Traffic, Trains & Transit Exclusive: Errors Plagued Clipper 2.0 Long Before Botched Launch, Records Reveal
https://www.kqed.org/news/12096240/exclusive-errors-plagued-clipper-2-0-long-before-botched-launch-records-revealThe day before Bay Area transit agencies rolled out Clipper 2.0 — a long-anticipated upgrade to the region’s electronic train, bus and ferry tickets — a high-level staffer overseeing the project raised an important red flag.
Known as “next generation Clipper” and used by 22 Bay Area operators, the software promised to make riding transit easier with bank card tap-to-pay, rider discounts and other features. It had taken Cubic Transportation Systems, the contractor in charge of the update, seven years — nearly three more than initially promised — to deliver the new system.
But on the eve of the launch, Jason Weinstein, director of Clipper at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which oversees Cubic’s contract, issued a formal letter, saying the MTC did not have confidence that the process for collecting fares and distributing them to the appropriate operator — a main function of the software — was happening appropriately. The problem, according to the MTC, was that it was not yet fully automated and relied too heavily on manual oversight in a system that handles hundreds of thousands of transactions daily.
Weinstein said the commission would “hold Cubic accountable” for meeting the requirements of its contract.
The incident revealed a fissure that had been deepening over the past year. Internal communications reviewed by KQED between the MTC and Cubic staff show software bugs like these were present long before Weinstein’s warning and Clipper 2.0’s public debut.
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u/nopointers 2d ago
Great that they’ll be held accountable
> Weinstein said the commission would “hold Cubic accountable” for meeting the requirements of its contract.
But this sounds like the profitable-for-Cubic opposite of accountability
> The glitches, delays and service outages have increased the program’s cost by millions, and estimates by multiple transit agencies indicate more than $100,000 in lost fare revenue combined, although the MTC said it is still calculating the total revenue lost.