Cubic Awarded Contract to Provide New Smart Card-Based Fare Collection System
Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation has been awarded an $11.3 million contract for design and integration of a new multi-modal contactless smart card-based automated fare collection system that will link rail and parking services for the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), a subsidiary of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA).
The PATCO High Speed Line connects Center City Philadelphia to suburban Camden County, New Jersey and is a principal connection to two other major transit systems that serve the northeast corridor – New Jersey Transit and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.Under the new contract, Cubic will deliver an advanced, open-architecture fare collection system of operational software, communications, sales terminals for customer agents, multi-language ticket vending machines that issue smart cards and magnetically encoded tickets, faregates and parking equipment for the 13 rail stations and seven parking facilities servicing PATCO’s 14.2-mile rail line.
The new system will support the use of both smart cards for regular commuters and magnetically encoded single-ride and round-trip tickets for occasional riders and tourists. Smart cards will be the only medium accepted at the agency’s gated parking facilities from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. After 10 a.m., the agency will allow free entry. Metered parking spaces and free lots will still be available.
Cubic also is supplying automated customer service features including credit-debit payment, internet-based ticketing, autoload (the ability to automatically load value onto the card), and electronic transit benefits delivery. These and other advanced capabilities will be integrated and managed by Cubic’s Nextfare™ Central System, a configurable suite of software designed using industry standards, open platforms and integrated commercial off-the-shelf applications to provide the core fare collection, management and reporting functions.
“Cubic offered the best technical solution to meet our requirements for field-proven system components and system flexibility to accommodate future growth. The result will be a state-of-the-art, customer-friendly system for the more than 9 million patrons we serve each year while giving the Authority the latest tools for improved revenue capture and operational efficiencies,” said Robert A. Box, General Manager of PATCO.
“We are especially pleased to receive this contract, as PATCO was one of our first customers in the Automatic Fare Collection business,” said Richard Efland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. “PATCO is a vital transportation hub for the northeastern U.S., and we are excited to be delivering the new system, which could evolve into a regional smart card system for the greater New Jersey/New York/Philadelphia area,” he added.
“PATCO is pleased to have Cubic to develop a state-of-the-art smart card system for our customers. Since 1969, PATCO customers have used a magnetic ticketing system, which though cutting-edge at its introduction, has now become outdated. The new system will be revolutionary in its own way,” said John J. Matheussen, President of PATCO and CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority.
The system is one of the first systems compliant with the Regional Interoperability Standard for Electronic Transit Fare Payments (RIS) which was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and forms the basis for a national standard currently being reviewed by the American Public Transportation Association.
PATCO’s new system will replace the system installed by Cubic in 1975, which was the nation’s first automated fare collection system to use plastic magnetically encoded tickets, a popular fare product still used in many transit systems today.
Delivery of the new system is scheduled for the end of 2006.
The new system will support the use of both smart cards for regular commuters and magnetically encoded single-ride and round-trip tickets for occasional riders and tourists. Smart cards will be the only medium accepted at the agency’s gated parking facilities from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. After 10 a.m., the agency will allow free entry. Metered parking spaces and free lots will still be available.
Cubic also is supplying automated customer service features including credit-debit payment, internet-based ticketing, autoload (the ability to automatically load value onto the card), and electronic transit benefits delivery. These and other advanced capabilities will be integrated and managed by Cubic’s Nextfare™ Central System, a configurable suite of software designed using industry standards, open platforms and integrated commercial off-the-shelf applications to provide the core fare collection, management and reporting functions.
“Cubic offered the best technical solution to meet our requirements for field-proven system components and system flexibility to accommodate future growth. The result will be a state-of-the-art, customer-friendly system for the more than 9 million patrons we serve each year while giving the Authority the latest tools for improved revenue capture and operational efficiencies,” said Robert A. Box, General Manager of PATCO.
“We are especially pleased to receive this contract, as PATCO was one of our first customers in the Automatic Fare Collection business,” said Richard Efland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. “PATCO is a vital transportation hub for the northeastern U.S., and we are excited to be delivering the new system, which could evolve into a regional smart card system for the greater New Jersey/New York/Philadelphia area,” he added.
“PATCO is pleased to have Cubic to develop a state-of-the-art smart card system for our customers. Since 1969, PATCO customers have used a magnetic ticketing system, which though cutting-edge at its introduction, has now become outdated. The new system will be revolutionary in its own way,” said John J. Matheussen, President of PATCO and CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority.
The system is one of the first systems compliant with the Regional Interoperability Standard for Electronic Transit Fare Payments (RIS) which was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and forms the basis for a national standard currently being reviewed by the American Public Transportation Association.
PATCO’s new system will replace the system installed by Cubic in 1975, which was the nation’s first automated fare collection system to use plastic magnetically encoded tickets, a popular fare product still used in many transit systems today.
Delivery of the new system is scheduled for the end of 2006.
About Cubic
Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. is the world’s leading full-service solution provider of automated fare collection systems for public transport including bus, bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, ferry and parking. Cubic’s solutions and services include system design, back office computer systems, support equipment, equipment design and manufacturing, device-level software, integration, test, installation, warranty, maintenance, computer hosting services, call centre services, card management and distribution services, financial clearing and settlement, multi-application support and outsourcing services.
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