WMATA Blue Line Opening Marks Completion of SmarTrip® Expansion

Cubic has completed expansion of SmarTrip®, the nation’s first smart card-based fare collection system, on the new 3.1-mile extension of the Washington Metro’s Blue Line.

Cubic’s system includes the backoffice central computer, software and communications, ticket vending and add-fare machines and faregates for the rail stations as well as parking devices for the new park-and-ride facilities at Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center, the two new stations constructed for the Metrorail extension.

The extension opening represents the latest milestone in nearly 30 years of Cubic’s ongoing service to WMATA as the agency’s fare collection system provider, which began with delivery of the original magnetics-based system. In 1999, the SmarTrip® system began service and today has issued nearly 800,000 smart cards.

This achievement by WMATA has extended this landmark public transportation metro system beyond the capital beltway into Prince George’s County, Md., where it will help stimulate economic development while protecting the environment and increasing mobility for the region’s workers and residents.

The Cubic-designed SmarTrip system is at the heart of a regional initiative representing about $60 million in contracts that Cubic has received since 2001. Under the initiative, Cubic is deploying an extensive network of backoffice system software infrastructure and equipment to ultimately join rail, parking and bus services across 16 public transportation agencies, including WMATA and participants in Maryland and Virginia, in what will be the nation’s first interstate, intermodal smart card-based fare collection system.

SmarTrip® is a registered trademark of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.