Cubic Awarded $11.58 Million Contract from Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority.Contract Completes Final Step in Creating Unified Regional Fare Collection System SAN DIEGO San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. -- The Washington Metropolitan Area The Washington Metropolitan Area, formally known as the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of November 2004. Transit Authority (WMATA WMATA Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ) has awarded an $11.58 million contract modification to Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation (AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange :CUB), to implement software and technology upgrades that will unite Washington Metropolitan Area rail, park-and-ride and regional bus systems through common smart card media and a centralized transaction processing Updating the appropriate database records as soon as a transaction (order, payment, etc.) is entered into the computer. It may also imply that confirmations are sent at the same time. Transaction processing systems are the backbone of an organization because they update constantly. and reporting back-office system. The system enhancements include new state-of-the-art contactless card readers at all Metro subway and parking facilities, which will expand the already successful SmarTrip[R] regional smart card system. The upgrades will increase efficiencies and open new commercial opportunities that could save the agency millions of dollars in annual operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales . Led by the vision of WMATA, the SmarTrip program began with the nation's first multi-modal trial of contactless smart cards in the mid-1990s. The success of the trial led to full system deployment The deployment of a mechanical device, electrical system, computer program, etc., is its assembly or transformation from a packaged form to an operational working state. Deployment implies moving a product from a temporary or development state to a permanent or desired state. within Washington Metro rail operations in 1999. Contracts with Cubic between 2001 and 2004 expanded the system to Metrobus and nine regional agencies. Among the regional participants are the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Northern Virginia Northern Virginia (NoVA) consists of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park. Transportation Commission, Montgomery County Ride-On, and Alexandria Dash. Today, nearly 2 million SmarTrip cards have been sold, with 1.1 million of those cards in use daily across Metro Rail and Bus operations. The remaining participants are scheduled to come online over the coming months. Under the contract add-on Cubic will migrate WMATA's legacy mainframe computer system to one processing platform - the Nextfare(TM) Central System, the hub of Cubic's turnkey fare collection system. Nextfare, an enterprise management system for transit fare programs, is a configurable suite of software modules and applications that provide the core fare collection - which will be implemented for WMATA's system - as well as financial accounting, including revenue clearing, settlement and reporting. When this project is finished, it will complete the system that links each of the participating regional operators. This will enable SmarTrip cardholders to seamlessly connect between agencies without having to purchase separate tickets. Nextfare also facilitates a variety of user conveniences such as the purchase of fare products on the Web, the ability for the card to electronically receive federally subsidized transit benefits, and the ability of the user to re-load SmarTrip cards at specially equipped merchant locations. In addition to Washington, Nextfare is currently operating in Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego and Minneapolis. Cubic will also upgrade WMATA's fare collection infrastructure with its patented Tri-Reader[R], which can process contactless smart cards meeting ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. 14443. This will allow WMATA to select from a wider choice of card suppliers and open doors for WMATA to structure collaborative relationships with smart card issuers from both the public and private sectors. Cubic Transportation Systems is one of two major business segments of Cubic Corporation. The Cubic Defense Applications group is a world leader in realistic combat training systems, mission support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services and defense electronics. Cubic Transportation Systems designs and manufactures automatic fare collection systems for public transit, including rail, buses and parking, throughout the world. For more information about Cubic, see the company's Web site at cubic.com SmarTrip is a registered trademark of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. |
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