Speaking of never-ending stories…
…this IT project out of Sydney appears to fit the bill:
Ten years after it was first announced and almost $100 million later, Sydney is no closer to a cashless public transport ticketing system after the NSW Government was forced to terminate its contract for the troubled Tcard.
Transport Minister John Watkins announced the contract with Integrated Transit Solutions Ltd (ITSL) to develop the Tcard was cancelled at 1pm (AEDT) because of repeated delays.
He said the Government would now pursue a damages claim through the courts to try to recoup as much of the $95 million of taxpayers money spent on the failed project as possible.
If you read the whole article (and you should), you’ll note that this project was announced in 1997 and was originally intended to be completed in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The current contractor, ISTL, took over in 2003, but (according to the NSW Goverment) repeatedly failed to meet milestones.
UPDATE: Here are a few more articles on the same canceled project:
- $95m down the drain, and transport card is years off (refers to ERG, the parent company of ISTL)
- Public transport card plan dropped
- NSW scraps Tcard project (refers to other troubled IT projects contracted by the gov’t)
About the Author: bfwebster
Webster is Principal and Founder at at Bruce F. Webster & Associates, as well as an Adjunct Professor for the BYU Computer Science Department. He works with organizations to help them with troubled or failed information technology (IT) projects. He has also worked in several dozen legal cases as a consultant and as a testifying expert, both in the United States and Japan. He can be reached at 303.502.4141 or at bwebster@bfwa.com. 
![The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]](http://bfwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/intel-cpu-150x150.jpg "The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]")