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Cubic Corporation: Cubic Purchase Will Expand and Strengthen Services Operations in U.S. Public Transport

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^{Published in Science and Technology on Monday, July 6th 2009 at 3:13 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-07-06 03:13:51 by Market Wire}  

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - July 6, 2009) - Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation (NYSE: [ CUB ]), announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the Concord, Calif., operations center and licenses on select software from the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Vix ERG Pty Ltd. Cubic will use these assets to expand services to transit agencies in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Ventura and Las Vegas. The newly acquired operation will add approximately $20 million in annual revenues, and broadens a Cubic services base that already includes numerous transit properties on three continents.

The agreement initially will cover servicing the TransLink contract in the San Francisco Bay Area; and eventually will include the other transit agencies currently using Vix ERG MASS systems.

As part of this purchase, Cubic has acquired a fully functioning comprehensive service operation in Concord, Calif., designed specifically to support public transport authorities with complete solutions for smart card distribution and call center operations. Approximately 125 ERG employees have joined Cubic from ERG's U.S. operations and engineering operations in Perth, Australia.

Cubic, a worldwide supplier and integrator of public transit fare collection systems, provides complete end-to-end support services for transit authorities. The industry trend is for transit authorities to increasingly outsource maintenance, card services, customer support and management of their complex fare collection systems so they can focus on their core business of providing high-quality transportation to their patrons.

"We are pleased to have Cubic on board helping to finalize the implementation of the TransLink card and provide long-term support services for the Bay Area," said Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in San Francisco, which oversees the TransLink program. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

"The TransLink card is now poised to take off in widespread use throughout the region. It's something we've been working on for a long time," Heminger said.

MTC recently announced the TransLink card had achieved "revenue ready" status for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. BART is expected to begin accepting the card this summer. This adds BART to Golden Gate Transit, Caltrain and the San Francisco Municipal Railway in having achieved revenue ready status.

Cubic has had a presence in the Bay Area for many years, with long-term contracts at BART and San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). At BART, Cubic delivered the latest fare collection system, which includes smart card capability. At Muni, Cubic is delivering a new back office system and upgrading the ticketing system on the agency's buses.

"This transaction creates a very broad services group for Cubic's customers in the U.S. with a single point of responsibility," said Steve Shewmaker, president of Cubic Transportation Systems.

"As the complexity of fare collection technology grows, so does the challenge in maintaining the extremely high availability rates demanded of the transit infrastructure, as well as efficiently managing data and providing responsive support to patrons, agencies and commercial partners," Shewmaker said. "Cubic's experienced staff provides the level of support our customers require, and this acquisition will allow us to further broaden our capabilities and customer services."

Cubic provides fare collection systems and services in London, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Atlanta, New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, among others. Services range from central ticketing system and network operations, regional clearing and settlement, card management, card distribution, retail agent management, cardholder support, and asset management. Additionally, Cubic has supplied comprehensive smart card AFC systems to Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, Chicago, San Diego, Minneapolis, Vancouver, Miami and numerous commuter railways in the United Kingdom.

Cubic Transportation Systems, one of Cubic's two major business segments, designs, manufactures, installs, maintains and operates automatic fare collection systems for public mass transit authorities. The corporation's other major segment, Cubic Defense Applications, is a world leader in realistic combat training systems, mission support services and defense electronics. For more information about Cubic, see the company's website at [ www.cubic.com ]