Tcard cancellation all politics: ERG

in brief Publicly announcing its counter-claim in the Supreme Court against the NSW government yesterday, ERG has highlighted lack of help from the Public Transport and Ticketing Corporation (PTTC) and alleged the termination of the contract was made for political reasons.

The company said that its subsidiary ITSL, which was implementing the cashless ticketing system Tcard in Sydney, relied on the PTTC to engage with Railcorp and the State Transit Authority. ERG and ITSL believe the PTTC didn't carry this out properly, frustrating ITSL and preventing the company from completing system delivery activities on time.

The company also drew attention to the PTTC and NSW Government's failure to conduct reform across the NSW public transport system.

ERG will be seeking upwards of AU$200 million with its counter-claim.

ERG chairman Colin Henson aired the companies' grievances in a statement: "ERG strongly believes the Tcard project was terminated by the NSW Government for political purposes and that PTTC's conduct lacked reasonableness and good faith."

"The project was plagued by disinterest by the government, lack of leadership by the Minister and PTTC executives, and a complete breakdown in the PTTC's ability to manage the transport operators to effectively co-operate with ITSL in development, testing, installation and operation of the Tcard system," he said.