Baltimore

Helping transit in Charm City live up to its name.

CharmCard – Maryland Transportation Authority (Baltimore, MD)

The Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) fare collection systems were at or near end-of-life. Clevor Consulting Group (CCG) assisted the MTA with planning, designing, procurement, and implementation of a new account-based fare collection system. CCG developed a comprehensive Concept of Operations that identified existing conditions of the agency and described the next-generation fare collection system’s technical, business, and functional objectives. As part of the overall strategic planning, we developed a procurement strategy and sourcing plan that resulted in a phased design approach that carefully aligned funding and staffing resources with system and operational needs. After conducting detailed requirement gathering workshops, CCG developed four separate RFPs that included the:

CCG supported the technical evaluation of proposals and selection of the core system vendor. Following the selection, CCG provided project management and technical consulting services through the design and early implementation phases of the project until the vendor’s contract was ended.

Purple Line Fare System Expansion – Maryland Transportation Authority (Baltimore, MD)

The State of Maryland hired CCG to provide fare system advice, fare policy and revenue planning services for the Purple Line Expansion. The project is currently under construction and will be operated through a Public Private Partnership (P3). The new light rail line will consist of 21 new stations across two counties connecting with WMATA MetroRail stops, WMATA Metrobus, MARC and commuter bus service, and local county bus service.
Early on, as part of our fare policy and revenue planning work, CCG analyzed MTA Maryland’s current fare programs in relation to the Purple Line’s connecting agency partners, and developed fare strategy options to protect revenue and limit project risk while also serving the needs of all riders in the region.

After receiving buy-in from agency stakeholders, CCG facilitated Needs Assessment and Requirements Gathering workshops and oversaw the development of the RFP requirements for the Purple Line system, which will consist of paper-ticket dispensing TVMs, and platform validators and handheld inspection devices. Only the validators and handheld inspection devices, the latter of which represents new development for WMATA SmarTrip, will integrate with SmarTrip; the TVMs will operate as standalone paper-ticket dispensing devices with no integration to SmarTrip or CharmCard.

Our team manages all three workstreams of the integrated fare system, including procurement, design, and implementation.