Adelaide has formed a shortlist of vendors for its electronic ticketing tender that have been invited to participate in a tender process.
Patrick Conlon
(Credit: Government of
South Australia)
A spokesperson for South Australia's Transport Minister Patrick Conlon was unable to name the companies, as they were commercial in confidence.
The result of the call for tenders is scheduled for evaluation around July/August, the spokesperson said, with the anticipation that the contract would be awarded by the end of the year.
The state released an expression of interest for vendors interested in taking part in the electronic ticketing project last September as part of a $2 billion transport revamp. The smart card technology will be installed in around 1000 vehicles and numerous transport facilities across Adelaide.
Other smart card projects have had problems in the past with NSW's Tcard being cancelled, and Victoria's Myki running over budget and behind schedule.
However, Brisbane and Perth have working systems and NSW and Victoria seem to have moved forward on their plans.
NSW has selected three vendors to participate in its second request for proposals, while Victoria's Myki has been rolling out over Geelong.
State bureaucracies are so inept at these sorts of deals... and people are mobile.... and not everyone lives in a capital city... so why not pick a national smart-card, rather than having to carry a separate one in your wallet for NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA etc.
Besides, it will surely make sense for Albury-Wodonga to switch its public transport to a smart-card. Should they use the NSW or Vic one? Isn't this just like picking different guage railway standards in the 1800s, on the assumption that it was all about the states and not Australia?
Besides, with all governments in (but not bound to yet roll-out) the cost will be far less for each state... and hopefully with some federal input, the people of NSW might get some protection from the crazy decisions of the Rees NSW government, who gave a $2b+ desal contract to a group who donated 0.00001 of that amount to the state labour party. But it is not just NSW, none of these state major IT contracts stand up to proper scrutiny (ie probity of no ministerial undue influence), as most of their Auditor-General reports attest.
It took years for the Feds to untangle the mess caused by separate state decisions on rail guages, so why not let COAG snip this one in the bud. Otherwise we may as well give up and have state-based telcos, right?