Article Highlights
U.S. transit agency CapMetro releases a new statement affirming it’s replacing its fare vendor, Siemens-based Bytemark, with Cubic’s Umo platform because of a “pressing urgency.” But the agency won’t detail the emergency. Sources say it relates mainly to a system problem last spring and talk that Bytemark is pulling back from the market. Bytemark won’t comment on any performance problems but denies it’s leaving.
• Document: New CapMetro contract with Cubic, Aug. 2024 (redacted)
• Table: Breakdown of planned Cubic contract.
• Document: Staff memo to board, July 2024
• CapMetro (Austin, Texas)
• Cubic
• Bytemark (Siemens)
U.S. transit agency Capital Metro has issued its first public statement since conducting what it termed an “emergency procurement” to replace its current fare vendor, Siemens-owned Bytemark, with Cubic Transportation Systems, telling Mobility Payments it was a case “where public urgency precludes competition-related delays.”
Calling the situation an emergency allowed CapMetro to bypass rules requiring what federal regulations call a “full and open competition.” The agency, however, has yet to release documents publicly or answer questions to justify sidestepping those rules.
In its statement last week, CapMetro said that “Cubic was selected as the vendor during this emergency
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