Cubic receives $12 million WMATA upgrade contract

Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. received a $12 million contract to upgrade the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) smart card-based fare collection regional central computing system. The upgrades will give regional commuters options for purchasing and reloading their smart cards. Under the new contract, Cubic will deliver software and hardware upgrades that will interface with the regional fare collection system's customer service center, which is expected to be operational in the late summer of 2004. In addition to the new contract, WMATA is giving Cubic an option to provide $2.4 million in rail system upgrades.