NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The massive new fare-collection system planned by Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, which will include open-loop contactless payments and an expanded closed-loop program, has had trouble getting off the ground. Late last week, the transit agency finalized its “reset” of the project, agreeing to increase the contract by nearly 30% to just over $935 million and to add two more years to the rollout schedule–all in hopes of getting the project back on track.
The contract, with the parent company of systems integrator Cubic Transportation Systems, along with a financing partner, the John Laing Group, calls for an overhaul of Boston’s aging fare-collection system. The new system will cover all of MBTA’s modes of transit–subway, bus, commuter rail and ferry. And in addition to rolling out open-loop payments and revamping the closed-loop CharlieCard program, the contract will implement account-based ticketing and expand mobile ticketing. As before, the contract includes expenses for operation and maintenance of the system by Cubic for at least 10 years.
MBTA is the fourth largest transit agency in the U.S. in terms of ridership, playing host to 352 million trips last year across its various transit modes, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
