Roll out of Leap Card machines for Cork buses delayed

The National Transport Authority (the NTA) has spent €350,000 on tap-payment Leap Card validators to be attached to poles at the front of Cork buses, but it has no date for when they will be installed. This is delaying the rollout of planned bus service improvements.

A Cork TD has expressed his frustration at the delay, pointing out that the system is already in use on buses in the capital.

Currently, all bus passengers on Cork city services use the ticket machine next to the bus driver to pay for a journey, which considerably adds to boarding time.

To address this, the NTA initiated a project to provide the validators on a pole at the front door of each bus, which would allow passengers to tap their Leap Card to pay a 90-minute fare. This system was set to be in place by September of this year.

Hardware speed

However, an NTA spokesperson has confirmed that testing of the new validators has: “Identified that the speed of the hardware in processing Leap Card transactions, and the overall software resilience of the system, is less than expected”.

This means the intended rollout of the system, and the 90-minute fares, will be deferred until early next year.

In response to a parliamentary question from Cork Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould, the NTA confirmed that the cost of the 220 validators was €359,913, excluding Vat.

A spokesperson for the NTA told Mr Gould that they are working with the supplier of the new equipment to “ensure that it is sufficiently reliable and performs to our satisfaction, before we take the decision to deploy it on a bus”.

The spokesperson said they will not allow the equipment to be deployed until they are satisfied with its performance.

“There are no additional costs to the NTA in relation to the hardware — the supplier bears any costs incurred to ensure that the hardware meets the contract requirements.

“It is not uncommon for new hardware/software of this type to undergo a thorough performance evaluation and for optimisations to be identified as part of a number of testing cycles.

“Typically, this can only take place once the software is sufficiently functionally developed, as is the case with the new equipment intended for use in Cork,” they said.

“While the solution is working — ie, reading Leap cards — an optimisation process is currently under way to improve the read times, and the NTA is making all necessary efforts to ensure that the supplier delivers the required system performance. While this issue has caused a delay to the installation, good progress is being made and we are confident that problems will be resolved in

the coming weeks,” added the spokesperson.

Performance

“Please be aware that there is no issue with the hardware.

“The original concerns arose in respect of the performance of the new software on the new hardware.”

A further update said that the NTA is currently preparing the buses for validator installation by rewiring and fitting mounting poles.

This is “tentatively scheduled to commence at the end of January/early February and will take a number of weeks to complete.

Until this schedule can be confirmed, the NTA is unable to confirm the launch date, and that they “expect to be in a better position to confirm the date in the coming weeks.”

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Gould said: “While the NTA are assuring us that these costs will not increase, the reality is that the failure to introduce 90-minute fares is costing people.

“They paid more than €300,000 for hardware that was unable to complete the functions needed. Given that this system is already in Dublin, how were these issues not identified in advance and resolved?

“We were promised 90-minute fares. If the NTA can’t deliver these on time, how are we supposed to trust they’ll deliver a future-proofed bus service for Cork city?” Mr Gould asked.