Like other large metropolitan areas, Toronto suffers from significant traffic congestion. In fact, despite having the second-largest public transportation system in North America, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is the fourth-most congested urban area on the continent.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development confirms Toronto’s congestion woes and points to the fact that 71 percent of area residents rely on personal vehicles for their commutes. This dependence on automobiles presents a number of problems. In addition to high levels of pollution, Toronto area residents face some of the longest commutes in the developed world (averaging 79 minutes per day). This gridlock phenomenon translates into C$6 billion (about US$6.15 billion) in lost productivity each year. Making matters worse is the widely held belief that the GTHA’s population will rise by more than 2 million over the next 20 years. That most likely means another million cars on the road and an average commute time of more than two hours.
The provincial government clearly recognized that things needed to change and in 2006 established the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. This agency—now known as Metrolinx—was tasked with developing a seamless transportation system that moves people and goods efficiently, economically and in an environmentally sustainable way. The agency’s Regional Transportation Plan, titled “Big Move,” outlined a set of strategies to develop reliable, convenient and fast transit, safer bikeways and walkways, and less congested roads. One of these strategies involved introducing a secure, multimodal fare card system for the region’s public transit.
At the time, each of the area’s public transit agencies had its own fare structure and fare-payment system. This meant that commuters taking multiple modes of transportation—buses, streetcars, trains or the subway—to reach their final destination had to pay multiple fares or have different transit passes, tickets or tokens for their trip. Metrolinx believed that an easy-to-use, integrated fare management system utilizing a single fare card would attract more public transit riders and offer a more consistent and seamless transit service.
The Ontario Government asked Accenture to not only help bring the vision for a GTHA public transit fare card system to life, but also manage the new system for 10 years. Several factors influenced this decision. Accenture had deep skills in systems integration and application management, as well as a proven fare management solution framework. We also brought vast experience in helping other public sector organizations such as The Netherlands Trans Link Systems national fare card program achieve high performance.
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