City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: February 13, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anuj Gupta, Director of Transportation, Department of Transportation, Finance & Administrative Services
Subject: Award Contract to SPX Genfare for Farebox and Data System Upgrade and Software Maintenance Support
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
2. Authorize the City Manager or designee to negotiate and execute an agreement with SPX Genfare for cloud-hosted maintenance and support for a five-year term, an upgrade to software version 4.0, and activation of the QR code readers so they can be used to scan mobile or paper tickets in the Genfare fare boxes currently installed on the Department of Transportation’s fleet of transit buses.
This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.250 (b) and is for a total amount not to exceed $353,087 (which includes a 5% contingency).
Summary
Big Blue Bus (BBB), a division of the Santa Monica Department of Transportation (DOT), operates 194 transit buses across 69 square miles of greater Los Angeles providing more than 800,000 rides each month. BBB is committed to providing an exceptional user experience onboard its buses, beginning with its three fare collection systems with which all customers interact. Currently, the majority (74% in FY 2022-23) of BBB customers board using the regional Transit Access Pass (TAP) ticketing system.
Another 17% of customers pay with cash using our Genfare fareboxes, and a small but consistent percentage of BBB customers (5%) board with mobile tickets, which can be 2 of 6
purchased in smartphone apps including the Token Transit app as well as the tripplanning apps Transit, Google Wallet, Moovit, and Bestmap, and others.1 Staff is recommending upgrades to its farebox software and hardware to better support the non-TAP fare collection systems used by approximately 26% of BBB customers. In September 2015, staff received Council approval for a contract with SPX Genfare (formerly GFI) to refurbish its fare collection system including new fareboxes, a vaulting system, and a data collection and reporting system. The Genfare software has never been upgraded, which risks data loss or data security concerns. The system is also not user-friendly for transaction reporting and reconciliation. Staff recommends upgrading the Genfare data software to their current more robust web-based system with a Software as a Service (SaaS) contract for maintenance and support. In addition, staff recommends activating the fareboxes’ QR code readers to scan QR codes on mobile and paper tickets. These upgrades will improve system security, accuracy, reliability, and the user and customer experience.
Discussion
In September 2015, a contract was awarded to SPX Genfare (formerly GFI) to refurbish BBB’s fare collection system, which was then 17 years old, including the purchase of new fareboxes for all buses in the fleet. The updated Genfare system, including new “future-proof” Fast Fare fareboxes capable of accepting a variety of fare media including cash, metal tokens, magnetic stripe paper tickets, QR-coded mobile tickets, smart cards, and credit/debit cards, was installed and has been operating reliably since that time.
BBB eliminated metal tokens in 2021 and magnetic-stripe paper tickets in 2022, and today the GFI fare system is only used to collect and count cash fares and to manually log users who ride free (such as children under five), whose TAP or mobile passes fail to scan, or who refuse to pay their fares. As the City has not had a software maintenance contract for the Genfare fare collection system, the fare collection software 1 Big Blue Bus Performance Metrics Fiscal Year-End Report FY2022-23 3 of 6
has never been upgraded. The current system uses an out-of-date and unsupported operating system. To ensure BBB fare transactions are recorded reliably, securely, and accurately, staff recommends that the City contract with SPX Genfare to update the data system software to the current version, upgrade it to a cloud-hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) system, and purchase five years of software maintenance and support services.
In addition, staff recommends upgrading the farebox software to support using the QR code reader built into the farebox. Currently, customers can scan their non-TAP smartphone tickets on a Bluetooth ticket reader which is part of the Token Transit mobile ticketing system. However, based on Motor Coach Operator (MCO) feedback, some customers find it difficult to quickly pull up the right screen on their smartphone to activate a ticket the Bluetooth validator can read. Others have the ticketing screen ready but then have trouble positioning the phone so the reader will scan the ticket. Some customers, especially out-of-town, infrequent, or first-time users, are confused by the three validators (the SPX Genfare farebox, the TAP validator, and the Token Transit Bluetooth validator) onboard and do not know which one to use.
Figure 1 - Ticket validation systems onboard BBB vehicles Genfare Fast Fare farebox TAP Validator
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Token Transit Bluetooth Validator
Another issue is that the Bluetooth validators cannot read tickets generated by thirdparty smartphone applications (apps). Many customers prefer the convenience of buying tickets in the same app they are already using for trip planning such as the Transit app, Google Transit, Moovit, or Bestmap. In FY2022-23, third-party apps sold nearly 63% of BBB’s mobile tickets, with more than 58% of those purchased through BBB’s official trip-planning app, Transit. However, since the Token Transit Bluetooth validator cannot be not integrated with third-party apps due to technical limitations, customers who purchased their ticket in a trip-planning app must show their pass to the operator when they board. These situations can be frustrating for customers and slow the boarding process.
As a result of these issues, the validators are underutilized. As of December 2023, approximately 93% of non-TAP mobile ticketing customers show their smartphones to the motor coach operator (MCO) for visual validation instead of attempting to use the validator. However, QR code readers, which can scan tickets generated by many mobile ticketing vendors, third-party apps, and paper (static) QR-coded tickets, are already built into our Genfare fareboxes. Several mobile ticketing providers, including our current vendor Token Transit, have successfully integrated QR-coded mobile tickets with Genfare fareboxes at other transit agencies.
In addition to scanning mobile tickets, the QR code readers could scan paper BBB single-use tickets, which social service agencies distribute to their clients. The social 5 of 6
service agencies used to buy metal tokens in bulk, but when metal tokens were discontinued in 2021, one-ride TAP cards were developed to replace them. However, as the TAP one-ride tickets expired after seven months and many clients served by social service agencies would come in only sporadically, a ticket with an expiration date was of limited use to them. As a result, the TAP one-ride tickets were unpopular and bulk ticket sales decreased by 90% since metal tokens were discontinued. Social service agencies have requested disposable single-use tickets that do not expire, and QR-coded paper tickets would meet these requirements.
Using fareboxes to read mobile and paper QR coded tickets would eliminate the need for MCOs to visually validate fares, provide staff with more detailed transaction data for analysis, and reduce the number of validators on board from three to two, speeding up the boarding process and improving the customer experience.
Vendor Selection
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends SPX Genfare to furnish and deliver fare collection system upgrades including activation of the built-in QR code reader, and five years of maintenance support of their data system as an exception to competitive bidding per Muni Code 2.24.250 (b) as the services are proprietary to fare collection hardware owned by the City.
b. when a good or service is copyrighted, patented or only available form one license holder, including, proprietary goods, original equipment manufacturers and/or exclusive distributors; Environmental Review
The contract for upgrades to and maintenance support for the Genfare data system is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines. The contract is covered by the commonsense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The agreement will provide the City with an upgraded fare collection system. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
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Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
September 29, 2015
(attachment A)
BBB Fare Collection System Refurbishment
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Big Blue Bus fund to award a contract with SPX Genfare for an upgrade to the farebox data system including a version upgrade, moving the system to a cloud-hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) environment, providing maintenance support for five years through June 30, 2029, and activating the fareboxes’ QR code readers so they can validate QR-coded mobile and paper tickets. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Contract Request
FY 2023-24
Budget
Request Amount
Department/CIP Account # Total 5-year Contract
Amount
$353,087 C6004730.689000 $353,087
Prepared By: Barbara Andres, Customer Experience and Innovation Administrator
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. BBB Fare Collection System Refurbishment (Web Link)
B. SPX Genfare 2024 OAKS INITIATIVE FORM