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

  • Growth of outsourcing simplifies transportation operations
    June 11, 2012
    Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns will deliver the keynote address at the opening plenary of ITS America’s 2012 Annual Meeting in May. She talked to ITS International about the acquisition of ACS, its rebranding and the importance of the transportation sector to Xerox
  • Smarter mapping makes for more informed decisions
    December 2, 2016
    Following his keynote presentation at the 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne, ITS International caught up with Esri founder Jack Dangermond. It is getting close to half a century ago that Jack Dangermond and his wife Laura founded the Environmental Research Systems Institute – known today as Esri - of which he remains president.
  • Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    January 10, 2013
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • Chicago Transit Authority’s Ventra mobile app hits two million downloads
    August 22, 2017
    Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Ventra mobile app, implemented by Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS, and also used by suburban bus operator Pace and commuter rail system Metra, has reached a milestone with a download of more than two million and was used to purchase nearly US$250 million in fares. The Ventra app, developed and launched by Cubic, CTA and its transit partners in November 2015, is a free, regional transit application in the US that allows customers to plan, manage and pay for journeys ac