Politics & Government

MARTA Malfunction Related to Software Upgrade

Malfunction blamed on upgrade related to consumer protection mandate.

 

Relief for Sandy Springs riders as the MARTA Breeze fare system is again accepting customers’ debit cards – as well as credit cards and cash – after a software upgrade anomaly that disabled those functions has now been resolved.

A MARTA statement said Cubic, the San Diego-based technology vendor that designed, produced and maintains the Breeze fare collection system, has worked diligently with MARTA to correct the problems that surfaced during last week’s busy Labor Day weekend.

Richard Wunderle, senior vice-president and general manager, Cubic Transportation Systems’ North America operations, attributed the malfunction to an upgrade mandated by credit and debit institutions to protect consumers, which was already underway.

“The problems came about as changes were being made to the Breeze payment systems, which were necessary in order to comply with the latest security standards from the credit and debit card industry, the Data Security Standards from the PCI Security Council,” Wunderle said in a statement. “Since the issue came to light, we have been working very hard to resolve it and the necessary updates have now been applied to the systems.”

Wunderle said the glitch was, “an extremely unusual situation,” adding that, “we are wholly confident that the new safeguards we have put in place will further strengthen the protection of MARTA's customers’ payment account information and comply with the PCI standards. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to MARTA's customers while these updates were made.”

MARTA and Cubic have been operating the Breeze system for six years. Dr. Beverly A. Scott, MARTA’s general manager and CEO, acknowledged that, “as our technology partners in the transit industry, MARTA and Cubic remain committed to providing a highly reliable and highly secure fare payment system for our customers.”

The above statement was provided by MARTA. Customers with questions can contact MARTA’s Customer Service Center at custserv@itsmarta.com or call 404 848-5000.


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