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| Subject: Re: I wonder if they got this contract approved yesterday?Community Transit meeting | |
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Author: you need to update ERG calendar with Gethro's info |
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Date Posted: 18:18:16 02/08/03 Sat In reply to: ERG CALENDARVisa Middle East 's message, "  " on 11:48:04 02/06/03 ThuDate Posted: 12:27:09 02/08/03 Sat -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: gethro Feb 7 2003 8:51:02:967PM ----------------------------------------------------------- I wonder if they got this contract approved yesterday? ----------------------------------------------------------- http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/2/6/16474681.cfm ----------------------------------------------------------- CT looks to get smart By Brian Kelly Herald Writer ----------------------------------------------------------- EVERETT -- Community Transit may be the first local transportation agency to sign off on a regional "smart card" system. ----------------------------------------------------------- Community Transit meeting ----------------------------------------------------------- The Community Transit Board of Directors meeting is at 3 p.m. today in the CT Board Room, 7100 Hardeson Road. ----------------------------------------------------------- If the board approves the move today, bus riders will be able to use the credit-card-style cards to pay for rides and jump from one transit system to another without fare confusion. ----------------------------------------------------------- Transit agencies throughout Puget Sound have been talking about a smart card program for seven years. The cards typically have a microchip that remembers prepaid trips or amounts of cash, as well as trip patterns and other information. ----------------------------------------------------------- The board will vote on giving Community Transit CEO Joyce Olson the authority to later sign a multimillion-dollar contract with the company building the regional smart card system, as well as the go-ahead to sign contracts with other local transit agencies. Those agreements would cover the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the system. ----------------------------------------------------------- The system will include Sound Transit, King County's Metro Transit, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit and Washington State Ferries. Everett Transit dropped out of the project in September, but some say the city may join the effort again at a later date. ------------------------------------------------------------ For CT, the smart card system is expected to cost $7.9 million, but agency officials say they expect to get Sound Transit money and grant funds to pay for all but $1.5 million. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Sound Transit board hasn't officially approved covering some of CT's costs, Olson said. But if it does, Community Transit's involvement in the project becomes even more attractive. ------------------------------------------------------------ "Assuming that's approved, our costs in to the project for the first two years will be zero," Olson said. ------------------------------------------------------------ The biggest benefit for riders will be convenience. ------------------------------------------------------------ "They won't have to worry about knowing how much the fare is, or how much the transfer is, it will just simply deduct that amount from their card," she said. "I think it will be great for the public and great for us." ------------------------------------------------------------ If all of the agencies agree to move forward on the project, it will take more than two years to have the system developed and installed. ------------------------------------------------------------ "We're looking to have the system up and running by the end of 2005," said Barbara Gilliland, Sound Transit's planning and development manager for the project. ------------------------------------------------------------ The regional smart card system is expected to cost local agencies $80 million over 10 years. ------------------------------------------------------------ Negotiations are still ongoing with ERG Transit Systems, the company that will build the system. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Australia-based company built Octopus, Hong Kong's smart card system that has issued more than 8.6 million smart cards. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG is also the company working on TransLink, the smart card system under development in the San Francisco Bay area. More than 3,500 riders tested the first phase of the system last year, using the six largest transit agencies in the region, and people overwhelmingly said they liked the program and wanted it expanded. ------------------------------------------------------------ King County's Metro Transit system may be the next transportation agency to jump on board. ------------------------------------------------------------ The smart card proposal is expected to go before the King County Council for approval on Feb. 18. The last agency to make a decision on the project would be Sound Transit, Gilliland said. Sound Transit's board is expected to review the project on March 13. ------------------------------------------------------------ Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com. ------------------------------------------------------------ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Re: http://www.voy.com/100711/1/712.html --sounds about right | 3381--Thinks Seattle signed-May 2003. (Lost-Ozestock) | 21:40:48 02/08/03 Sat |
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