City Hall publishes bidding notice for the new digital ticketing system

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall, through the Municipal Department of Transportation (SMTR), published this Friday (October 8) the bidding notice for the new digital ticketing model for municipal public transportation. Unprecedented in Brazilian capitals and already adopted in several countries, this new system will give the city control over fare collection and monitoring of passenger demand on all lines, and will allow for greater financial transparency, planning with reliable data, and improvement of transportation services.

– It is a very important tender, which will allow the modernization of the transport system, providing transparency to revenues and enabling a new form of remuneration that guarantees that the buses are, in fact, running on the streets – stated the municipal secretary of Transport, Maína Celidonio.

About the contest

The deadline for submitting proposals is 60 days from the publication of the notice. Companies (Brazilian and foreign) that have proven technical experience in ticketing and validator system management, as well as payment method systems, are eligible to participate. Consortiums are permitted to participate. The selection criterion will be based on the highest grant, with the minimum value being R$10,7 million. The concession will be for a period of ten years, with the possibility of extension for a maximum of the same period.

In order to avoid conflicts of interest, companies directly or indirectly linked to public transport service operators in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro cannot participate in the bidding process.

Step by step

After the bidding process has been awarded and approved, the winning company will have 45 days to sign the concession contract. From then on, a mobilization phase begins, in which the concessionaire must, within a period of six months, carry out all the activities and procedures necessary for the digital ticketing system to begin operating. During this period, the concessionaire must provide new validators to operators, issue transportation cards and new media to users, such as QR Codes, make the sales network available, train employees and carry out the necessary tests.

After this phase, the concessionaire will begin operating in a six-month transition phase, in which the new digital ticketing system and the current system will coexist. In other words, users and transport operators will be able to live with two cards and two validators to ensure a smoother transition between systems.

Advantages for users

The digital ticketing system will accept several payment methods, such as bank cards, QR Codes, cell phones and Pix. It is also possible to use all cards to integrate with any other type of transport, which will be gradually expanded to include Bike Rio and Taxi Rio. It will also be easy to top up and exchange cards and recover credits. Users will be able to control their accounts 100% online and in real time, through an app, and will receive the first card free of charge.

To facilitate service, the dealership will provide 15 in-person service points and triple the sales and recharge network that currently exists. In addition to recharging at self-service machines (ATMs), users will be able to recharge online, through the website and app. The credit will be credited at the time of recharging and no longer within 48 hours, as is currently the case.

Among the revenues expected for the Municipality is that from advertising in the applications and on the card. The City Hall will be responsible for paying the operators. The plan also includes the gradual reduction of the use of cash for direct use in means of transport.

Free validators and equal fee

The concessionaire will provide municipal transport operators (conventional buses, BRT, VLT, vans and cabritinhos) with new validators with chips for connectivity to the digital ticketing system. All operators will pay the same administration fee to the digital ticketing concessionaire, which will be 3,5%. There are currently differences in charges.

Context

The new digital ticketing system will improve the service provided to public transportation users in Rio de Janeiro by transforming the management model. Currently, there is no access to the ticketing system database, creating a “black box” stigma. This lack of real-time data makes network planning difficult and makes it impossible for the City to assess any potential deficits in the system. There is also a lack of transparency regarding remaining credits.

Law 6.848, enacted in March of this year, gives the City Hall responsibility for implementing and managing the Ticketing System, with a 12-month term that can be extended for the same period for transition purposes.

Transparency in the bidding process

In recent months, Secretary Maína Celidonio and SMTR technicians participated in a series of meetings to hear from the public and experts from various sectors to clarify doubts and gather contributions for the preparation of the bidding notice. Two public hearings and a roundtable were held with representatives of companies interested in participating in the concession bidding, in addition to meetings with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Municipal Court of Auditors, the president and members of the Municipal Council's Transportation Committee, and representatives of public transportation operators.

The draft Terms of Reference and its annexes were made available at the end of July as preparatory material for the hearings and roundtable. Interested parties were also able to make contributions using a form. The notice and all information are available on the SMTR website.

Category:

• News
• Transportation

October 8th, 2021

Appointments: digital ticketing Bidding new system City Hall of Rio Municipal Department of Transport (SMTR) Transportation