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Fare Collection System in Sofia’s Public Transport
Project development history
Due to the great interest in the new fare collection system in Sofia’s public transport, we have the pleasure to present you with the history of the project’s development.
The main funding source of the project is a subsidy provided by the Kingdom of Holland’s government in the amount of EUR 2,450,000, with 2,500,000 provided for installation of the fare collection system and up to 200,000 to fund the activities of the project consultant. On 09.01.2003 a Subsidy Management Contract was signed between Sofia Municipality and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
On 04.04.2003, following a tender procedure, a Dutch company – NEA Transport Research and Training – was chosen to be project consultant. The consultant took part in the development of the tender documentation, the determination of criteria for selection of a Contractor for the project and advised Sofia Municipality on several issues during the project implementation.
On 24.06.2004, by Resolution No 149/24.06.2004 Sofia Municipal Council adopted the General Principles for Development of a New Fare Collection and Selection System for Passengers on Public Transport in Sofia. The general principles approved the concept that the new fare collection system will be based on contactless smartcards. According to the adopted General Principles, the main transport document will be the top-up smartcard, while the secondary one will be the ticket, issued by a vending machine in the vehicle. The fare will be collected upon boarding the vehicle. All vehicles, regardless of their ownership, must be equipped with identical fare collection and validation devices.
On 17.03.2005, by Resolution No 158/17.03.2005, Sofia Municipal Council agreed to an interest free loan for the budget of Sofia Municipality. The money in the amount of BGN 4,700,000 came from the Specialized Municipal Privatization Fund and was allocated to co-fund the participation of Sofia Municipality in the project – Implementation of Automated Fare Collection System in Sofia’s Public Transport. Later the amount was reduced to BGN 1,500,000.
Preliminary qualifications for selection of a Contractor on the project had begun. By 25.04.2005 forty seven companies had bought the documentation for participation in the preliminary qualifications and 14 of them had submitted Applications for Participation in the Preliminary Qualifications.
A committee for evaluation and selection of the applicants was appointed, consisting of municipal councillors and representatives of Sofia Municipal Administration. Following a review of the applications on 14.09.2005, the Committee approved the final version of the evaluation report whereby 10 applicants were admitted to the tender procedure:
1. Höft & Wessel AG
2. Elsag spa
3. Mikroelektronika spol. s r.o.
4. Indra Sistemas S.A.
5. Telvent Trafico y Transporte S.A. - Buscom Oy.
6. ERG Transit Systems
7. Ascom S.A.
8. Thales e-Transactions CGS S.A.
9. Emax S.A. - Ladislav Heglas Emtest
10. KDE Inc. (conditionally qualified).
On 09.02.2006, by Resolution No. 104/09.02.2006, Sofia Municipal Council adopted the final version of the tender documentation for delivery and installation of a fare collection system for passengers in Sofia’s public transport, with the documentation having been coordinated with the European Bank for Recovery and Development.
On 16.02.2006, the tender documentation was sent to the applicants who passed the preliminary qualifications. On 03.04.2006, the 8 offers were opened in the presence of representatives of the applicants.
On 11.10.2006, the Committee made a decision to award the Мikroelektronika Company as the winner of the procedure for delivery and installation of the fare collection system in Sofia’s public transport on the basis of the submitted offers and the evaluation criteria, specified in the tender documentation, as well as on the basis of the conducted visits.The Committee’s decision was coordinated with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and on 11.12.2006, by Resolution No. 974/11/12/2006, Sofia Municipal Council confirmed Mikroelektronika spol. s.r.o. (Czech Republic) as the winner of the tender procedure for a new fare collection system in Sofia’s public transport.
On 13.12.2006, Sofia Municipality and Mikroelektronika spol. s.r.o. (Czech Republic) entered into a Contract for Delivery and Installation of a Fare Collection System in Sofia’s Public Transport (RD-56-1980/13/12/2006). On 14.05.2007, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development made an advance payment as per the contract and this marked the start of the project implementation
The system was installed on 447 vehicles (trams and trolleybuses), 5 depots of Stolichen Elektrotransport EAD and 20 travel card outlets of SKGT–Sofia EOOD.
The commissioning date of the system was set to 01.07.2008. By a decree of the Mayor of Sofia Municipality, a committee was appointed to approve the commissioning of the system. Unfortunately, due to some difficulties and delays in the progress, the contracted company did not manage to deliver the system by 01.07.2008.
On 01.09.2008, Sofia Municipality made a decision to begin a test run of the new fare collection system. As some of the features were not finished yet, they were not to be tested. With this began the issuance of anonymous smartcards, their validation in the vehicles, as well as the issuance of tickets by the on-board ticket vending machines.
In addition to that, Sofia Municipality conducted a procedure to purchase additional portable inspection devices. This was funded by the remainder of the amount envisaged by Sofia Municipality for co-funding of the project.
So far most of the difficulties have been overcome. We hope that very soon the contracted company will eliminate the remaining problems and the system installed in trams and trolleybuses in Sofia will become fully functional.
