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

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:
• oService control by the TfGM control room
• oOperator administration of their fleets
• oCustomer information systems such as journey planners and ‘next bus’ displays.
• oOther 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.