Skip to main content

Transport for London and Cubic scoop another major ticketing award

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Transport for London (TfL)’s contactless bankcard system have been awarded the Most Innovative Transport Project prize at the recent National Transport Awards, the seventh major award this year for Cubic and TfL’s contactless system. Launched in 2012, the contactless bankcard system was extended in 2014 to cover London’s entire transit network – including Tube, rail, bus and tram services. Since the introduction of the contactless payment scheme, more than 180 milli
October 9, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
378 Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and 1466 Transport for London (TfL)’s contactless bankcard system have been awarded the Most Innovative Transport Project prize at the recent National Transport Awards, the seventh major award this year for Cubic and TfL’s contactless system.

Launched in 2012, the contactless bankcard system was extended in 2014 to cover London’s entire transit network – including Tube, rail, bus and tram services. Since the introduction of the contactless payment scheme, more than 180 million contactless journeys have been made across the network.

Cubic played a major role in the development of the payment system, spending three years researching and developing the Tri-Reader 3 to process contactless-enabled bankcards. It is also the first reader in the transport industry certified to read Oyster cards, Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) cards and Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled devices.

“This latest win is the result from more than 30 years of research and strong partnership with TfL. The project introduced a ground-breaking technology that worked effectively from the outset and from a technical, operational and customer perspective,” said Matt Cole, president of Cubic Transportation Systems. “The technology provides a chance for a worldwide game changer to modernise the thinking about the need for tickets, and how to achieve interoperability between different public transport operators.”

The success of contactless bankcard payment is best represented by the fact that within one year of the launch, more than 20 percent of journeys are made using contactless bankcard payments every weekday. Furthermore, bankcards from 77 different countries have been used on the London system, bringing a new level of convenience for the millions of visitors who visit London each year.

Related Content

  • February 2, 2012
    Transport and traffic management for major sporting events
    Maurizio Tomassini, Isis, and Monica Giannini, Pluservice, detail the STADIUM project, which is intended to provide those responsible for planning major international events with a blueprint for success
  • August 4, 2015
    Thales to upgrade four London Underground lines
    French transportation group Thales has been awarded a £750 million (US$1,160 million) contract by Transport for London (TfL) to upgrade four London Underground (LU) lines. Under the contract, Thales will modernise the signalling and train control system on the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines. Known as the Sub-Surface Lines (SSL), the four lines form a complex network of interlinked routes with numerous junctions which comprise 40 per cent of the LU network and carry up to thre
  • October 21, 2014
    London’s strategy to tackle air quality problems
    Colin Sowman talks to Matthew Pencharz, the man charged with charting London’s path between catering for traveller needs, conserving ancient buildings and conforming to modern air quality standards.
  • July 16, 2012
    A fresh approach to electronic fee collection
    The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is pioneering fresh approaches to Electronic Fee Collection (EFC) deployment in the US. Its new system, operational since January 2009 on all buses and commuter trains, is the country's first full-network rollout of transit e-ticketing technology built on an open-payment network, according to the organisation's Technology Programme Development Manager Craig Roberts.