The Provision of Electronic Ticketing Machines, and Automatic Vehicle Location System and an associated Back Office Management Solution

Description

GMCA & TfGM are looking to establish a contract for the supply of Electronic Ticketing
Machines (ETM) and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) facilities, plus associated ETM and
AVL back office, accessories and services, as part of the introduction of bus franchising
within Greater Manchester. The initial term will be 5 years with the option to extend annually
for up to 3 years.
The scope of the procurement is to establish a mechanism to equip the bus fleet with ETM
and AVL facilities, plus a central administrative back office. This consists of the following:
• Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETM) to standardise bus ticket acceptance and sale.
• Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) facilities which enable confirmation of bus location for:
o Service control by the TfGM control room
o Operator administration of their fleets
o Customer information systems such as journey planners and ‘next bus’ displays.
o Other bus-based systems such as customer announcements and driver monitoring.
GMCA & TfGM are procuring contracts for the supply and maintenance of certain elements
of the required Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) solution (such as ticketing, vehicle
location, and driver communications systems) to ensure a standardised approach, which
would then be made available to franchise operators by way of a separate agreement who
would be required to utilise this equipment. This could potentially include a transitional
phase from current operator-owned ITS equipment to that procured by GMCA & TfGM.