Cubic Receives Transit Contracts for Central Computer and Clearinghouse Integration for Los Angeles Region

The future smart card, called “TAP,” will give riders a cashless, more convenient way to travel and transfer between Metro, the commuter rail line Metrolink and any of nine L.A. County bus operators.

L.A. Metro’s Regional Central Data Collection System (RCDCS) will provide the regional back office and clearinghouse functions needed to perform funds settlement and financial reconciliation and manage data for the regional participants. The system will be used to generate reports; manage the Autoload function and hotlist files; perform credit/debit card transaction processing; and distribute TAP card information to the TAP services providers.

“The RCDCS is the final technology piece to enable seamless travel for our region’s patrons – a project in the making for almost a decade. In addition, the potential to connect other counties, and add other functionality such as retail, parking, hotels and schools is exciting, and certainly one of the biggest opportunities to change the delivery of public transit systems in the region,” said Jane Matsumoto, project manager Universal Fare Systems for Metro’s Transit Operations.

A separate contract from Long Beach Transit calls for Cubic to supply, host and manage the agency’s central computer– an interim step during the development and integration phase of Metro’s RCDCS, but one which will enable Long Beach Transit to deploy its new fareboxes to replace its aging system as soon as possible. For both contracts, the underlying technology is based on Cubic’s Nextfare™ Central System, a configurable suite of software modules and applications that provide the core fare collection and financial operations including revenue clearing, settlement and reporting.

In recent months, Cubic also has opened a customer services center in the Los Angeles region that will support the company’s maintenance of the regional system and other emerging opportunities from transit operators.

Metro initiated development of the Universal Fare System with the award of an $84 million contract to Cubic in 2002. Since then Cubic also has received contracts from nine bus operators across L.A. county, including Long Beach, to provide fareboxes so they can join the regional system.

Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. is the world’s leading full-service systems integrator 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.

Every year, nearly 10 billion rides are taken worldwide using Cubic fare collection systems. Cubic has delivered over 400 projects in 40 major markets on five continents. Active projects include London, New York / New Jersey region, Washington, D.C. / Baltimore / Virginia region, Los Angeles region, San Diego region, San Francisco, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Atlanta, Vancouver and Edmonton, Canada, Brisbane, Australia, Singapore, Bangkok, Thailand, China and Scandinavia.

The corporation’s other major segment, Cubic Defense Applications group, is a world leader in realistic combat training systems, mission support services and defense electronics. For more information about Cubic, see the company's web site at www.cubic.com.