TransLink, the Greater Vancouver transit authority, awarded Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a business unit of Cubic Corp., a contract valued at $220 million to deliver and operate a new smart card fare payment and revenue management system for the region's rail, bus, ferry and paratransit services.

The base contract for $84 million includes the design, build and installation of the system, which will include new faregates, to be delivered by 2013. The contract includes a 10-year services contract valued at approximately $13 million per year as well as an option for five additional years of services.

TransLink's new system will be built on Cubic's Nextfare technology, which has been fielded in more than a dozen major transit systems. The Nextfare system gives transit operators better reliability, revenue recovery from fare evasion and valuable business data to support planning and transit services.

A major addition to the new system will be smart card and open payment capability to accept bank cards and other media that meet contactless technology standards. In addition, the system will include the faregates specified by TransLink in its quest to reduce fare evasion and increase customer security.

The contract is the third largest initial award in Cubic Transportation Systems' history, preceded by London and Sydney. It is Cubic's fourth contract for complete design-build-operate-maintain services, with previous contracts including London, Brisbane and Sydney.