All you need to know about automatic machines issuing metro tickets

CAIRO - 6 December 2020: The National Authority for Tunnels has started installing automatic machines in all stations, known as (T.V.M) machines, to extract meter tickets.

Egypt Today reviews all you need to know about these automatic machines:

What is the purpose of placing automatic machines to extract tickets?

To reduce the crowds in front of the ticket counters located at the stations.

Will these machines cancel the reservation counters in the stations?

These machines will not cancel the ticket counters in the stations so that the passenger has two options.

How do automatic machines work?

Automated machines operate using paper currency, coins, and bank credit cards; it is also possible to purchase single-trip tickets or use a smart card, or a cash wallet for traveling metro lines.

The machines are currently being installed at all the stations of the fourth phase of the third metro line. The Egyptian government plans to cover all metro stations, including the stations of the first and second lines.

A tender was given to supply and place the machines of the first and second lines to a French company so that each station will have more than one automatic machine according to the traffic of passengers.

On August 25, 2020, the National Authority for Tunnels announced that a French company has won the tender to supply automatic machines for issuing automatic metro tickets, after competing with other Spanish companies.

The main decision committee of the National Tunnels Authority had completed the evaluation and examination of the technical and financial offers submitted for the limited tender that the authority had put forward to select a specialized international company to manufacture and supply automatic metro ticket issuance machines (TVM) in full.

The French company’s bid to supply new machines, worth LE 76 million, won after a competition with the Spanish company Andra Systems, which obtained a lower technical evaluation and submitted a financial offer of approximately LE 85 million.

The National Authority for Tunnels launched the tender last November and set January 20 to meet and submit technical and financial bids, and three companies submitted for the tender, but one of them was technically rejected, and the competition remained between two companies; the French and Spanish companies.

The French company, to whom the offer was awarded, supplies automatic metro ticket-issuance machines for the first and second line stations, as part of the plan to install automatic metro ticket issuance machines in all three lines' stations, as it had previously contracted to purchase 50 TVM machines for the third line stations, and the first batches were installed in the fourth phase stations of the third line of the metro from Haroun station to Adly Mansourstation.