Skip to main content

Cubic, EY, support London’s contactless transport

Cubic Transportation Systems and Ernst and Young (EY) have spoken in support of Transport for London’s (TfL) introduction of contactless payments on Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground and National Rail services that accept Oyster.
September 17, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

 378 Cubic Transportation Systems and Ernst and Young (EY) have spoken in support of 1466 Transport for London’s (TfL) introduction of contactless payments on Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground and National Rail services that accept Oyster.

Roger Crow, senior vice-president and managing director, EMEA for Cubic Transportation Systems, says, “We are delighted to have been able to support TfL in its ambition to deliver the best possible customer experience and choice to London’s residents and visitors. It is a proud day for all those involved in the project and we look forward to working with TfL in the years ahead to ensure London’s transport network maintains its world-class reputation.”

Commenting on the arrival of contactless payments on the London Underground, Nathan Marsh, Smart Infrastructure leader at EY, said: “Today heralds the start of the transition from a standard travelcard to widespread use of contactless bank cards, as well as setting the direction for this to progress onto smartphones over the next few years.  This is a positive development for the sector and good news for customers as it will make transportation systems more accessible and will ultimately lead to a simpler process.

“Today’s move is also likely to be another step towards smart city status for London, where we will ultimately see the entire city’s core infrastructure move onto smart platforms.  We would expect smart phones and wearable technologies to be part of this utility management mix in the near future.”

While extremely straightforward for the customer who simply has to touch their preferred bankcard to the reader, it is a major technological achievement delivered by TfL with support from Cubic. Over the past two years, some 20,000 assets including gates and readers have been retrofitted with contactless-enabled readers, developed by Cubic in conjunction with TfL and compatible with all contactless bankcards as well as Oyster.

The system has involved the development of a complex back office by TfL, which interfaces with the front and middle office services provided by Cubic.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Crossrail project receives US$814 million EIB funding
    December 16, 2013
    The European Investment Bank (EIB), Europe’s long-term lending institution, has provided further funds to support the latest step in Crossrail’s development with a loan of up to US$814 million to Transport for London (TfL). The facility will be used for financing a fleet of new high-capacity air-conditioned trains as well as a new maintenance depot. Finance contracts were signed in London this week by Steve Allen, TfL’s Managing Director Finance and Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank Vice President.
  • Conduent extends contactless payment system in Mexico
    September 7, 2018
    Conduent is extending its contactless card payment system to Line 3 of on Puebla’s Red Urbana de Transporte Articulado (RUTA) bus rapid transit system in Mexico. The upgrade is being carried out over the summer and will replace all free-standing ticket machines. Conduent’s system will allow riders to tap their phone or Puebla contactless card at validators. The solution will also replace inspector terminals, validators and access control gates. According to Conduent, all three lines will receive fleet
  • Is road user charging the first stop for congestion management?
    July 23, 2012
    David Hytch, Information Systems Director at the Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive, considers just where congestion pricing schemes should sit in transport planners' hierarchy of options for managing demand. On the face of it, Greater Manchester in England's proposed congestion charging scheme hit just about every sweet spot possible when it came to convincing the general public of the need for and benefits of such a venture. There was the promise from national government of almost £3bn-worth of
  • London to have three more fully-electric bus routes
    July 7, 2017
    Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have announced three more electric-only bus routes in the city on routes 46, 153 and 214, the latest in a series of measures to tackle London’s toxic air.