OT: Cubic Gets Pact To Expand Smart Card System
Washington's Smart Card System To Support Regional Merchant Network and Customer
Services
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 2003--Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX: CUB), has received a $12 million contract to upgrade the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)'s smart card-based fare collection regional central computing system. The Cubic upgrades will support new customer service initiatives for the SmarTrip(R) card system, giving regional commuters options for purchasing and reloading their smart cards.
In addition to the new contract, WMATA is giving Cubic an option to provide $2.4 million in rail system upgrades. With this latest order, Cubic, under a 10-year, multi-phased contract, which culminates next year, will deliver nearly $190 million in systems software and infrastructure for a regional smart card-based fare collection system linking rail, bus and parking services in the District of Columbia, the State of Maryland and parts of Virginia.
Under the new contract, Cubic will deliver software and hardware upgrades that will interface with the regional fare collection system's customer service center, which is expected to be operational in the late summer 2004. Cubic's upgrades will support new applications for the SmarTrip card, including the company's Autoload, Smart Benefits, Regional Transit Benefits and its future Fairest Fare functionality.
"We are pleased to provide the advanced central computer technology and services that will enable WMATA to deliver on its promise of improving customer service and extending the reach of the SmarTrip(R) system. Now everyone in the region can take advantage of seamless, regional integration in fare payment," said Richard Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. "By providing a system based on innovation, quality and reliability, Washington sets the benchmark in the U.S. for a smart card-based fare collection system."
With Autoload, regional SmarTrip cardholders will be able to automatically and electronically either collect stored value or purchase new fare products when their smart cards are presented at bus fareboxes, gates, ticket vending machines, station management systems or parking readers. Smart Benefits uses the Autoload distribution feature to electronically deliver government or private employer-subsidized transit benefits to cardholders' smart cards. If the contract option is exercised, Fairest Fare will use the system to determine what is the best fare product for a given time period based on the patron's usage during that period.
Cubic will employ its Nextfare(TM) Central System as the backbone for expanding services throughout the region. Designed to industry standards using open platforms and commercial off-the-shelf applications, Nextfare will provide the regional credit/debit switch and the distribution of Autoload, Smart Benefits and hot list files between all regional transit operators and the customer service center. Nextfare also will collect and forward to the regional fare collection system customer service center all smart card transactions from the regional point-of-sale network and each of the participating agencies' fare collection system, including WMATA rail, WMATA bus, WMATA parking, MTA heavy and light rail, MTA bus, participating Maryland locally operated transit systems (LOTS), MTA-related commuter buses, MARC commuter rail and participating bus transit agencies in Northern Virginia.
Cubic also will deploy a point-of-sale network comprised of credit/debit terminals integrated with Cubic's Tri-Reader(R) and the IT and communications infrastructure needed to link merchant transactions to the Nextfare Central System. As many as 500 point-of-sale terminals are planned to be installed at strategically located retail outlets throughout the region, making it even easier and more convenient to purchase and reload value onto smart cards.
Cubic Transportation Systems is the world's leading system provider for regional multi-operator intermodal ticketing systems. Every year, nearly 10 billion rides are taken worldwide using Cubic fare collection systems in more than 40 major markets on five continents including London; New York; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Sydney; Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Rotterdam; Chicago; Atlanta; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Miami; Hong Kong; Guangzhou; Shanghai; and Singapore.
The corporation's other major segment, Cubic Defense Applications, provides instrumented air and ground combat training systems, battle command training, simulations and simulation support for U.S. and allied military forces. The group also produces high technology avionics, data links and communications products for government and commercial customers, and a wide range of technical and logistics services. For more information about Cubic, see the company' Web site at www.cubic.com
AI
