Cubic Technology Combines Public Transport

Cubic just completed integration of a municipal facility, Hanau’s largest public swimming pool, into the advanced electronic ticketing system for public buses, which the company delivered last year.

“Hanau’s use of Cubic’s open system smart card technology for non-transit applications represents an emerging trend, which we first developed for our transit customer in Washington, D.C.,” said Richard Johnson, president and CEO of Cubic Transportation Systems. “There, commuters use their SmarTrip® cards to pay for parking. Transit and government employees also use their SmarTrip cards for secure access to their place of work.”

He added, “Cubic is actively pursuing opportunities that leverage our leadership in transit into extended markets and applications, and that help our customers maximize their return on investment in transit infrastructure to offer additional value to their patrons.”

Visitors to the Hanau public pool who possess transport smart cards, known in the city as “Get In” cards, are able to bypass cash-paying customers and speed through entries by presenting the cards to a reader on a Cubic gate.

The Company is using its new Universal Gate, a customer-friendly, modularly constructed access and fare management system as the access/payment medium. The gating system, which is based on Cubic’s proven technology, is interoperable with the bus integrated ticketing system, as well as other local attractions including theaters and museums.

The gate’s processing intelligence stores valuable information about the usage of the pool, including the number of patrons and peak and off-peak admission periods, which management can then retrieve and use to introduce discount or other loyalty programs.

Cubic Transportation Systems, Ltd., the Company’s European transportation headquarters, teamed with T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsch Telekom, on the system for Hanau, which is located 20 km east of Frankfurt.

The system is the prototype for a comprehensive electronic ticketing system for the entire Rhein Main Verkehrsverbund (RMV). It is being operated and tested by the Hanau Strassenbahn ((HSB) for the RMV. The RMV is the transport agency for the Metro region around Frankfurt and is one of the largest in Europe.

The dual interface feature of the RMV/HSB’s “Get In,” smart card provides a flexible and secure solution for combining public transport functions that use the “contactless” interface with third-party applications that may use the “contact” interface, such as the German Geltcard.

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.