I chuckled when I saw this Metro press release yesterday:
METRO recently made buying fare passes even more convenient with the launch of the Online RideStore, where patrons can purchase fare items using a credit card and receive the items via U.S. mail.
Items available for purchase include 30-Day and 365-Day Passes (costs vary based on the fare zone the items are being purchased for) and Stored Value Cards of various amounts.
[snip]
Patrons are reminded that Stored Value Cards still are not valid as proof of payment on METRORail
That pesky Stored Value Card (aka “smart card”) sure has been giving Metro fits.
And in today’s Chronicle we learn that the saga continues (we’ll have to take a leap of faith and assume the story is accurate):
The transit agency sent San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems a letter of termination Friday, saying the company had defaulted on its contract obligations to produce a workable smart card fare system.
Cubic responded by asking state District Judge Bill Burke to bar Metro from ending the contract. Burke denied the request.
Instead, the parties agreed to meet March 28 with mediator Alvin Zimmerman, a former family district court judge and return to court April 4.
[snip]
Cubic general counsel Kenn Kopf said the company has “substantially fulfilled” its $8 million contract, which began in November 2002, and would complete it by Aug. 4, if allowed. He said Metro owes Cubic $4 million for the balance of its contract.
[snip]
The smart card system was to be fully operable by November 2003 when MetroRail trains were about to start running. Metro contends Cubic missed deadlines, including Dec. 1, 2004, to produce a working system.
Metro hired Cubic to upgrade the fareboxes on all its buses and integrate them into a system with the ticket vending machines at rail platforms and 250 retail outlets where tickets can be purchased. The goal was to offer riders a plastic card with an embedded computer chip that could store value and debit fares for buses and trains when waved over a sensor.
Wilson said tests of Cubic’s system showed that fareboxes misread the cards 5 percent of the time. The system also is slow, not secure from hackers and lacks wireless data transmission, Metro says.
The whole thing would be funny if there wasn’t so much taxpayer money involved.
