Cubic Transportation Systems hires a new gun, ahead of the VIC myki tender contest
Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) announced the appointment of Bruce Were as general manager of the company’s Melbourne operations recently, as it prepares to tender for the myki contract.
Ware will be responsible for handling the myki smart card ticketing project, to give CTS the best chance possible of securing the lucrative myki contract re-tender next year.
Cubic’s Australian managing director Tom Walker says Were brings more than 20 years of international experience in the delivery of automated fare collection systems for transport, as well as extensive experience and expertise in the Melbourne market to the job.
“The immediate challenge our team faces in Melbourne is to ensure that, if we are awarded the contract, the current myki system continues to operate efficiently,” he says.
“At the same time we investigate ways to use the latest innovations in Cubic ticketing technology to improve the transport experience for commuters.”
This appointment follows the recent shortlisting of CTS in the request for tender stage of the tender process to run the myki system in Melbourne, when the current contract expires next year.
Were will lead a CTS team in Melbourne that is dedicated to working on the tender process, which is expected to be complete in mid-2016, with the successful contractor set to start in early 2017.
Accenture Australia and NTT Data Victorian Ticketing System have also been selected to go to the next stage of tender, after expressions of interest were sought for the contract in February this year.
Victoria’s auditor-general John Doyle released a report in June slamming Public Transport Victoria (PTV) for overseeing the delivery of a myki card system that has failed to deliver more efficient, attractive and reliable transport services to Victorian public transport users.
The Victorian Government committed almost $1 billion to develop myki to replace the ageing Metcard system in mid-2005.
Ten years later, this has not been the outcome and it is hoped the company that wins the myki contract in 2016 will achieve better results, by making the ticketing system more reliable in particular and by keeping cost increases to a minimum.
Myki is one of the largest smartcard ticketing systems in the world, operating across multiple modes of transport in metropolitan and regional areas.
The system is made up of more than 25,000 devices installed on train stations, trams and buses throughout Victoria.