The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has issued a request for qualifications regarding an automated fare collection system.
The MBTA, which operates mass transit in Greater Boston, said the RFQ, under a performance-based contracting arrangement with private financing and integrated delivery, calls for replacement of its CharlieCard and CharlieTicket system that would enable riders to use smart phones, bank cards, and-or a new MBTA fare card to access all MBTA services.
"With automatic fare collections we will be able to have customers boarding at more than one location on vehicles, we will reduce the congestion which occurs when people pay with cash, and we will get riders on and off buses and trains much quicker," said chief administrative officer Brian Shortsleeve.
"Charlie" plays off the 1962 Kingston Trio folk song "Charlie on the MTA," about a rider who got lost and never returned. The MTA was the authority's predecessor name.
The MBTA, the nation's oldest transit system, sold more than $300 million of bonds on Tuesday. The authority is under a fiscal oversight board established in 2015 after 110 inches of snow paralyzed parts of the system and exposed flaws in operations within the "T," as locals call it.
New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority also has a request for proposals out for a contractor to replace its MetroCard system for subway and bus payment.
