Vix to roll out CRM units for Malaysian government under new contract

Australian technology solutions provider Vix Technology has won a second contract with the Malaysian government's public transport regulator, Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), to manufacture and supply the country with devices as part of a project to unify the country's transport ticketing system.

Under the new contract, Vix will install more than 10,000 common reader module (CRM) devices in ticket offices, gates, buses, and vending machines on behalf of existing transit operators including Prasarana and KTM Komuter.

SPAD CEO Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah said the new agreement will complement the delivery of the government's integrated cashless payments system (ICPS) that will allow Malaysians to travel on all public transport networks using a single smartcard.

"The supply of these 10,000 CRM devices across the Malaysian transit network, will act as the key customer facing components of the ICPS project, that is designed to make travel simpler, faster and more convenient, reinforcing Malaysia as a global leader in public transport," he said.

The announcement comes after Vix was awarded a AU$27 million contract with the Malaysian government to move the country's mass transit system under one ticketing and payment system in July. The company has been contracted to design, install, operate, and maintain the service that will unify the bus, train, metro, and monorail networks, and is set to roll out in early 2017.

Steve Gallagher, CEO, Vix Technology said the new contract will see the company's latest contactless reader and payment devices support the back office upgrades it is doing for the Malaysian government.

"This will ensure the entire end-to-end system is future proofed if Malaysia look to upgrade to an open payments system, which would allow contactless bank cards and smartphones to be used for payment and access," he said.

Vix Technology's recently won a AU$10 million contract to build a modern payment clearing house for the newest train line in Bangkok.

The company also recently upgraded the infrastructure for Melbourne's Myki ticketing system. The original Myki project was tangled in problems, with Victorian Auditor-General John Doyle previously calling it "vaguely specified and overly ambitious". It went over budget by 55 percent, costing the government AU$550 million more than its initial AU$1 billion planned budget. Public Transport Victoria will be re-tendering the contract next year.