The cost to implement the ICTransit Card system was estimated at $635,700.
Made Public Date
09/16/2008
Identifier
2008-SC00154
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Summary Information

The Alliance for Transportation Institute (ATRI), a University of New Mexico research institute, developed the CRRAFT (Client Referral, Ridership, and Financial Tracking) system and the ICTransit Card system for use in rural New Mexico transit agencies. Together, these systems are meant to enable coordinated human service transportation between agencies as well as more efficient services with shared funding resources. The summary report discusses the ICTransit Card system costs.

Funding for the project was provided by the U. S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Rural ITS Transit Program, as well as the state agencies including the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Public Transportation Programs Bureau (PTPB) (now named the Transit and Rail Bureau), the New Mexico Human Services Department (NMHSD), and New Mexico Department of Labor (NMDOL).

The Intelligent, Coordinated Transit Smart Card Technology (ICTransit) is a smart-card project that provides a cost-effective, seamless, and convenient mechanism for transit fare payment in a rural setting. Planned to be utilized by 25 rural transit agencies, the ICTransit Card is a multifunction, contactless, electronic fare card that can track up to 14 different agency funders and interfaces with the CRRAFT software for financial tracking.

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION COSTS

The ICTransit project involved hardware purchases for 208 vehicles. Excerpted from the source report (page 23), the major hardware and materials costs are summarized below.
 

Item
Quantity
Unit Price
Amount
Hardware
Handheld Pocket PC
208
$356.00
$74,048
Bluetooth Enabled GPS Receiver
208
$258.00
$53,664
Contactless Smart Card Reader
208
$192.71
$40,084
Smart Cards
5,100
$1.20
$6,120
Desk Top Reader for Transit Agencies
27
$212.00
$5,724
Subtotal
$179,640
Materials and Supplies
Mounting Brackets
208
$12.00
$2,496
Cables
208
$16.00
$3,328
Wiring and Miscellaneous installation items
208
$15.00
$3,120
Subtotal
$8,944
Software Development Tools
Subtotal
$2,500
Total
$191,084


In addition to the hardware and material costs noted above, there were labor costs involving IT programming, contract management, reporting, training at various transit sites, development of training manuals and materials, installation, travel and per diem costs, administrative assistance, and help-desk functions. The total cost of the ICTransit Card system was approximately $635,700, excluding the University of New Mexico facilities overhead.

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE COSTS

The systems became operational in 2005. ATRI estimated that the ongoing system maintenance costs would be approximately $60,000, which was to include:

  • Annual Help Desk support for system data or program issues and/or user updates and training issues, as well as the support options such as email, fax, on-line chat, or phone.
  • Smart Card hardware support for troubleshooting and maintain the smart card equipment.
  • User updates.
  • Server maintenance for web site monitoring, system backups, troubleshooting and documentation updates, limited software modifications, and IT support.
  • Project management.
System Cost

See summary