Skip to main content

Cubic installs mobile bus validators for Minneapolis Metro Transit

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) is to install mobile validators on the Minneapolis Metro Transit bus fleet to replace previous card validators used in the Go-To smart card system. The state-of-good-repair project was awarded under a US$5 million contract. The new validators meet Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) compliance and include the capability of adding technologies in the future such as NFC-mobile payments, open payments and account-based processing. Metro Transit ordered more than 2,000
February 25, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
378 Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) is to install mobile validators on the Minneapolis 6907 Metro Transit bus fleet to replace previous card validators used in the Go-To smart card system.

The state-of-good-repair project was awarded under a US$5 million contract.  The new validators meet Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) compliance and include the capability of adding technologies in the future such as NFC-mobile payments, open payments and account-based processing.

Metro Transit ordered more than 2,000 mobile validators to replace their legacy card validators, including an initial 500 units installed on Metro Mobility buses last year. The success of that project, which for the first time brought smart card capability to the paratransit service, led to Metro Transit ordering an additional 1,600 validators to be installed across their entire bus fleet.

“Through this state-of-good-repair project, we will be able to replace all regional Go-To card validators with mobile validators enabling us to upgrade our technology both efficiently and cost effectively,” said Nicholas Eull, senior management of revenue operations, Metro Transit. “It will also allow us to take advantage of new technologies in the coming years.

“Cubic’s mobile validators are part of our product path to smart travel for our bus customers,” said Matt Newsome, senior vice president and general manager, Americas, Cubic Transportation Systems. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with Metro Transit and ensuring customer satisfaction through speedy and convenient transit payment, which Go-To Card customers have come to expect.”

Related Content

  • July 14, 2014
    Big data helps San Diego optimise public transit
    San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has turned to Cubic’s big data subsidiary Urban Insights to make better use of its data, according to a report in Information Week. The agency has disparate data sources, including a smart-card payment system, GPS-based automatic vehicle location devices on buses, automatic passenger counters on trolleys, and extensive route and schedule information formatted in the general transit feed specification (GTFS) format developed by Google in 2006. "We look at all
  • February 9, 2021
    CTS to expand contactless in NYC
    Payment options will include a mobile app, digital wallets and tap-in bank cards 
  • October 18, 2023
    New president for Cubic Transportation Systems
    Former Parsons and Siemens exec Peter Torrellas has taken over from Jeff Lowinger
  • February 2, 2017
    Cubic to expand University of Maryland NextBus system
    Cubic Transportation Systems has been awarded a US$1.1 million, five-year contract extension from the University of Maryland (UMD) to upgrade its bus fleet management system, which currently features approximately 80 buses. They all have NextBus hardware capabilities, including GPS-based trackers, driver control units and automatic vehicle location to inform passengers of the place and time of bus arrivals. Under the contract extension, Cubic will enhance UMD’s smart bus offering by providing features su