Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS), a business unit of Cubic Corp., announced a contract extension of up to five years from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for operations and maintenance services supporting the regional Clipper® card fare payment system in the San Francisco Bay Area. The extended contract period is from Nov. 2019 to Nov. 2024, and is valued at approximately $25 million per year.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Cubic has been providing services to MTC under a current 10-year services agreement that began when Cubic, in partnership with MTC, launched the Clipper card system to the Bay Area in 2009.
MTC plans to upgrade the Clipper system with new fare technologies, such as mobile payment. According to a recent MTC survey, 93% of customers reported that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the Clipper system and would like the agency to integrate new features to support MTC’s goal of delivering a cost-effective and customer-focused system that supports a modern and seamless travel experience. Cubic’s contract extension will support Clipper through the transition to the next-generation system.
“Maintaining the Clipper system to keep transit riders moving efficiently is our top priority, even as we work on future improvements. Each month, riders use nearly one million Clipper cards and we collect nearly $50 million in fares, so reliability is crucial,” said Carol Kuester, director, MTC Electronic Payments.
Under the contract, Cubic will continue to support MTC and its regional partners for the Clipper system. Cubic operates the customer call center, Clipper card fulfillment and distribution, technical help desk, retail merchant network, and the transit benefits system for employer/employee management of transit subsidies.
Clipper is used by 22 regional transit operators and accounts for more than half of all Bay Area transit trips — approximately 800,000 trips each weekday.
The region’s fixed-route system finished out the year with a total of 373.5 million rides. Adding 12.3 million rides over 2024 represents an increase that is equal to the annual transit ridership of Kansas City.
The service is a flexible, reservation-based transit service designed to close the first- and last-mile gaps and connect riders to employment for just $5 per day.
The upgraded system, which went live earlier this month, supports METRO’s METRONow vision to enhance the customer experience, improve service reliability, and strengthen long-term regional mobility.
The agreement provides competitive wages and reflects strong labor-management collaboration, positive working relationships, and a shared commitment to building a world-class transit system for the community, said RTA CEO Lona Edwards Hankins.
The priorities are outlined in the 2026 Board and CEO Initiatives and Action Plan, which serves as a roadmap to guide the agency’s work throughout the year and ensure continued progress and accountability on voter-approved transportation investments and essential mobility services.
