A Caixabank-led consortium has been the only final bidder for the ATM innovative public transport ticket PPP project in Barcelona, Spain, after another consortium decided not to submit a proposal.

The winning consortium is formed by Caixa Bank, Fujitsu, Indra and Marfina. The team that rejected to submit a final proposal was composed by El Corte Ingles (retail chain from Spain), Etra, a subsidiary of Xerox and 10 operating firms.

Two others teams were involved in the first phase of the tender process but were not shortlisted for the final round of bids:

• IBM and Televent
• Ricon, Prodata and Mastercard.

The project is expected to be officially awarded by September this year.

The project involves the development of  an innovative ticketing and fare system based on a contactless single mobility card for all regional public transport modes in the province of Barcelona. The actual system is being used for about 5.6 million people. The system uses magnetic cards, in 2012, it billed about €452 million.

The project cost is estimated at €60 million. EIB is considering financing of €35 million (US$47 million) for the project.