Skip to main content

MasterCard and Cubic join forces on smart city payment solutions

MasterCard today is to partner with Cubic Transportation Systems, combining MasterCard’s everyday payments and loyalty management expertise with Cubic’s NextCity platform to develop solutions that: Enable transportation operators to offer flexible pricing based on system demand; Provide individual travellers with real-time guidance on their mobile devices on the smartest way to travel, offering fare incentives if the system becomes congested or overcrowded; Offer retailers at and around transportation hu
March 4, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSS1756 MasterCard today is to partner with 378 Cubic Transportation Systems, combining MasterCard’s everyday payments and loyalty management expertise with Cubic’s NextCity platform  to develop solutions that: Enable transportation operators to offer flexible pricing based on system demand;  Provide individual travellers with real-time guidance on their mobile devices on the smartest way to travel, offering fare incentives if the system becomes congested or overcrowded;  Offer retailers at and around transportation hubs ways to alert travellers to personalised offers and rewards on the go.

With more than half of the world’s population already living in cities, the partners feel many transportation systems have reached capacity. They say transportation authorities are looking for ways to better manage existing demand and create investments in new infrastructure. The penetration of smart devices is opening up new opportunities for service operators to connect with transportation users before, during and after a journey and in turn provide a more tailored and efficient experience.

The partnership will help accelerate the conversion of the currently US$200 billion cash payments into digital payments, saving operators cost for cash-handling and speeding up through-put. By introducing globally interoperable payment solutions for urban transportation systems, traveling between cities will become much easier, with no need to carry multiple tickets.

“MasterCard and Cubic, both lead members in the Smart Cities Council, share a vision to improve quality of life for everyday citizens in cities and help authorities to better manage population growth and urban development,” said Will Judge, head of Urban Mobility, MasterCard Enterprise Partnerships. “Combining our expertise and reach allows us to ultimately drive greater value and make consumers’ lives easier and more enjoyable as they travel around and between connected cities.”

Matt Cole, executive vice president, strategy and business development of Cubic Transportation Systems, said: “Partnering with MasterCard elevates the offerings within our NextWave mobile solution to a new level, and strengthens our NextCity story to demonstrate to urban centres everywhere how serious we are about addressing their transportation challenges.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • VeriFone wins Austrian rail ticketing contract
    April 18, 2012
    VeriFone Systems has announced its Payware Mobile Enterprise and managed services solution has been selected by Austrian company Westbahn Management for use as a mobile ticketing validation and payment service when its innovative rail service begins this December.
  • ‘Free’ power for signs, shelters and so much more
    March 17, 2016
    David Crawford looks at the sunny side of the street. Solar power has been relatively slow in entering the transport sector, but a current blossoming of activity bodes well for the large-scale harnessing of an alternative energy that is zero-emission at source and, in practical terms, infinitely renewable. Traffic management and traveller information systems, and actual vehicles, are all emerging as areas for deployment. Meanwhile roads themselves are being viewed as new-style, fossil fuel-free ‘power stati
  • Telematics standards need to evolve to keep up with technology
    July 30, 2012
    Scott Andrews and Scott McCormick take a look at how standards development for the telematics environment needs itself to evolve in order to stay abreast of technological advances. While the road has been somewhat arduous, telematics has evolved from a research activity to a resource for fleet operators, consumers and road management authorities.
  • US transportation policy needs to restart to sort shortcomings
    August 2, 2012
    Joshua Schank has no illusions when it comes to what he and the Bipartisan Policy Center are suggesting in Performance Driven: New Vision for US Transportation Policy. Released in June of this year, this major report (see Sidebar, 'The Shift in Thinking') advocates no less than a root-and-branch overhaul of the way in which the US transportation system is run - how money is allocated and how the beneficiaries of that funding are selected. As its name suggests, Schank and his colleagues are urging senior US