SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 07/06/09 -- 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.
