Cubic taps into TfL's contactless ticketing expertise for use in global market

Transport for London (TfL) is marketing its contactless ticketing system to public transport providers internationally.

The revenue generated by international deals will help freeze public transport fares in London, a policy promised by Sadiq Kahn during his mayoral election campaign.

TfL has signed an agreement, worth up to £15m, with US company, Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS), a business unit of the Cubic Corporation. The deal grants CTS access to London's contactless system, allowing it to be specifically tailored for other world cities' transport systems.

Mayor Kahn said: “I made a firm commitment to sell Transport for London's expertise around the globe. We will use the income from those deals for further investment in new infrastructure and to freeze fares over the next four years.”

Shashi Verma, chief technology officer and director of customer experience at TfL said: “We’re delighted to have agreed this licensing deal with Cubic Transportation Systems to introduce our contactless payment system to other world cities.

“Contactless payments have completely transformed the way people pay for travel in London and this deal will allow other world cities to benefit from the hard work we put into making the system work for our customers.”

Outside London, CTS also provides smartcard ticketing technology to a number of world cities, including Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Chicago in the USA and Vancouver in Canada.

This agreement, which is non-exclusive, also enables CTC to combine the best features from the London and other Cubic systems and make them available to other cities across the globe.

Matthew Cole, president of Cubic Transportation Systems, said: “The challenges of mobility in 21st century cities – including access for all, inclusion, environmental concerns and the pressure of ever-growing populations – can only be met through cooperation and partnership.

“No single entity has all the answers and this agreement between Cubic and TfL sets a new standard in public-private partnerships for addressing these issues, and acknowledges the success of account-based payment for transit for which there is clear interest from many cities across the world.”

TfL and CTS have a long-running partnership, having worked together to introduce the Oyster card system in 2003 as well as working together with the UK card industry to make TfL the first public transport provider in the world to accept contactless payment cards. The contactless payment system was first launched on London's buses in December 2012 and expanded to cover Underground and rail services in London in September 2014.