Cubic to update San Fran gating, ticketing system

Cubic Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of Cubic Corp., received a contract valued at close to $20 million to deliver new smart card-capable fare gates and ticket vending machines (TVMs) in nine subway stations for the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni).

Cubic will install the equipment and software necessary to fully integrate the Muni stations into the regional TransLink smart card network managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). TransLink allows riders to use one convenient card to travel on Muni and other public transportation systems in the Bay Area. Cubic also manages the TransLink system for MTC. Cubic is also delivering a new TransLink-capable back office system and upgrading the ticketing system on Muni's buses.

A long-time customer, Muni is partially funding the project with federal stimulus money. Installation of the new fare collection equipment is planned to start in late 2010 and will be fully operational by the spring of 2011.

"This project is a great example of the use of federal stimulus dollars to create jobs and bring state-of-the-art technology to San Francisco," Mayor Gavin Newsom said in a Muni news release. "We need to re-invest in the infrastructure of the Muni system to fulfill the promise of our Transit First city."