LA Metro Staff Faces Tough Questions from Board Members Over Proposal to Hire Cubic with No-Bid Contract Upgrade
Los Angeles County Metro staffers faced some tough questions Wednesday from members of a board committee, who grilled them on a staff proposal to award incumbent vendor Cubic Transportation Systems a no-bid, $66.4 million, contract upgrade to roll out open-loop payments and account-based ticketing.
The Finance, Budget and Audit Committee declined to take a vote to endorse the proposal before it goes
Las Vegas Agency Wagers Open Loop will Pay Off, Despite High Interchange and Other Transaction Fees
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada collects cash for well over half the rides it delivers on its 400 buses that ply the Las Vegas Strip and other parts of its service area of more than two million people.
RTC knows it will never eliminate cash on board its fleet, with many of its more than 50 million annual
Cubic Confirms It Outscored Indra on Technical Points, Despite Losing Big Contract in Ireland
Cubic Transportation Systems has confirmed that it topped the winning vendor, Spain-based Indra, on technical points in the recent competition for the large next-generation ticketing system contract in Ireland, Mobility Payments has learned.
The contract award secured by Indra is worth €243.6 million (US$260.1 million), according to an official
Tip Sheet: Why is EMV-Enabled Closed-Loop OMNY Card Failing to Take Off?
As Mobility Payments reported late last month, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been issuing a reloadable closed-loop OMNY card since October 2021, which uses white-label EMV technology. But the card still makes up only 3% of OMNY transactions, according to an MTA spokesman.
That is a low rate of usage, especially given that the card is meant to serve riders who cannot or will not use credit and debit cards or open-loop cards in NFC wallets. This represents a lot of riders.
Three Big Agencies Say Devices Starting to Dominate Cards for Open-Loop Payments
Figures from three of the largest transit agencies accepting open-loop payments show that NFC wallets are becoming the most common way customers tap their credit and debit cards to pay, Mobility Payments has learned.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Agency, Transport for New South Wales in Sydney and Transport for London are seeing
Tip Sheet: Groundbreaking Open-Loop Procurement in Venice May Finally Launch in Spring
An official with Venice transit agency AVM said the agency plans to launch its delayed open-loop service in the tourist mecca on May 1, which would be one year later than originally planned, Mobility Payments has learned.
The project is noteworthy because the procurement is designed to be completely capex-free, with
From Guru to Poster Child for MaaS’ Failures, Whim App Founder Calls it Quits
Sampo Hietanen, founder and CEO of high-profile mobility-as-a-service start-up MaaS Global this evening issued some of first comments since his company filed for bankruptcy yesterday, lamenting, “Nothing breaks like a dream.”
Hietanen, considered a guru of the technology early on during his eight-year run as head of the Finnish start-up, later became the poster child for MaaS’ disappointing start.
Worldline COO: Open Loop as ‘Revolution’ is Oversold; Urges Truly Revolutionary Thinking on Payments, Fare Models
James Bain, COO of global mobility transactional services for Worldline, a major European processor and acquirer–in a striking acknowledgement–said that payments companies have overpromised and oversold the benefits of open-loop technology to transit agencies.
Bain, in a speech at the Transport Ticketing Global conference in London last week, titled, “Do we honestly believe the ‘open payments’ revolution is here?”
Tip Sheet: Vix Chief Ross Dismisses Talk of Merger with Kuba
Vix Technology CEO Aaron Ross told Mobility Payments that even though he will continue to head up both Vix and Kuba and that the two fare vendors share a private equity owner and have a close working relationship, there are no plans for the companies to merge.
That echoes comments last month from Ross’ boss, Steve Gallagher, chairman of both Vix and private
‘It was Theirs to Lose’: A Look at Cubic’s Surprising Loss of Key U.S. Fare Project after Tight Competition with INIT
Large fare-system supplier Cubic Transportation Systems was ahead on points over second-ranked vendor INIT after the first round of competition last summer for a contract to provide the Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority with a completely new fare system, records obtained by Mobility Payments show.
MARTA short-listed the two vendors, then Cubic and INIT did their oral presentations in front of