STATE-owned ferry operator CalMac is to launch its new £18m booking and ticketing platform next month - ten years after it was first planned.

The project called Ar Turas (Our Journey) was to revolutionise the way in which CalMac interacts with customers, making travel simpler and easier and replace the existing 25-year-old ticketing process.

There had been growing concern about how long it had taken for the system to materialise, and how it has affected the costs of the project, which some have complained are couched in too much secrecy.

Initial contract estimates had put an eight-year booking and ticketing software contract at between £3m and £9m. CalMac say the “whole life costs” will actually be £18m.

A resurrected attempt to bring in a system which began over four years ago hoped to have a core first phase of a system in place by the summer of 2020.

Ministers were told that after a series of further delays it was not expected till the spring of this year.

Now CalMac has said the new system will go live across its port and ferry network on April 25.

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The state-owned ferry operator says that the state-of-the-art system, will give customers greater choice on the purchase, management, and use of tickets.

Tickets booked online will no longer have to be printed off at home or collected from a port office.

SPT concessionary fares and Blue Badge discounts will be available to purchase online for the first time.

Pet bookings can be added to online reservations, with CalMac saying that this removes the previous manual process and gives more certainty on pet space availability; It also provides the ability to add more than one vehicle to a reservation instead of having to make multiple bookings.

The ferry operator says it will also provide better capacity management and allow it to "better manage" the use of deck space on CalMac’s major vessels.

The new system has been called eBooking after being selected following consultation and engagement with more than 4,500 CalMac customers.

Those who have made a booking prior to April 25 will have their booking transferred across to the new system. They will then receive a new e-ticket, issued to their email inbox.

CalMac said: "The eBooking software is supplied by leading ferry industry ticketing system provider E-Dea, which has over 19 years' experience delivering similar projects to the ferry, cruise and port sectors.

"The system is currently being used by several operators and is in use in 94 ports across the world, currently managing 48 million passengers and 18 million vehicles each year.

The Herald:

"Customers and CalMac staff will be supported through the launch and the hyper care period immediately following go-live by CalMac support teams working around the clock to triage and resolve any potential issues."

The delayed system was said to be a factor in delays over the production of vital summer lifeline island ferry timetables which were put off by up to three months, with concerns about the affect on tourism.

Moves for the provision of a new ticketing system to replace the outdated one first emerged in October, 2013, when the ferry operator issued an invitation to tender.

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CalMac had hoped to have a new ticketing system in place for winter 2015 as part of a business modernisation project put in place to help it retain an eight-year contract for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service.

ATOS IT Services entered into an agreement with CalMac’s parent company David MacBrayne Limited two years before the ferry operator won the contract.

It came as David MacBrayne in 2015 was required to negotiate, and pay a very substantial fee for, a temporary extension of the old Compass system that had been in use for 25 years.

That came after the business had slumped to a pre-tax loss of £2.6m in the 2014/15 financial year, with the firm at the time saying that investment in technology had had a major impact on its bottom line.

When announcing the results in 2015 chairman David McGibbon said that “increased investment in developing new technology to improve the customer experience, through more flexible online ticketing and digital platforms” had contributed to the loss.

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But the contract ended up being at the centre of a legal row, and in 2018, a judge at the Court of Session ordered the IT firm to pay £1.2m in compensation to David MacBrayne over a contractual dispute over the provision of a ticketing system.

According to court documents seen by the Herald on Sunday, there were significant delays on the project and in July, 2015, there was an agreement to “suspend performance of their obligations” under the contract.

Lawyers for the ferry operator argued that ATOS breached the terms of a contract made with them by failing to provide the new reservation system.

In a row reminiscent of that which has dogged the provision of the two CalMac ferries, ATOS argued it had acted properly and that David MacBrayne had “materially contributed” to delays and failures by failing to fulfil certain responsibilities, including setting out the detail which was needed to full the contract requirements, including approving specifications and requesting items that were not in the scope of deal. This was denied by David MacBrayne.

CalMac's promo video for the new system.

David MacBrayne terminated the contract with ATOS in July 2016 after the computer specialists failed to show they had taken steps needed to ensure the new system was being installed.

David MacBrayne insisted that ATOS had breached the contract and was entitled to terminate the agreement and sought damages.

In a written judgment Lord Doherty stated “I am satisfied that it was reasonable of (David MacBrayne) to act as it did.”

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The case meant that the ticketing system was put on hold and CalMac were expected to re-examine the project to replace the Compass ticketing system, before any tendering process restarted.

Despite not having the new ticketing system in place, David MacBrayne, which had faced stiff competition from private company Serco, won the £1bn tender for the Clyde and Hebrides service.

The latest attempts to find a contractor to supply a “modern, commercial, off the shelf and market-proven ferry booking and ticketing software solution” can be traced back to 2018 when ministers were told procurement was delayed.

A contract award worth £2.75m was eventually made to company called E-Dea in December, 2020.

CalMac told suppliers that the first phase of the core ticketing and reservations implementation was hoped to start in the summer of 2020.

CalMac chief executive Robbie Drummond told suppliers that what they had was "antiquated" and said he wanted to "convey the urgency of this".

Now he says: “This exciting project will revolutionise the way in which we interact with customers by offering more choice and flexibility for everyone using the 29 CalMac routes to more than 50 destinations.

“We have actively engaged with thousands of existing customers and their feedback has been vital to the design and implementation of the new system. The next step is to hold community events so that we can show even more people how it works and how it will improve their booking experience; the dates for these events will be announced soon.

“In-depth staff training on the new system is continuing, so that we can provide a smooth transition for our passengers. We are confident that this new system will deliver a simpler and faster process for our business users, island visitors and commuters using our lifeline services.”