Cubic Transportation Systems, a unit of Cubic Corp., inked a $33 million contract with Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) to modernize its EASY Card revenue management system.
Under the deal, Cubic Transportation will provide 10 years of back-office cloud computing and support services. The EASY Card system is already supplied by Cubic, and this contract serves to provide a significant technology refresh and expansion of customer services. Cubic Transportation Systems says that, by doing the upgrade, the Miami government agency will spend a fraction of the costs associated with a new system.
In addition to the EASY Card system, Cubic, in collaboration with Passport, will launch a new mobile app that provides riders with a range of tools, including balance checking, viewing account history, account management and the purchase of fares. Passport makes transportation mobile applications for cities, including Chicago, Toronto and Boston. Riders with NFC-enabled mobile phones will be able to download the EASY Card, while with those phones that don’t support NFC, the app will provide a display-generated ticket in visual and bar code form. Because the system is an open payment one, riders can pay with the contactless bankcards in their wallets, as well as with NFC-enabled mobile devices.
“Seamless travel remains a priority for the Department of Transportation and Public Works, and what this project with Cubic will deliver are options to enrich the traveler experience through open and mobile payments, as well as moving back-office operations from us to Cubic, giving our agency the ability to focus on our core mission of creating a full range of well-synchronized mobility services within our community,” said Alice N. Bravo, director of DTPW, in a press release. “It’s important for our transit system to incorporate the latest technologies, so this agreement represents another way that we are moving forward into the future of transportation. Our customers will be able to take advantage of a progressively broader range of service enhancements as they roll out in stages over the course of the next eight to 18 months.”