We have recently begun a collaborative research partnershipwith the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, SanDiego (UC San Diego) to research the next generation of intelligent travel byintegrating new mobile device, wireless communication, social media andanalytics technologies into a city’s transportation system infrastructure.

MasterCard has conducted a survey of over 1,600 Americansabout how paying for transit affected their daily commutes.  Overall the survey found that people find itstressful to pay for transit fares with cash. 65% of commuters who use cash to pay their transit fares worried thatthey did not have enough money to pay for their fare, 44% worry about needingcorrect change, and 36% have been unable to ride mass transit because they didnot have enough money for the fare.

Nextcity is Cubic’s vision for the future of transport technology.  The goal for Nextcity is an integrated, multi-modal urban travel payment and information platform.  Nextcity envisions a more efficient way of regulating, planning and informing all modes of travel within a given region, by mining and using payment and information data to educate and manage travelers’ choices through the provision of integrated real-time information and dynamic pricing. 

On July 6th, I was lucky enough to be present at the White House ceremony where President Obama signed legislation that accomplishes the important goal of rebuilding America's infrastructure and keeping thousands of workers on the job.