Title
Fare Box Software Upgrade Project (Ordinance S-47324)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute an amendment to Agreement 123686 with Scheidt & Bachmann USA, Inc. to maintain and upgrade the current back-end fare box software to the FareGo Data product for the Public Transit Department. Further request to authorize execution of amendments to the agreement, as necessary, within the Council-approved expenditure authority as provided below, and for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item. The total additional fee for services included in this amendment will not exceed $878,585 (including taxes).
Report
Summary
The Public Transit Department (PTD) operates and maintains the Scheidt & Bachmann USA, Inc. (S&B) Fare Collection System (FCS), which is used to collect transit fares across the region (bus and rail). The system consists of ticket vending machines, fareboxes, back-office software, and equipment at the transit garages to record revenue and ridership data. The system was originally procured in 2007, with the City’s contract with S&B consisting of maintenance and support activities for the system's software and back-end. Considering the age of the system and available modifications that can be implemented in conjunction with the phasing in of the new regional fare collection system, staff recommends a contract amendment to the City’s contract with S&B as regional staff continues utilizing the existing fare box components as part of implementing a new fare collection system.
In addition to the FCS back-office software, there are other software and hardware systems that will be addressed during this project.
The Windows Operating System (OS) on which the current system is hosted requires the use of Microsoft-provided Extended Security Updates to prolong the use of the system; these updates are available through January 2023. The current version of the FCS does not support the updated version of the Windows OS and can only be supported with the FareGo Data back-office option.
Additionally, the back-end server/workstation hardware and associated Oracle databases are nearing their end-of-life, which may put the current system at risk of a potential failure or may introduce security risks to transit data and the City’s network without additional vendor support. The FareGo Data project will upgrade the existing S&B software platform, remediate the end-of-life support issues, and mitigate security risks arising from an out-of-date operating system. The back-office upgrade will also move PTD to a more flexible open architecture program.
The FareGo Data project is separate from the ongoing regional Fare Collection Modernization Project, which is currently underway and will provide a modernized overall fare collection system with onboard validators and implementation of two new fare purchasing options: a mobile ticketing application and reloadable smartcards.
FareGo Data will provide improved farebox and ridership data management. The upgraded software system will collect data from the over 900 regional fareboxes and will ultimately be part of the transition to the new fare collection system by providing farebox data to the new system.
Financial Impact
The project includes the system upgrade cost and maintenance through January 2023. The project cost also includes consulting fees (to be used only as needed) of up to 150 hours of support to transition the employer-based Platinum Pass program to the new fare collection system. The estimated total cost for the upgrade is $878,585 (including tax), including capital and consulting costs of $590,350, maintenance costs of $250,735, and consulting fees of $37,500. Transportation 2050 (T2050) funds for the capital cost and consulting fees are available in the PTD Capital Improvement Program budget, and T2050 funds for the maintenance cost are available in the PTD operating budget.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The City Council approved:
- Maintenance and Service Agreement 123686 (Ordinance S-34282) on July 2, 2007;
- Maintenance and Service Agreement 123686 Amendment (Ordinance S-40050) on June 19, 2013;
- Maintenance and Service Agreement 123686 Amendment (Ordinance S-41385) on Dec. 17, 2014; and
- Maintenance and Service Agreement 123686 Amendment (Ordinance S-45234) on Dec. 12, 2018.
This item was recommended for approval by the Citizen's Transportation Commission on Jan. 28, 2021, by a vote of 14-0.
This item was recommended for approval by the Transportation, Infrastructure and Innovation Subcommittee on Feb. 3, 2021, by a vote of 4-0.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Public Transit Department.