More than two years after Metro was supposed to have a working “smart card” fare system, and one year after Metro stopped paying Cubic Corp. to produce that system, Metro has awarded a contract to ACS Inc. to produce the ticket-less system:
Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has won a $14 million contract with the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County to install a contact-less ticketing system for the area’s bus and light rail system.
Under the terms of the deal, the new system is slated for rollout in mid-2006.
ACS (NYSE: ACS), a Dallas-based technology outsourcing company will supply and install the equipment for Houston’s 1,300 buses and light rail transit, as well as provide system maintenance and passenger assistance services.
The transit authority terminated a contract with its previous supplier.
Under the system, transit and bus users will be supplied with smartcards. The transit authority expects to give 70 percent of its passengers the cards in the first year of availability.
The use of the cards will limit the use of on-board fare boxes to occasional riders, reducing operating expenses.
ACS is also a big provider of red light cameras in cities nationwide. It will be interesting to see if ACS ends up with that contract here in Houston.
