Transit boss calls it quits after ticketing scandal
Posted by African Press International on October 27, 2008
The man who has headed Oslo’s public transportation system, and thus been largely responsible for introduction of a wildly expensive and delayed ticketing system, said Friday he was stepping down.
Embattled transit boss Trond Bjørgan won’t take on another six-year contract. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN |
Trond Bjørgan, chief executive of the newly renamed transit system KTP (formerly Oslo Sporveier), is currently involved in public hearings at City Hall that are probing the ticketing system scandal. It has cost the taxpayers an estimated NOK 620 million over 24 years, and still isn’t ready for widespread public operation.
Bjørgan said he decided to quit last spring, but delayed announcement of his resignation until the system was due to begin October 17 and the hearings were over. “In such critical phases (of a project), no one is well-served with a leader who isn’t fully and clearly active in the role,” he said in a prepared statement. “That’s why I haven’t wanted to say anything earlier.”
There have been some signs that the ticketing gates and equipment installed several years ago around Oslo’s T-bane system on board trams and buses might start working soon. A partial introduction was made Monday, but officials aren’t promising full operation before “sometime” in 2009. The gates and equipment have caused confusion for travelers, not least for tourists trying to figure out how the ticketing works.
The new system is supposed to allow passengers to use the same electronic tickets for the tram, T-bane, train and bus systems that serve Oslo and the surrounding metropolitan area in Akershus County. Millions have been spent on research and development since 1984.
Bjørgan has been chief of the Oslo portion, formerly Sporveier, for the past 12 years and inherited the project that hadn’t succeeded for a dozen years before that. He blamed complicated fare zones as one of the reasons that a common ticketing system has been so delayed. Technical problems with the equipment purchased from Thales of France have also caused innumerable headaches.
There have been conflicting views as to whether the system purchased from Thales was “off the shelf,” tried and true, or a completely new system unique to Oslo. Politicians have also played a role in the drama, with those in charge of the city’s public transportation also getting a share of the blame for the expenses and delays.
Bjørgan’s resignation will be effective from January 1.
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