Second-Largest State Names Winner of Contract for New Ticketing System
Australia’s second largest state has hired U.S.-based Conduent to a 15-year, AU$1.7 billion (US$1.1 billion), contract to build and operate an account-based ticketing system that will include open-loop payments, the Victoria state minister for public transport announced Monday in Melbourne.
Open-Loop-Leaning Panel Sees Role for Closed-Loop Payments in Transit
Despite the growth of open-loop payments, closed loop will continue to play a necessary role for transit agencies, especially to accommodate the unbanked and underbanked and customers that don’t want to use their credit or debit cards to pay fares, panelists at a recent Visa-sponsored webinar said.
Special Report: How Much Has Open-Loop Payments Reduced Transport for London’s Cost of Fare Collection?
Backers of open-loop payments routinely promise that transit agencies can save substantially on their fare-collection costs by rolling out open-loop payments. But the amount agencies can cut from their ticketing budgets has proved difficult to pin down.
Uber Expands Transit Ticketing, but First Agencies to Sell Tickets through App See Low Adoption
Despite continued interest from transit agencies in selling tickets and passes through the Uber app, the first agencies to make the move are not seeing strong adoption.
Michigan Transit Agency Launches Open-Loop Payments
The transit agency serving the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., became the latest in a small but growing list of agencies to launch open-loop payments in the U.S.
U.S. Federal Agency Opens Procurement Program to Fare Validator Suppliers
Transit agencies in the U.S. could be able to buy fare validators through a federal government procurement program administered by the U.S. General Services Administration, as part of an initiative by the California Integrated Travel Project, or Cal-ITP.
Some Small and Mid-Tier U.S. Transit Agencies Join for Group Procurement of Fare Systems: an Emerging Trend?
Some groups of small and medium-sized transit agencies in the U.S. are looking to procure new fare or ticketing systems, hoping to get a better deal from vendors than the agencies could on their own.
Philadelphia Transit Agency Seeks to Overhaul ‘Troubled’ Fare System
For years, Philadelphia transit authority SEPTA was supposed to be the next big agency in North America to support open-loop payments. Now it appears that a launch of open loop might not happen until at least 2026, as part of an overhaul of a fare system that has been beset by delays and cost overruns.
Utah Transit Agency Hires Vendor for New Fare-Collection System
The Utah Transit Authority has hired fare-collection system vendor Scheidt & Bachmann to implement and host its new account-based ticketing system, including replacing all validators and ticket-vending machines and also swapping out its mobile-ticketing system, which itself was replaced on an interim basis last year.
Transit Operator in No. 2 Dutch City Launches Open Loop; Last Major Provider to Join Nationwide Service
RET, a bus, tram and metro operator serving the second-largest city in the Netherlands, Rotterdam, today announced it was beginning to accept open-loop payments. It’s the last major public transit company to join in the country’s nationwide open-loop service.