Central Computer, Clearinghouse Integration Contracts for Los Angeles Region

Cubic has received contracts totaling more than $6 million for central computer and clearinghouse integration that will complete the technology needed to operate the Universal Fare System, the Cubic-designed regional transit smart card-based fare collection system that will connect Los Angeles County, and potentially the surrounding counties with a common smart card.

The future smart card, called “TAP,” will give riders a cashless, more convenient way to travel and transfer between Metro, the commuter rail line Metrolink and any of nine L.A. County bus operators

Cubic will deliver L.A. Metro’s Regional Central Data Collection System (RCDCS) under a contract worth more than $5.9 million. The company will provide the regional back office and clearinghouse technology to perform funds settlement and financial reconciliation and manage data for the regional participants. The technology will be used to generate reports; manage the Autoload function and hotlist files; perform credit/debit card transaction processing; and distribute TAP card information to the TAP services providers.

“The RCDCS is the final technology piece to enable seamless travel for our region’s patrons — a project in the making for almost a decade. In addition, the potential to connect other counties, and add other functionality such as retail, parking, hotels and schools is exciting, and certainly one of the biggest opportunities to change the delivery of public transit systems in the region,” said Jane Matsumoto, project manager Universal Fare Systems for Metro’s Transit Operations.

A separate contract for approximately $218,000 from Long Beach Transit calls for Cubic to supply, host and manage the agency’s central computer — an interim step during the development and integration phase of Metro’s RCDCS, but one which will enable Long Beach Transit to deploy its new fareboxes to replace its aging system as soon as possible. For both contracts, the underlying technology is based on Cubic’s Nextfare™ Central System, a configurable suite of software modules and applications that provide the core fare collection and financial operations including revenue clearing, settlement and reporting.

In recent months, Cubic also has opened a customer services center in the Los Angeles region that will support the company’s maintenance of the regional system and other emerging opportunities from transit operators.

Metro initiated development of the Universal Fare System with the award of an $84 million contract to Cubic in 2002. Since then Cubic also has received more than $17.9 million in contracts from nine bus operators across L.A. county, including Long Beach, to provide fareboxes so they can join the regional system.