Port Authority in a jam with high-tech fareboxes

Port Authority is having more problems with its new high-tech fareboxes, and the temporary solution is decidedly low-tech.

The authority has suspended installation of the new boxes on buses at its Collier garage while it and a contractor try to figure out why dollar bills are getting jammed in them.

When that happens, the rides are free for any subsequent passengers on the route. So Port Authority is preparing to deploy metal standby boxes on buses where the new machines aren't working.

It is the second time the $32 million farebox project has been suspended because the machines weren't properly accepting cash. In March, installations were halted at the Ross garage because the fareboxes were slow to verify that inserted currency was genuine.

The latest troubles are different from March's, authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said. "It's not every machine, but it's more than we're comfortable with. We want to stop things where they are and get them corrected."

Mr. Ritchie estimated the lost passenger revenue from the farebox problems now and in March in the low tens of thousands of dollars, one reason for deploying the backup boxes.

At Collier, 130 of the 190 buses had gotten the new fareboxes before the work was halted. Plans to start installations at the East Liberty garage this weekend also have been put on hold.

The authority contracted with Scheidt & Bachmann USA, based in Burlington, Mass., for the farebox project. The new boxes are part of the authority's adoption of a smart card fare system in which many riders will use plastic cards with an embedded computer chip.

Riders will wave the cards across a spot on the boxes, and their fares will be automatically deducted from their smart card accounts.

Mr. Ritchie said the authority still expects to begin testing smart cards this fall, with the likelihood that University of Pittsburgh riders or other groups will participate in a pilot program with them.

He said the contractor was responsive to the March problems and "we're confident they'll respond to the concerns we have now."

Authority officials said similar problems arose in Scheidt & Bachmann projects in other cities but were corrected and the systems ultimately performed as expected. Mr. Ritchie said the authority structured the contract with milestones that must be met for the company to be paid.

"There are issues that surface. What happens is you pull off the gas a little bit and deal with those issues," he said.

Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868. Visit "The Roundabout," the Post-Gazette's transportation blog, at post-gazette.com.

First published on August 9, 2010 at 12:00 am