More transit upgrades

Story by Jesse Thomas/ Special to Baytoday.ca.

North Bay City Council approved the award of a contract in the amount of $293,625.00 (taxes extra), to upgrade the North Bay Transit fare boxes.

The older fare boxes are technically obsolete because they are MS-DOS based.

“The older fare boxes have been consistently unreliable and in 2006 we had to use 2005 rider-ship statistics,” Councillor Mike Anthony says.

The new machines are said to be very accurate, which is important because statistics are used to establish the amount of Gas Tax Funding the City will receive.

The new boxes will come with new technology and options like ‘Smart Card’ processing, magnetic ticketing/transfer systems and interfaces with vehicle location processors.

Council says the negotiated price is considered fair and reasonable. The contract was awarded to Garival Inc.