Public transport officials have refused to make public details and costings of the Ticketer system used on the island’s buses, trains and trams - insisting these are ’commercially sensitive’.

Ticketer was purchased in 2013 at a cost of £400,000 to replace the short-lived Almex bus ticketing system.

A public accounts committee investigation found that serious mistakes were made in the purchase of Almex which had to be replaced after less than five years.

Details of all costs incurred from sourcing, installation and upgrades to the Ticketer system were requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

In its response, the Department of Infrastructure confirmed £400,000 was spent in 2013-14 on ticket machine replacement and the smart card project.

But it added: ’We are unable to provide any further information as disclosure would leave transport services in breach of contract with Ticketer.

’It would also prejudice the commercial interests of Ticketer and transport services’ future negotiations regarding equivalent services in future.’

The DoI said transport services purchased the Ticketer product on the basis that it offered the ’best value for revenue generation’ but details and costings of the bespoke package purchased by transport services were ’commercially sensitive.’

Ticketer’s introduction allowed for the use of Smart card technology for the first time and heralded the launch of top-up Go-Cards. It was expected to save about £200,000 a year and help eradicate ticket fraud.

Its predecessor Almex was introduced at a cost of £381,483 in September 2008.

A public accounts committee report concluded serious mistakes were made and the taxpayer had not received value for money. A civil servant with no experience in this area was put in charge of procurement. Key routines were missed in the software and £30,000 had to be spent to fix it for immediate use.