How could a lead contractor impose constraints which delay enabling these devices a year or more? It feels like its an entirely confected problem because at scale the card handling side isn't the problem: its the transactional reconciliation which they have to do anyway, all the time. Every tram, train and bus already has sensors which are compatible, in this logic.
If I can read the card they read, then surely they can read the datastream I emit from my phone? The Antenna is the same!
(this has also happened in my home town of Brisbane except they did a trial run on two trainlines and for university students, so we all know that CC, phones and the "GoCard" reader are completely compatible. Deployment is delayed here too)
I suspect the underlying problem is the financials. Brisbane Transport holds $millions of stored-value card dollars and gets to use them, invest them, with passengers as the creditor. They make a LOT of money off this because at scale its investment of that money at market rates, against draw-down for use on the bus or train. Moving to CC they will lose the retention of this cash-cow. Earning 5-7% rates out of this pile, vs $zero because you hold nothing in advance is a big hit to the bottom line.