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February
28, 2002 |
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LA
County on Brink of Universal Fare System as
MTA's
Board today decided to aggressively move forward with a revolutionary plan
to make using all public transit in LA County, including MTA's Metro
System, as smooth as silk. The
MTA Board awarded a $84 million contract to Cubic Transportation System
Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX:COM), to
manufacture and implement automated fare collection equipment, commonly
referred to in industry lexicon as the universal fare system (UFS),
eliminating the need for tokens, cash and passes. With
the wave of a plastic, wallet-sized Smart Card imbedded with computer
chips, passengers will be able to board all MTA buses and trains and
transfer to services offered by municipal operators, paratransit and
Metrolink without worrying about purchasing new fare or carrying change. The
move to Smart Cards, expected to take place within three years, is
expected to vastly improve customer service and increase ridership. "This is, without doubt, one of the most ambitious and important projects every undertaken by the MTA from the standpoint of making public transit far more attractive to the residents of LA County," said MTA Board Chairman John Fasana. "The day when passengers experience public transit the way it was envisioned, effortless and quickly, is just around the corner. The award of this contract is another reminder of MTA's commitment to creating the best transit system imaginable." "We are proud and delighted that the Los Angeles MTA chose Cubic to help provide high-tech, smart ticketing for its public transit customers," said Walter C. Zable, president and CEO of Cubic Transportation Systems. "We look forward to providing public transit commuters across L.A. County with the same speedy, hassle-free transit access using Smart Cards that we have provided in Washington, D.C., and Chicago." The
changeover to Smart Cards will be gradual as customers become acquainted
with the benefits of the new technology. A temporary version of the Smart
Card, a paper flash regional pass - Los Angeles County's first
"universal" fare media - will be introduced by the summer of 2002,
in advance of Smart Card implementation. The
paper flash pass will also enable the region's customers to seamlessly
travel on any transit system or on any operator without worry of differing
fare structures and media. "MTA's customer-first focus requires designing a convenient, seamless countywide fare collection system to serve our public transit customers," said MTA CEO Roger Snoble. "The awarding of a contract for new fare collection equipment brings us closer to that goal." Late
last year, in an early test of UFS, Montebello Bus Lines became the first
municipal bus operator in LA County to partner up with MTA by accepting
MTA transit passes on all its bus lines. When UFS is fully implemented,
the paper pass, like all other passes in the county, will become
transparent to all customers in the form of one regional transit Smart
Card. Since
Smart Cards utilize radio frequencies that communicate between the card
and fare reading equipment, there is no need to remove a card from a purse
or jacket to pay a fare, which will speed up the boarding. The
Smart Cards can be programmed to hold more than just cash equivalents for
use on transit. Among the numerous potential prospects are partnerships
with other government entities, schools, convention centers, For
example, with the Smart Card, people today pay for soft drinks in vending
machines at the transit stations in Sydney, Australia or for clothing in
Hong Kong. The Smart Card also provides the opportunity for employer Corporate
or public agencies can offer transit subsidies to their employees - it
is both a corporate tax savings to the employer, as well as an employee
benefit. If an organizations elects to offer such a feature, the Smart
Card can be programmed so that an individual merely "taps" their Smart
Card at a TVM, or stand-alone validator (SAV), and the benefit will be
loaded directly into their Smart Card. This eliminates administrative
burden to the issuing employer and is most convenient to the employee, who
can enjoy this benefit automatically and seamlessly in the course of their
daily travel. The
UFS contract will include the design, manufacture, testing, delivery,
installation, and support of TVMs, SAVs, validating bus fare boxes,
revenue collection equipment, ancillary equipment, spare parts, services
and associated software. The
automated fare collection system will improve data collection and
reporting for the MTA through a new central data collection system.
Revenue and ridership information will be readily available, providing
timely, accurate information retrieval and expanded financial control and
service planning. With this data, MTA and other transit operators can
better tailor service to meet ridership demand. "The MTA's plate of projects geared to encourage people to leave their cars at home, and in the process make our roads less congested and improve air quality, seemingly gets fuller everyday," said Fasana. "At this pace, MTA will soon, and deservedly, be regarded as one of the top transit agencies in the nation." MTA-027 |
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