Time called on ERG ticketing fiasco

The New South Wales government yesterday finally terminated the contract with ERG to design, install and operate a planned integrated ticketing system for the bus, train and ferry networks in Sydney, Newcastle and Woollongong.

ERG forfeited a $10 million performance bond and the state government said it aimed to recover the $95 million paid to the contractor over the last six years.

For its part ERG said it was considering its position.

Once imagined as a window into an innovative system of micro payment products, smart-card based ticketing system implementations in Australia have largely been a fiasco, riven by intense contractor rivalry, allegations of corruption, and sloppy tendering practices that failed to detect that suppliers lacked the technology and know-how they promised.

Brisbane's implementation (a contract managed by US-based Cubic) is behind schedule as is a similar contract in Melbourne managed by a third supplier, Keane.

Only in Perth did local transport authorities manage to establish an integrated ticketing system, overlooking home-town favourite ERG.