Miami Transit Agency Prepares to Release Tender Request for Back Office for Its Fare-System Overhaul
Miami-Dade Transit plans to issue its much-delayed request for proposal next month for an account-based ticketing back office for its planned fare-system overhaul.
U.S.-based Cubic Transportation Systems is the incumbent vendor and is expected to try to defend its contract.
In-Depth: Projects to Watch in California for Concessionary Discounts with Open Loop; Will More Riders Tap Bank Cards to Get Their Reduced Fares?
The Sacramento Regional Transit District in California, which launched open-loop payments earlier this month, is enabling concessionary discounts with credit and debit cards for three categories of riders–and at least for now, cuts by the Trump administration have not derailed the program.
The transit agency, known as SacRT, is the largest of four agencies in the state using a platform from the U.S. federal government, Login.gov, to deliver concessionary discounts to seniors, military veterans and others with open loop. Unlike platforms used by most other agencies to enroll customers for concessions, Login.gov can enable customers to fully enroll online. That avoids trips to transit agency service centers. And Login.gov can support such non-senior customer categories as veterans.
Another U.S. agency, in Florida, plans to use the Login.gov for concessions linked to credit, debit and mobile devices, as well, Mobility Payments has learned. (See below.)
Despite Nationwide Open-Loop Rollout, Netherlands Predicts Closed-Loop Card will Remain Most-Used Payments Method
Dutch transport operators and their national ticketing agency have disclosed updated details for rolling out a new white-label closed-loop card, while adding two months to the date when they plan to finally retire the country’s 20-year-old, Mifare-based closed-loop card, Mobility Payments has learned.
The group of nine transport operators and ticketing agency Translink Systems, which is overseeing the world’s first truly nationwide rollout of open-loop payments, is also projecting that closed-loop will remain the dominant fare payments method in the country.
Exclusive: U.S. Tariffs Will Cause Pain for Fare Vendors and Agencies, Though They May Not Spur More Manufacturing in U.S.
High tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump last week likely will hike costs for fare-system vendors, which are expected to pass on at least part of the increases to transit agencies, fare industry veterans told Mobility Payments.
Most industry observers say it’s too early to predict the scale of the impact, with many apparently holding out hope that Trump will change his mind and lower the tariffs, as stock markets reel and a number of countries seek to negotiate. Update: Trump abruptly paused most of the tariff hikes for 90 days on Wednesday, except for the levies on China. End update.
But while neither vendors nor agencies are expected to take huge hits from the tariffs, the pain could be significant.
Tip Sheet: Fare System Procurement in UAE Capital Canceled; New Tender Request May be Coming
Also: Visa’s Nick Mackie: Quit or Shown the Door?; Largest Agency on Multistate Ticketing Platform to Launch Fare Capping;
Major Agencies Again Meet with Payments Industry
Queensland Rollout to Hit Major Milestone after Years of Delays; Politicians Seek to Score Points Over Fare-System Fumble
The last major transport operator serving the Australian city of Brisbane and the state’s most populous region, “South East Queensland,” is scheduled to launch open-loop payments Monday as part of a long delayed Smart Ticketing project being rolled out by Cubic Transportation Systems.
The original AU$371 million (US$234.1 million) account-based ticketing and open-loop payments project will increase in cost to nearly
Transit App Introduces First-of-Its-Kind Feature Telling Users Where They Can Pay with Open Loop
The Transit trip-planning app has introduced a feature that tells users whether the transit agency they’re looking to ride accepts open-loop payments.
The first-of-its-kind feature kicked off with a list of more than 50 transit authorities, operators and groups globally in cities where the Transit app is present. That includes in North America, Transit’s homebase; as well as Europe and Australia and New Zealand. (See table with list provided to Mobility Payments)
To be sure, the list represents a significant undercount of the transit agencies that accept open loop globally, even among the 800-plus cities where the Transit app operates. But Transit says the list is a good start.
Cubic Wins Lawsuit Against LA Metro Seeking to Prevent Agency from Releasing ‘Confidential’ Pricing Information
A Los Angeles County superior court judge has ruled in favor of Cubic Transportation Systems in its lawsuit against the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Cubic has mainly sought to block the release of pricing data related to its $66.4 million sole-source contract upgrade approved by the transit last year.
LA Metro mounted no defense in the lawsuit. It did not file a response to Cubic’s Jan. 28 petition or oppose Cubic’s motions for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. Judge James Chalfant ruled in favor of both motions, including the preliminary injunction on Feb. 27 and designated this as a final judgment. This wrapped up the entire case in a little less than a month.
Three Years on, Results are Mixed for California’s Bold Move into Modularity for Open-Loop Procurements
After three years of operations, the California Integrated Travel Project, or Cal-ITP, the state’s program that in part seeks to help mostly small transit agencies in California and elsewhere in the U.S. to purchase open-loop technology–has shown mixed results.
The “Mobility Marketplace,” perhaps Cal-ITP’s flagship offering, was considered California’s bold move into modularity when it opened for business in early 2022.
Victoria Transport Minister Announces Plans for Launch of Open-Loop Payments Next Year, but Government is Light on Specifics
he Victoria state government in Australia has announced plans to launch open-loop payments by early next year, though has released few specifics, which has raised some skepticism among observers.
Gabrielle Williams, Victoria state minister for public and active transport, reportedly said Friday that thousands of new card readers (and validators) will be installed on train networks in “coming months” that would enable riders to accept credit and debit cards and open-loop credentials in digital wallets.