Sydney TCard's future to be decided on Friday?

After delays and technical problems caused the transport minister to consider pulling the plug on Sydney's budding cashless ticketing system last month, the future of the TCard could be decided this Friday.

Last month, NSW Transport Minister John Watkins issued an ultimatum in the form of a termination notice to ERG's subsidiary ITSL.

ERG, which won a contract in 2003 to implement a cashless ticketing system in the greater Sydney metropolitan area, either had to meet major milestones -- including getting the rail ticketing system up and running -- within 20 business days or provide assurances for the ticketing system's deliverance.

ERG has used the time to draw up detailed plans on how it would complete the project which, according to a spokesperson for the minister, have been presented to the department.

ERG plans to have a combined trial for buses and trains by mid-next year, with a full system operation in 2009.

"ERG has presented the government a real opportunity for full implementation of the TCard within a shortened time period of less than two years from now. Given the scale of the system to be installed, the training requirement and trialling required we believe this is a realistic and reasonable time period", ERG executive director of operations, Steve Gallagher, said in a statement.

The regulatory body responsible for the introduction of the ticketing system, the Public Transport Ticketing Corporation (PTTC), will meet on Friday to discuss whether the contract should be continued, the spokesperson for the minister told ZDNet Australia, but they stressed that this did not mean a decision would be reached.

"We can take as long as we like," the spokesperson said, adding that until the decision is made, the contract will carry on as usual.

There is a lot at stake for both sides. According to a parliamentary report issued by NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat last week, the PTTC at 30 June 2007 had racked up costs amounting to AU$65.6 million.

On the other side, ERG has up to 30 June 2007, not received any key project milestone payments because it failed to meet the milestones.

If the system were to become operational, the company would be looking at a total estimated payment of AU$367 million -- including development costs and operational costs for the next 10 years.

Taxpayers could lose millions if the TCard contract is axed: "If the government was to go to another contractor now, it would take years to go through the learning phase and requirement capture just to get to trial stage, and full implementation would probably be a decade away," ERG's Gallagher said in the statement.