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San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) and North County Transit District (NCTD) recently awarded Cubic Transportation Systems a $26 million contract to provide a regional integrated smart card-based automatic fare collection system for the county’s buses, trolley, Coaster commuter rail and future light-rail expansions.



"We began working on this project in 1999, and it’s exciting to bring it to fruition with this vote," said Dave Druker, past NCTD chair and current Del Mar councilman, in a prepared statement.



On Sept. 25, Cubic delivered the first Web-based transit ticketing and customer service function. Although MTDB and NCTD currently plan to use Cubic’s fare collection system for area rail and bus applications, it could later be expanded to include parking fees and for ballpark admissions.



Under contract terms, Cubic is providing a turnkey system that includes rail ticketing equipment, transit ticket vending machines, smart card validators for rail and bus lines, handheld units for code compliance enforcement, and Cubic’s Nextfare™ Business Management System.



And, because Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority this spring signed a contract with Cubic for a county-wide smart-card system, southern California could someday have a regional transit card.