Project Proteus: New features in TfL revenue collection tender

[Acton1991]

Will the new functionality allow railcards and other discounts to be added to an Oyster account (and enjoyed by debit cards stored in that account)?

Will it also simplify the zones by adding more for the extremities (think past Hayes & Harlington on the Elizabeth line)?

 

[JonathanH]

Will it also simplify the zones by adding more for the extremities (think past Hayes & Harlington on the Elizabeth line)?

Do there need to be 'zones' outside London? The fares on each route aren't necessarily consistent in each direction due to differences in quality of service, demand, frequency, market etc.

 

[XAM2175]

Will it also simplify the zones by adding more for the extremities (think past Hayes & Harlington on the Elizabeth line)?

Do there need to be 'zones' outside London? The fares on each route aren't necessarily consistent in each direction due to differences in quality of service, demand, frequency, market etc.

On a technical basis I understand that the answer is yes, but only if you want to allow Oyster to be used at those stations. This is because the Oyster system stores the zone as a single hexadecimal digit and is thus limited to a maximum of 15 zones, which have now all been used.

Contactless, on the other hand, is computed by the back-end system and so there's no difficulty for it with either more point-to-point ticketing or a considerable expansion of the number of zones.

 

[matt_world2004]

On a technical basis I understand that the answer is yes, but only if you want to allow Oyster to be used at those stations. This is because the Oyster system stores the zone as a single hexadecimal digit and is thus limited to a maximum of 15 zones, which have now all been used.

Contactless, on the other hand, is computed by the back-end system and so there's no difficulty for it with either more point-to-point ticketing or a considerable expansion of the number of zones.

Instead of storing an oyster zone in the hexadecimal digit you could use a touch in flag instead . With the calculations being done in the back office .

 

[JaJaWa]

On a technical basis I understand that the answer is yes, but only if you want to allow Oyster to be used at those stations. This is because the Oyster system stores the zone as a single hexadecimal digit and is thus limited to a maximum of 15 zones, which have now all been used.

Contactless, on the other hand, is computed by the back-end system and so there's no difficulty for it with either more point-to-point ticketing or a considerable expansion of the number of zones.

The thread is about Oyster moving to the same back office system…

 

[The exile]

With enough notice I'm sure they can, Royal Mail are currently doing so with standard stamps, there is the option to get the swapped to the new stock, but the old ones will eventually no long be able to be used.

If TfL said you have three years to claim a refund on an Oyster card or to use the card to get another three years that seems fair. Offer the option to post a card back for a refund, or to come to a tube station or phone.
Seems fair to give three years warning.

Until they started issuing non value indicator stamps (1st and 2nd), the indefinite life of stamps was an issue that inflation solved without tgat much intervention from RM - it was pointless hoarding loads of stamps as they lost value. The same will of course happen with Oyster balances, especially if you remove the facility to top up the old variant.

 

[Edvid]

The Proteus contract (project ID WS1214124434 in the TfL Future contract opportunities over £100,000 document) now won't be awarded until 29 August 2025. As the tender notice mentioned a 2-year interval from contract award to commencement, I expect the existing Revenue Collection Contract will be extended by another year.

 

[Mag_seven]

The Proteus contract (project ID WS1214124434 in the TfL Future contract opportunities over £100,000 document) now won't be awarded until 29 August 2025. As the tender notice mentioned a 2-year interval from contract award to commencement, I expect the existing Revenue Collection Contract will be extended by another year.

Thread reopened for an update from @Edvid

 

[Edvid]

TfL documents relating to what is now labelled the Integrated Revenue Collection Contract have been published in the past couple of weeks.

Board papers, for 21 July meeting (item 14):

Integrated Revenue Collection Contract Award
4.8 The Committee is asked to note the update on the procurement process for the provision of its Revenue Collection Services and, subject to approval of Programme and Project Authority by the Programmes and Investment Committee: approve unbudgeted Financial Authority and Procurement Authority to enable entry into the Integrated Revenue Collection Contract for the Services and ancillary agreements.

4.9 It is proposed to enter into the new Integrated Revenue Collection Contract, commencing transition from August 2025, with full-service delivery expected 20 months thereafter.

Finance Committee papers for the 14 July meeting (item 9) cover the IRCC in further detail, including the following:

2.1 The Committee is asked to note the paper and the exempt supplementary information on Part 2 of the agenda and, subject to approval of Programme and Project Authority by the Programmes and Investment Committee:
(a) approve unbudgeted Financial Authority in the amount set out in the paper on Part 2 of the agenda;
(b) approve Procurement Authority in the amount set out in the paper on Part 2 of the agenda to enable entry into the Integrated Revenue Collection Contract for the Services, and ancillary agreements; and
(c) note that matters for which Procurement Authority is sought above extend beyond the current Business Plan and Budget and provision will therefore need to be made in future Business Plans and Budgets.

Apparently TfL have made their choice now, but won't yet reveal if it's Cubic or Indra (standstill period may be in effect). Perhaps we'll know when they next update the list of live/future contracts in a month or so.

 

[akm]

Classic "those that know can't say" situation. Watch the share prices, I'd say... Indra at least is public

 

[Edvid]

So... how long does a legal challenge usually add to an award decision of this magnitude?

Cubic Transportation Systems president Peter Montgomery-Torrellas told employees today that the vendor was legally challenging the decision last month by Transport for London on award of its lucrative revenue-collection contract. While Mongomery-Torrellas didn't mention it in his memo, there is no doubt now that TfL had awarded the contract to Cubic rival Indra Systems of Spain.

Source: Mobility Payments

 

[ainsworth74]

I've not seen a thread on this yet (but I could have missed it [edit: turns out I very much did miss it!]) but it seems that Cubic who operate and maintain TfLs fare systems has lost the contract to a, I believe, new entrant to the UK railway market Indra Systems a Spanish company. I'm struggling to find any formal announcement (presumably because it all kicked off during the award standstill period) but there is an article which suggest that Cubic have filed a legal challenge against TfL over the award of the contract:

Subic Transportation Systems president Peter Montgomery-Torrellas told employees today that the vendor was legally challenging the decision last month by Transport for London on award of its lucrative revenue-collection contract. While Montgomery-Torrellas didn't mention it in his memo (see below), there is no doubt now that TfL had awarded the contract to Cubic rival Indra Systems of Spain.

Breaking: Cubic Transportation Systems Files Legal Challenge to Transport for London Decision on Revenue-Collection Contract Award - Mobility Payments

Cubic Transportation Systems president Peter Montgomery-Torrellas disclosed today to employees that the vendor would legally challenge the contract award by Transport for London for the agency's large revenue-collection contract. Indra Systems of Spain beat out incumbent Cubic to win the contract.

www.mobility-payments.com

Most of the article is behind a paywall but that appears to be the important part.

It's a big contract apparently valued at well north of £1bn so would be a huge blow to Cubic and one heck of an opening for Indra Systems (assuming they don't make a hash of it). I believe they do already have some presence with TfL as they seem to look after the systems which are responsible for 12 street tunnels in London and connected roads:

Indra technology already controls and permits centralized operation of 12 street tunnels in London, critical for mobility and security in the city, and over 90 km of metropolitan streets connected with these. The company has designed, installed and started up the new London Streets Tunnels Operation Centre (LSTOC), integrated within the advanced center at the Palestra building. From here, Transport for London (TfL) manages London's entire transport system, including the capital's buses, subways, and streetcars, as well as a network of 580 km of roads and the city's 6,000 traffic lights.

Radware Captcha Page

But this is, I think, on a whole other scale as it will be looking after the systems that collect all fares and ticketing revenue (over £5bn per year) that TfL takes including the operation of the system along with maintenance and development. Interesting to see a new entrant to the UK railway market and they've won a heck of a contract with their opening gambit.

 

[Bungle965]

Potential ramifications for TOCs also under the Travelcard agreement also I'd imagine, Cubic currently have control over the backend of their gates

 

[Benjwri]

Potential ramifications for TOCs also under the Travelcard agreement also I'd imagine, Cubic currently have control over the backend of their gates

This and TOCs under Project Oval

 

[Edvid]

The existing RCC is set to expire this Saturday.

Cubic filing a legal challenge against TfL's award decision presumably means the IRCC cannot begin straight after as originally planned, so another RCC extension - a rather expensive one, I suspect - will be needed in the interim.

 

[Edvid]

Oops, was previously misled by the TfL current contracts list (dated 20 May) which said the existing RCC ends on 16 August 2025. In fact it was actually extended to 31 August 2026 as per Ticketing and Revenue Update #149 but they failed to put that date in the list.

Anyway, Cubic filed their claim against TfL on 8 August and it's currently before the Technology and Construction Court. Other than a Caseboard timeline and occasional snippets from industry press (i.e. Mobility Payments) there's nothing of note to go on.

 

[mattdickinson]

Just a couple of comments:

I hope sufficient thought has been given to resilience and redundancy, here, not only to cost. I seem to remember, not very long ago at all, a situation being allowed to develop and persist where legacy Oyster was the only way of making a PAYG journey and being able to check your journey history afterwards. I hope they will also think about how they would issue refunds of balances and deposits held on older Oyster cards once the legacy system has been decommissioned.


There's no "may need to" about it.


When a bus goes out of service short of its advertised destination, I thought you could still request a paper transfer to allow you to board the next bus? I know most people no longer do this because of the hopper fare, however, there is still the scenario where less than 60 minutes had elapsed between the first tap and the tap onto the bus in question, but more than 60 minutes has elapsed by the time the bus goes out of service (or there is reason to believe more than 60 minutes will have elapsed by the time the next bus turns up). If they get rid of paper transfers, these cases will presumably result in an overcharge and have to be dealt with by the helpline.

Paper transfers haven't been available for quite a long time. I don't think the paper rolls are still installed.

 

[James H]

The deal with Indra has now been signed, it seems:
Reuters report via MSN
Spanish technology group Indra has won a contract from Transport for London (TfL) to run the ticketing and control systems across the city's public transit network in a deal worth up to 975 million euros ($1.1 billion), it said on Friday.

The agreement to 2034 including options that could run to 2039 covers systems used on the Underground, trams, buses and ferries across the British capital and its metropolitan area.


Indra said it will maintain and operate thousands of gates, validators and ticket machines, as well as retail sales terminals, portable inspection devices and the central back-office and payment systems, including cybersecurity.

The London network records more than 8.6 million journeys a day for a total of more than 3.6 billion a year, the company said.

 

[Adam Williams]

Judgment on the automatic suspension: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/TCC/2026/61.pdf

A. INTRODUCTION
1. The proceedings before the Court concern a challenge by the Claimant (“CTSL”) to the
procurement (the “Procurement”) by the Defendants (“TfL”) of a contract for revenue
collection services (the “Proteus Contract”). CTSL was the unsuccessful tenderer.
There was one other tenderer, the Interested Party (“Indra”). Indra took no active part
in the hearing before me, but did submit evidence.
2. The application presently before the Court is TfL’s application for an order lifting the
automatic suspension of the Procurement.

H. CONCLUSION
79. For the above reasons I conclude that the automatic suspension should be lifted

 

[John R]

Will be interesting to see what the eventual outcome of the dispute will be, but looks like we will have to wait a lot longer for that bunfight in court to happen.

 

[bcarmicle]

It says in #19 of the judgement that Cubic failed question 1; do we know what that was?

 

[jon0844]

It says in #19 of the judgement that Cubic failed question 1; do we know what that was?

The date?

 

[OscarH]

The date?

Getting that wrong would be on brand

 

[Edvid]

Took the best part of a week but TfL's announcement of the contract award is now online.

Indra Group awarded seven-year contract to operate TfL's Oyster and Contactless system

Indra Group awarded seven-year contract to operate TfL's Oyster and Contactless system

tfl.gov.uk

Transport for London (TfL) has today (Wednesday 21 January) confirmed that Indra Group has been awarded a seven-year contract to operate TfL's revenue collection systems, including the contactless and Oyster ticketing system.

The contract, which was competitively tendered, will see Indra handle the operation, maintenance, development, enhancement and expansion of TfL's revenue collection system. This system is used by millions of customers across London and the southeast every day, allowing them to travel seamlessly across the city to work, school, leisure or visit friends and family.

Indra has undertaken more than 2,500 mobility projects worldwide. More than 100 cities around the world have relied on Indra's solutions to make their mobility more efficient, connected, safe and sustainable. In London, more than 90 per cent of Tube and bus journeys are now made using a contactless or Oyster card. This contract will ensure this system remains accessible to all, including those from overseas with contactless cards or mobile devices, while also supporting customers by allowing them to see their journey history and apply for refunds where necessary as simply as possible.

Through the life of the contract, Indra will work with TfL and other key stakeholders, including the Greater London Authority, Department for Transport (DfT) and bus and rail operators to support improvements to the system and further expansions of the contactless ticketing system. TfL is currently working with the DfT to expand pay as you go with contactless to further stations across the southeast. Last year, 30 stations gained pay as you go with contactless for the first time and a further 20 stations due to go live in 2026, with the potential for more stations to benefit from the simple and convenient ticketing technology in future years.

As part of the new contract, Indra will also work with TfL to further improve the Oyster card system, which is more than 20 years old, to bring it further in-line with the contactless ticketing system. By introducing an account-based ticketing system onto the Oyster card, customers will have even greater flexibility, ensuring the most beneficial fare is applied for the journeys made. In addition, this could potentially mean customers being able to load an Oyster card onto a mobile phone, as well as potentially further innovative enhancements, in the future.

In the coming months, Indra will work with Cubic Transport Systems, who have operated the Oyster and Contactless system since it launched, to ensure a smooth transition of the current services and systems to Indra. This carefully managed process will ensure that customers are not impacted as these systems are transferred. A number of Cubic Transportation Systems staff working under the current contract will also transfer over to Indra, where applicable, as part of this transition period.

Notes to editors

The Contract is valued at £587.6 million (€678 million), an amount that could be increased to more than £987 million (€1.139 billion), and will run initially for seven years with an option to extend it by a further three years, and then two further one-year extensions.

The contract will see Indra handle the operation, maintenance, development, enhancement and expansion of TfL's revenue collection system, which includes:

• Front Office: ticket gates, retail and validation devices used by customers to purchase and validate travel products and access the transport network, as well as associated network equipment and revenue inspection devices;
• Data Landing: the systems that passes data bi-directionally between the front office and the back office;
• Back Office: the systems that manage the various magnetic stripe and smart card transactions, customer accounts, billing, and settlement processes except for third level support for contactless which is undertaken by TfL;
• Retail Network: the retail devices at Oyster Ticket Stops, management of the network of Oyster Ticket Stops, Oyster card enablement and management of bulk ticket sales; and
• Systems Integration: the operational and technical integration of modules of the system, the safe introduction of new or changed technologies and services, ongoing activities to identify and address obsolescence, and to manage faults and incidents as they should occur in day-to-day operation of the system

The new contract commenced on 15 January 2026. It marks the beginning of the transition period between both suppliers, which will extend beyond the current revenue collection contract end date of the 15 August 2026.

I assumed the new contract would start when the existing contract ended but the press release says they'll run concurrently for seven months. How does that work?

 

[Ralph Ayres]

In the coming months, Indra will work with Cubic Transport Systems, who have operated the Oyster and Contactless system since it launched, to ensure a smooth transition of the current services and systems to Indra. This carefully managed process will ensure that customers are not impacted as these systems are transferred. A number of Cubic Transportation Systems staff working under the current contract will also transfer over to Indra, where applicable, as part of this transition period.

It's surprising then that I gather Cubic have recently made a number of staff who were working on the current TfL contract redundant. They'll have had to make contractual redundancy payments to staff who they would have lost at no cost during the transfer, and I would also have expected Cubic to be legally obliged to retain an appropriate number of suitably-experienced staff to hand over at the relevant time, unless of course they independently chose to resign or retire in the meantime. Interesting times ahead.

 

[island]

Took the best part of a week but TfL's announcement of the contract award is now online.

Indra Group awarded seven-year contract to operate TfL's Oyster and Contactless system

Indra Group awarded seven-year contract to operate TfL's Oyster and Contactless system

tfl.gov.uk

I assumed the new contract would start when the existing contract ended but the press release says they'll run concurrently for seven months. How does that work?

overlap for knowledge transfer perhaps?

 

[londonbridge]

Still have an Oyster card (a first generation) but switched to contactless ages ago and haven’t used it in years, I seem to recall it has a negative balance as well.

 

[Snow1964]

Seems a tender award notice has been issued 14th May
Just under £2bn

Award Detail​

1	Indra Sistemas (Madrid) Integrated Revenue Collection Services Reference: 044248-2026-1 Value: £1,964,400,000

Renewal Options​

The Integrated Revenue Collection Contract has an initial term of seven (7) years. It has three (3) extension Options; the first for a three (3) year period, the second for a further one (1) year period and the third for a final one (1) year period, giving a potential maximum duration of twelve (12) years, with flexible exit arrangements beyond to enable transition to one or more successor contracts.

https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2026/W20/870449290

 

[Edvid]

TfL's contract list in post #46 remains unchanged from May 2025 and as such it still refers to the (presumably) now-expired Cubic RCC.

They're not waiting until the transition period ends and the IRCC proper commences before they update it, are they?