Cubic wins two more years of parking services at LA and Ontario

May 2011
Inside...
A Bradley Fighting Vehicle
gets cleaned in Kuwait,
where Cubic tracking
technology was
successfully tested................2
Cubic employees watched
in awe as a massive
sandstorm enveloped
Camp Arifjan in Kuwait........3
The Theme Building, topped by an observation tower, is an iconic symbol of Los Angeles International
Airport. Cubic has won a new contract to provide parking services at LAX.
Photo by J Brew
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Cubic wins two more years of parking
services at LA and Ontario airports
Deal continues 25-year
relationship with Los
Angeles World Airports
Two Cubic employees
in Florida were among
those honored for their
work restoring a
battered PBY Catalina............12
Also...
Recruiting employees
more than just ads............... 4
Cubic wins OPTARSS II
contract................................5
Paul Monk of CTSL talks
about new technology..........6
Ray Higgins moves from
CTS to Corporate...................7
Nextcity seen as path to
the future for CTS..................8
New Cubic Web site.............10
iVille tour..........................10
T
he Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) is one of the world’s busiest
airports and is ranked sixth in the world
for number of passengers and 13th in tonnage
of air cargo handled. Like most major airports,
LAX is a micro-city that serves to provide its customers the best travel experience possible. Often, that
starts with parking at one of
LAX’s parking facilities.
Nearly 8,000 parking
stalls are available in eight
parking areas located opposite the roadways from the
airport’s passenger terminals, plus an additional
7,000 spaces in a remote parking lot known as
Lot C.
Besides the occasional Hollywood celebrity
seen walking through the lots on the way to
or from a flight, there’s some interesting stuff
going on in the LAX parking world. It starts with
a whole lot of technology that’s behind getting
those parking gates to go up and down, as well
as the technology to capture and extract the
data that administrators need to manage their
operations.
That’s where Cubic comes in.
A legacy of service
Cubic has provided maintenance services for
the parking revenue management systems at
LAX, as well as the Ontario Airport (ONT) since
the early 1980s. Until March this year, Cubic was
also the maintenance services provider for Van
Nuys Airport.
In February, Cubic received another two-year contract extension
for LAX and Ontario Airport (ONT)
from Los Angeles World Airports
(LAWA), the airport oversight and
operations department for the city
of Los Angeles.
Photo by Fred Telegdy
In retrospect, it’s a 25-year
relationship that has worked well on both sides
of the table. It also represents an operation that
brings in $55 million in annual parking revenue
from LAX alone for LAWA.
Cubic delivered the original Computerized
Parking Control System (CPCS) that is currently in
service at LAWA in the early 1980s at LAX, ONT
and Van Nuys airports. Cubic is also responsible
for the day-to-day maintenance for the system
Continued on Page 11
In the news
Humvees get a cleaning inside and out at the Wash Rack, where Cubic tracking technology was tested.
KUWAIT
Cubic tracking technology proves its mettle
Vehicles successfully tracked through
Wash Rack process at Camp Arifjan
A
sset-tracking technology developed by Cubic has proven
itself in a demonstration project at a military installation
in Kuwait, and its use will be expanded to help organize
thousands of U.S. military vehicles being shipped around the
world.
The demonstration was part of a “factory to foxhole” assettracking concept being developed by the U.S. Army Logistics
Innovation Agency (LIA).
Cubic Global Tracking Solutions (Cubic GTS) participated in a
Proof of Principle project at the U.S. Army’s Wash Rack at Camp
Arifjan, located south of Kuwait City. Cubic GTS and Lunarline Inc.
are subcontractors to ARINC Engineering Services at the facility,
run by the 2-401st Army Field Support Brigade.
Camp Arifjan, built by the Kuwaiti government, is the primary
trans-shipment point for thousands of tanks, MRAPS, Humvees,
trucks and other vehicles and equipment being taken out of Iraq
as the U.S. draws down its forces there.
Before shipment, Army regulations require that all equipment
be thoroughly cleaned inside and out. At Camp Arifjan, that means
a trip through the Wash Rack — a series of stations where vehicles
are raised off the ground and sprayed with jets of water at pressures of 2,000 psi.
“After a cleaning, vehicles are checked out, and if they haven’t
done a good enough job, they go back through the cleaning
again,” said Maurice Kelechian, who is overseeing the operation
in Kuwait as Director of International Operations for Cubic GTS.
Before cleaning, equipment is stored in a sprawling receiving
lot with enough room for 10,000 vehicles. After going through
the Wash Rack, vehicles are moved to “sterile” areas to await
shipment. Some of them will be headed back to the U.S., some to
Afghanistan and some to other U.S. military installations around
the globe.
Keeping track of each vehicle among thousands that will pass
through Camp Arifjan presents significant logistical issues.The
U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency, under its Next Genera-
tion Wireless Communications for Logistics Applications (NGWC)
program, is testing what it calls the Army Mobility Asset Tracking
System (AMATS).
“Asset visibility from factory to foxhole” is how the LIA describes the NGWC effort. The goal, it says, is to provide “enhanced
logistics situational awareness” and “global, near real-time asset
visibility” across the Department of Defense distribution network.
Cubic GTS technology is at the heart of the AMATS system. It
uses small battery-powered units, called Mesh Asset Tags, each
equipped with a GPS receiver. The tags are attached to vehicles
at Camp Arifjan and automatically connect wirelessly with one
another to form a mesh network. The precise location of any tag
can be determined in seconds on the Internet by searching for its
serial number at the Cubic GTS Device Management Center, which
keeps a central database of all tags in operation.
For the NGWC demonstration, the system accurately tracked
a sample of 200 vehicles in near real time from their initial storage
locations through cleaning and processing in the Wash Rack to the
sterile storage lots. The U.S. Army Sustainment Command (ASC)
Continued on Page 3
A Mesh Asset Tag developed by Cubic Global Tracking Solutions is attached just below driver’s window of this fuel tanker truck.
2............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Cubic Circuit.
KUWAIT
‘Turns day
into night’
Massive sandstorm blots out sun
and sky at Cubic operation
T
here’s nothing unusual about sandstorms in Kuwait.
Several times a year, strong winds kick up clouds of
fine reddish-brown sand in the desert and push it
over populated areas, obscuring vision and making breathing
difficult.
But this one was different.
“This time, the size was mega,” said Maurice Kelechian,
Sandstorm arrives at Camp Arifjan about 4:30 p.m.
a Cubic employee who works in Kuwait. “I have seen them
before, but this was much larger.”
and everybody tried to get out,” he said. “But there was too much
Newspapers described it as a “monster sandstorm” that closed traffic, and they shut the gates.”
down airports, oil shipments and roads, destroyed crops and sent
Videos of the storm show a huge swirling wall approaching for
many people to the hospital. “Massive sandstorm turns day into
nearly four minutes, steadily blotting out what had been a calm
night” is how one of several Web sites that posted video of the
and cloudless sky. At the camp and in Kuwait City, people armed
storm put it.
with cameras watched in awe and chattered about its size. “It
Kelechian is part of a Cubic Global Tracking Solutions team
looks frightening,” Kelechian recalled. “It looks like Armageddon
working at Camp Arifjan, a military facility located south of Kuwait coming over.” As the storm hit, fierce gusts of wind began blowing
City. Cubic GTS is participating in a test of a tracking system beand the air quickly became thick and brown.
ing developed by the U.S. Army. (See related story, facing page.)
There was little anyone could do but run indoors and hunker
Despite the sand-choked sky, the system’s GPS tags continued to
down until the sky cleared a few hours later. Then the cleanup
operate without a hitch.
began.
On March 25, the
Unlike the grainy sand found in most of the United States,
sandstorm arrived with
what blows across the Arabian Peninsula is described as more like
little warning about 4:30
talcum powder in texture. It gets into everything, even buildings
p.m. Kuwait time. As the
that are closed up tight.
storm approached the
Kelechian said when he started his car to head home that
camp, it was immediately night after this storm had passed, “a cloud of dust and stuff started
apparent that it was going blowing from the air conditioning vents. My car is full of dirt and
to be bigger than most,
dust.”
Kelechian said. “We got
Although large, it was hardly the worst sandstorm the region has
the warning about 10
seen. In July, 2009, a storm described as the worst in living memory
View out a window during the sandstorm. minutes ahead of time,
raged across much of the Middle East for more than a week.
Tracking test in Kuwait
Continued from Page 2
notified ARINC, Cubic and Lunarline of the successful test in March.
As a result, the LIA has ordered additional asset tags that will
be used at Camp Arifjan, at other locations in Kuwait and possibly
in Afghanistan.
AMATS “integrates cutting-edge wireless communication
technologies with sensors to provide a secure, wireless, automatic
identification network,” the LIA says on its Web site. “The Army
sees the potential for this type of system to replace the currently
used active radio frequency identification infrastructure.”
“Cubic Global Tracking Solutions is pleased to have developed
the NGWC mesh technology and to see its great success at the
Camp Arifjan Wash Rack and other mesh applications worldwide,”
said Mary Ann Wagner, President of Cubic GTS. “We look forward
to continued success serving the warfighter and logistic demands
of the U.S. DoD, and working closely with our partner ARINC.”
ARINC was named prime contractor while working on the proj-
ect for about four years with a company called Impeva Labs. Cubic
acquired Impeva in May 2010. The combined companies of XIO
Strategies and Impeva Labs now make up Cubic Global Tracking
Solutions.
- By Jim Okerblom, Circuit Editor
Cubic Global Tracking Solutions team at Camp Arifjan (left to right):
James McDaniel Sr., Maurice Kelechian and Tim Hester.
Cubic Circuit............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
In Focus
SAN DIEGO
Finding the
right people
Recruiting new employees much
more than help-wanted ads
W
ith the unemployment rate still high, it might
seem like finding new employees would be a
snap. Put out a few ads and qualified applicants will come flocking to your Human Resources
door.
Recruiting employees at a large corporation like Cubic involves much more than that, of course. Positions
that can be filled only by candidates with sought-after
high-level skills is one obvious difficulty.
But there are other not so obvious factors that can
make finding the right job candidates a chore, say Bob Mike Haaren (left), an engineer with Cubic Defense Applications, and Bob Stamp,
Stamp and Mari McAvoy, two Cubic experts in the
Manager of Corporate Staffing, talk to UC San Diego students at a job fair last month.
process. Stamp, Manager of Corporate Staffing, and
Human Resources. The response was just unbelievable. There are
McAvoy, Director of Human Resources for Cubic Transportation
higher-level people looking for lower-level jobs, anything basically
Systems (CTS), sat down recently to talk about what they do.
so they can get their foot in the door again.”
High unemployment has caused an increase in the number of
As in real estate, location, location, location plays big in job
people applying for jobs, and sometimes it amounts to a flood of
recruitment, both Stamp and McAvoy agreed, but not always in the
applicants with stellar qualifications. The problem, McAvoy said, is
way you might expect.
many applicants don’t have experience in or are overqualified for
“Lots of times it revolves around location,” Stamp said. “Like
the position advertised.
in our Mountain View location (in California’s Silicon Valley). There
is a lot of high-tech industry up there and there is a high cost of
Hundreds of applicants
living. That makes it easy for candidates who are already there to
“I just put a request out there for a Human Resources specialfind work. There are a lot of companies. But to attract people there
ist,” McAvoy said. “I’ve had about 350 resumes from people who
is too expensive. The San Jose area has one of the highest costs of
were former vice presidents of Human Resources, lawyers and
Continued on Page 5
others with law degrees, and those who had been directors of
UC San Diego students queue up at Cubic’s booth.
4............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Cubic Circuit.
GEORGIA
Cubic awarded key OPTARSS
II contract by U.S. Army
Cubic’s Mission Support Services segment is one of 13 large
businesses to receive a substantial indefinite delivery/indefinite
quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the U.S. Army to support the
OPTARSS II (Operations, Planning, Training and Resource Support Services) program. Managed by the U.S. Forces Command
(FORSCOM), OPTARSS II has a five-year term and a ceiling value of
$2.5 billion.
With its prime seat on the ID/IQ, Cubic will have the opportunity to bid for numerous task orders. The company also expects to
receive work as a subcontractor on several other large- and smallbusiness teams that have won awards.
The U.S. Army’s Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Center McPherson (MICC-C McPherson) in Georgia awarded
the OPTARSS II contract vehicle, which all Army Contracting
Command Centers can use to contract for services throughout the
continental United States and overseas.
Cubic’s Omega Training Division, based in Columbus, Georgia,
Job recruitment
Continued from page 4
living anywhere. Existing people are already paid very well, so you
have to kind of break the budget so to speak. When we have openings there, we have a hard time filling them.”
But areas with lower living costs and little high-tech industry
can also be problematic, according to Stamp. Take Panama City,
Florida, where Cubic Global Tracking Solutions has a facility.
“Panama City is more of a sleepy resort town, and there aren’t
many high tech folks there,” Stamp said. “But people are worried
that if they go there and they lose a job, then where do they go?”
San Diego’s weather and lifestyle are big pluses for hiring
outsiders. The price of a house is the major limiting factor. “If you
try to get someone out of Texas or Florida, they go on the Internet,
and they do a price comparison of the cost of living in San Diego
versus Tampa, Orlando or Austin,” Stamp explained.
“It’s usually a $40,000 or $50,000 difference. They automatically want you to make up that difference.”
Security clearance an issue
Sometimes, factors other than living costs and a shortage of
qualified people are the most important.
“With our Cyber Security group in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, we
are in competition with about 100 companies that are trying to
find the same types of people,” Stamp said. “There are enough
people there with the skill set we need, but there is a shortage of
people with the high-level security clearance needed to fill these
cyber positions.”
Then there are those specific positions which seem to lack
enough qualified candidates anywhere. Number one in that category right now would be J2EEs — software engineers skilled in Java
2, Enterprise Edition, a widely used platform for computer servers
that uses the Java programming language. “That is probably our
biggest challenge in recruiting,” McAvoy said.
But there are ways to help find the right job candidates, said
led the competitive capture effort for Cubic. Cubic is a major provider of support services to the U.S. Army, and leveraged its past
successes in achieving the OPTARSS II win.
“Cubic was awarded this contract because of our strong capabilities in operations, training and exercises, and leader development, coupled with the right team of small-business partners,”
said Glenn Marsh, Vice President and General Manager for the
Omega Training Division of Cubic Applications, Inc.
“OPTARSS II offers Cubic the opportunity to provide innovative
training solutions and critical operational support to warfighters.
We are extremely proud to have been selected for this contract
vehicle and look forward to competing for the many opportunities
with our OPTARSS II team.”
Cubic will assist the U.S. Army and Department of Defense
agencies in eight primary task areas:
• Operational Planning
• Training
• Modeling and Simulation
• Flight Operations
• Mobilization Plans and Execution
• Deployment Operations
• Force Protection Program
• Transformation
McAvoy and Stamp, such as enlisting the help of Cubic employees.
“What is very successful is our employee referral program,”
Stamp said. “That is probably our best program. Once we did a
metric, and 68 percent of our hires were from employee referrals.
“For spots that aren’t hard to fill, we give employees who make
referrals movie tickets and popcorn. For the harder ones, it may
be $3,000 or $5,000. This has worked well at CTS, but I think we
are running out of leads.”
Job fairs, Craigslist, and e-mails to college career centers
are other methods Cubic has used to find the right people to fill
certain positions. Sometimes outside consultants or recruiting
specialists known as headhunters are called on if a position can’t
be filled, Stamp said.
New approaches needed
Because of a spate of new business for CTS, including major
transit contracts in Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia, CTS
has realized it had to become more inventive and resourceful with
its hiring initiatives, McAvoy said.
“The new initiatives are designed to attract the highest-quality
candidates,” she said “In addition to the methods already mentioned, they will include working closely with the engineering
departments at the local universities to gain access to the best and
brightest graduates, recognizing and utilizing social networking
sites as well as vigorous social networking by human resources,
staff and management.”
Intangible factors also can help with recruiting. Cubic’s long
history and reputation, and changing perceptions about the military, are among them.
“Cubic is very successful, there is branding going on in the community by the many events we attend and participate in,” Stamp
said. “It used to be, people didn’t want to work for a defense
contractor, because it was defense.
“Now they do, because a lot of the commercial companies are
going away. And with Cubic, you have a company that has little
debt, and has money in the bank.”
-By Jim Okerblom, Circuit Editor
Cubic Circuit............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Executive’s corner
Ticketing predictions:
The future is contactless and interoperable
After the announcement in August
2010 that Cubic was to become the prime
contractor for Transport for London’s (TfL)
ticketing, plans have now been put in place
for the next stage of the journey. Paul Monk,
project and systems engineering manager
for CTSL, talks about new, groundbreaking
technology on the horizon involving
contactless bank cards as tickets.
S
o Paul, tell us about how the ‘contactless bank
card as a ticket’ system will work?
Right now, because this type of technology is so new,
there’s no consistent terminology for this system. So let’s refer to
it as a ‘contactless payment card’ for the
time being. This type of payment can take
many forms — credit cards, debit cards
and contactless prepaid cards.
The underpinning technology has
developed as more and more of the banks
in the United Kingcom, Europe — and
indeed the rest of the world — are starting to issue contactless payment cards as
standard. Currently, the ticketing system
consists of a two-step process whereby
patrons convert money into travel tokens
Paul Monk
and then those travel tokens are used to
purchase journeys on the transport network.
The idea behind a contactless payment card is that it can be
used directly at the point of travel. It reduces the two-step process
to just one step, allowing travellers to present their contactless
card to a contactless reader, where the fare will be deducted from
their current account, removing the need to purchase a travel
token first. It saves time and makes travelling much easier.
such as MasterCard and Visa. They are all stakeholders in this new
approach, which broadens expectations and means that it has to
work for everyone and their objectives. We’re all on this journey
— Cubic, Cubic’s transport operator customers and the payment
industry — so we’re all learning as we go in terms of how this is
going to work.
How will this benefit both operators and passengers?
The primary benefit to both is that you’re taking one piece out
of the value chain. There is a cost associated with turning money
into a travel token and if you can remove this step, the transport
operators avoid this cost — not just in monetary terms, but also in
time as queues are reduced at ticket offices.
For travellers, if they don’t have to go through the process
of converting money into travel tokens, they can shorten their
journey time and the experience becomes easier and more convenient.
Currently, transport operators face the problem of how to deal
with the infrequent user who could be a U.K. traveller going to
another U.K. city or an international passenger. Infrequent users
have very high service requirements because they don’t necessarily understand how the transport system works and they want to
talk to someone to find out.
As a result, another benefit of this ticketing solution is that if,
for example, I was taking the train to Manchester I would know
that I could hop on a bus when I got there just using my debit card,
with confidence that I’d be charged a fair rate for the journey.
Then I go from being a “high-maintenance customer” to a “nomaintenance customer.” And that’s attractive to both parties.
How will the travelling public be educated in using this
type of ticketing, especially those not used to it?
Educating the public still has to be determined. It will vary from
Continued on Page 7
Why is this ticketing solution being developed? Who
has expressed a need for this type of service?
It is being developed due to market demand from the transport operating companies. Virtually every new ticketing system
procurement around the world is specifying this type of capability as their desired solution, certainly in the U.S., Australia and
Europe. The travelling public is as of yet relatively unaware of
contactless payment as a potential method of travel fare.
How complicated is the technological process?
What we’re talking about here is pretty revolutionary — it’s
very new. The technology itself is not necessarily the challenging
issue, although it requires both a thorough understanding of ticketing technology and passenger behavior, as well as what operators want from their revenue collection and protection systems.
The most challenging issue of the project is that we’re adding
new stakeholders to the transit environment — issuing banks,
acquiring banks that process transactions and card associations
The future of transit ticketing is contactless, according to Paul Monk.
6............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Cubic Circuit.
Paul Monk interview
Continued from Page 6
transport operator to transport operator as to how they want
to promote this means of travel and where it will fit in their fare
structure mix. Consequently, how this is marketed and explained
to passengers will evolve over the next few years once the system
has been finalized.
How secure will this method of payment be?
One of the things people like with conventional systems such
as Oyster® is that it helps them to budget. Passengers top up their
Oyster card with $20 and know that money has been ‘ring fenced’
for their travel use. There will, however, be a challenge around
coming up with similar approaches or convincing people that they
don’t need to go through that step.
The other issue is one of security. People are very concerned
that their personal information and bank details remain private.
It’s essential for any system to offer that peace of mind. One of
the technical challenges associated with this is ensuring that this
process meets the industry’s data security standards.
Those standards are very rigorous and must be met. It is a
prerequisite that, before you go “live” with any system which
involves collection and processing of people’s personal data, it’s
implemented in such a way as to protect that data.
and are comfortable with it. If something is to replace the system
we have now, then people need to gain the same level of comfort
and trust in the replacement. I’m convinced they will but it’ll take a
period of time. You have to do change incrementally as these systems are too important to risk “big bang” type implementations.
Offering the service and technology in small bite-sized chunks
leads to people gaining trust in the technology, over a period of
time.
Our view is that in 10 to 15 years there will be a patchwork of
ticketing types — paper tickets, Oyster, contactless payments —
providing people with a variety of ticketing solutions depending on
their preference.
Is this initiative being used anywhere else in the world?
We’re currently talking to many of our customers around the
world about this. In the past year, Cubic has won two major procurements that include open payment — one in Sydney and one in
Vancouver. Cubic also has a contract to integrate open payment on
the Port Authority Transit Corporation commuter line in New Jersey. Transport for London is right at the forefront of this, but other
transport operators are exploring this technology as well.
Cubic has invested a lot of money in research and development
to support this technology over the last two years so that we can
come to market quickly with solutions when our customers decide
that this is what they want to do.
Any last thoughts?
Will this mean the end of previous travel smart cards
such as Oyster®?
One of the biggest attractions of using the open payment
system is that products become universally accepted, toward the
concept of global interoperability and enabling global travel to become easier. Cubic is 100 percent committed and engaged to this
project. It’s a great challenge for us and provides us with a chance
to broaden capability, skills, technology and to meet new market
demands.
SAN DIEGO
that I should be able to step in and give Jay some immediate relief
in this new position.”
Higgins had a distinguished career in general contracting prior
to joining Cubic in 1995. His experience includes construction
work for the Department of Defense,
the Department of Veterans Affairs, the
General Service Administration and the
Army Corps of Engineers.
In San Diego, he was the President
of Golden Construction, where he built
notable landmark projects such as
UCSD’s Thornton Hospital, Eastlake High
School and additions to Children’s and
Sharp hospitals. He also reconstructed
the Del Mar Racetrack, which was torn
down after the completion of the race
season and rebuilt in less than ten
Ray Higgins
months.
During his tenure at Cubic, he has overseen the expansion of
CTS in the United Kingdom into AFC House, and managed many
CTS-related fare collection and toll projects. He also assisted Cubic
Defense Applications and Mission Support Services on projects
including the Orlando build out, the Research Park office expansion and the Liberty Station office construction.
He has also assisted CDA on several training-related projects in
the Middle East, where there will be significant civil construction
work in the future.
I think the potential exists in the long term for this technology
to completely replace existing forms of ticketing. However, there
will be a long transition period as people become familiar with the
new technology. The thing you need to remember is that Oyster
has been incredibly successful. People have responded well to it
Higgins moves to Corporate
as Director of Real Estate
Ray Higgins has transferred from Cubic Transportation Systems to Corporate to take the position of Director of Real Estate.
John “Jay” Thomas, Vice President Finance/Corporate Development, made the announcement in a recent memo. Higgins will
report to Thomas and will support the corporation and all of its
business units. Higgins is a licensed contractor in California and
Florida, and his duties will include oversight of all real estate and
project-related civil contracting, Thomas said.
Today, the corporation controls more than 2 million square
feet of real estate worldwide. Annually, between the defense
and transportation business units, the corporation is involved in
various civil and real estate related construction activities that in
aggregate exceed $5 million to $10 million annually.
“It is appropriate that we now have a dedicated professional
who will help lead us with our diverse portfolio of real estate and
project needs,” Thomas said.
“In more than 15 years at Cubic, Jay and I’ve worked numerous lease searches, negotiations, tenant improvement build-outs
and end of lease vacate move-outs,” Higgins said.
“So it’s a natural fit with my construction background, and
past working relationships with numerous corporate departments,
Cubic Circuit............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Continuous improvement
SAN DIEGO
CTS looks to Nextcity as path to the future
New systems will capture real-time data
about how people are choosing to move
W
elcome to Nextcity.
In the future, governments, regulators and planners will
be under greater pressure to identify more innovative
ways to build new, and increase existing, transport infrastructure
capacity within major city constraints.
However, infrastructure alone will not be enough to manage
the sizeable challenges of how the transportation landscape will
change in the future.
Consequently, transport stakeholders will be under increasing
pressure to find ways to predict, influence — and then manage —
transport demand so that it can be best met and optimized safely
with existing transport supply capacity.
It’s clear that this will require the capture of higher-quality,
truly integrated, real-time and concise information about how a
city’s population is choosing to move and — most importantly —
why that population moves in the way that it does, whether it’s
by public transport, personal vehicle, taxis, bicycles or any other
mode of travel.
And so, welcome to Nextcity — Cubic’s vision for a fully-integrated, whole-of-transport, journey and payments management system.
Fare factors
As it is today, a person’s journey choice is going to be influenced by three factors: the overall cost, the timeliness and the
reliability of the journey mode. Going forward, we can expect to
add a fourth dimension: environmental impact.
If transport stakeholders can understand, at a macro and micro level, which factors are most prevalent in causing congestion
points and bottlenecks in their cities, they can take appropriate
action to vary these factors to influence demand and therefore
maximize supply. To do this they will require more dynamic systems. Attempts are already being made to address this. In public
transport, operators have attempted to level demand using peak
and off-peak fares.
In private transport modes, particularly motor vehicles, regulators have tried to manage demand by increasing parking costs,
introducing toll systems and variable tolls, with congestion charging being the most recent method of demand management. These
solutions are playing an important role — but to be effective the
whole-of-transport must be integrated.
Data power
For many years, Cubic has been keeping the world of public
transport on the move with their smart-enabled integrated Automated Fare Collection (AFC) systems. Transport operators that
have deployed Cubic’s systems have enjoyed the major benefits
that integrated electronic payments systems have on transport operations. Taking payments away from points of boarding — such as
at the driver’s door of a bus — has had a tangible effect on journey
speed and reliability, with some operators being able to rewrite
bus timetables as a result of reduced boarding times.
However, the real benefit has been from integrated information and integrated fare structures. Accurate and frequently
collected passenger data empowers transport operators’ decisionmaking processes. Electronic payment equals electronic journey
transactions, which in turn equals data, which, with the right system, becomes information. Cities and regions with an integrated
AFC system, such as the Oyster® card in London, the Clipper® card
in San Francisco and the go card in Brisbane, Australia, have been
able to access a wealth of data on what their riders are doing —
where they come from, where they go, the route they take and the
times at which they travel.
Operators with integrated AFC systems have also been able
to offer integrated and more dynamic fare structures. Cubic
systems around the world offer a wide range of integrated fare
policies directed at rewarding multimodal passengers who utilize
the whole public transport system. The list is endless, from free
transfers, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly products, pay-as-you go
usage that “caps” at the equivalent daily or weekly product, loyalty
of usage discounts over a variety of time periods, to dynamic and
configurable peak/off-peak pricing. The common factor is that an
integrated fare policy exists to optimize the demand and supply in
the whole public transport network. As a result, in all of these cities the fare structure can be extremely complex without providing
any burden to passengers, who are able to “set and forget” and be
reassured they will get the best fare based on their usage.
Nextcity heralds the future
Public transport is the best possible starting point for Nextcity.
The learning and benefits derived in public transport can now be
taken in to the whole-of-transport environment and integrated
into private modes of transport such as bicycles, motor vehicles,
parking, tolling, congestion charging, electric refueling, longContinued on page 9
Nextcity can integrate with the payment and information systems of other transport modes.
8............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Cubic Circuit.
What’s Next from Cubic?
The Nextcity family:
Nextfare
A suite of software products that are designed to work as
a system and together function as an end-to-end mass-public
transport fare collection system for multiple transport agencies. Integrated into more than 15 systems around the world,
the Nextfare platform has been designed so that the majority of
the software is ‘common’ to all agencies and only specific and
configurable parts of the system are agency distinct.
The system can only accept payment media (i.e., magnetic
tickets or contactless smart cards) that carry the agency-specific
security keys and therefore are not interoperable with payment
media from other payments systems. In this offering the transactions are created by the interaction between the payment
media and the reader sitting within the payment device.
The Nextfare central system includes the fare collection and
payments engine, CRM systems, data and information management systems, asset and device service management systems
and a settlement and clearing system.
Nextaccount
A next-generation account-based fare collection and payments engine designed to work as part of a complete transport
fare collection and payments system for multiple transport
agencies. The central system has been designed so that the
majority of the software is ‘common’ to all agencies and only
specific and configurable parts are agency specific. Cubic will be
rolling it out in Vancouver and with the Port Authority Transportation Corporation in New Jersey, and is also working with
London on its implementation of bank card ticketing.
The Nextaccount payments system uses serialized payment
media (a bank card, transport smart card, NFC phone, for exam-
Welcome to Nextcity
Continued from page 8
distance rail and commuter flights and so on. Nextcity will be a
platform of Cubic systems that can integrate with payment and
information systems of other transport modes without the need
to replace any of the existing infrastructure.
The platform will be the next evolution of Nextfare®, Cubic’s
automatic fare collection platform that has already been deployed
in more than a dozen cities around the world, including Miami,
Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Atlanta, New
Jersey-Philadelphia, New Jersey-New York and Brisbane. Cities
with the Nextcity platform will be able to have a single Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) portal called Nextcontact.
This will be Web, mobile and smart-phone enabled for their
entire populations to receive “push and pull” information on a customized basis for all modes of transport, both public and private.
Cities will be enabled to educate their populations — on a realtime basis — of the cost, timeliness, reliability and environmental
impact of their personal journey choices.
Cities with the Nextcity platform will have a single data
repository called Nextinfo that will provide dynamic, integrated,
configurable and real-time integrated information on all journeys.
Creating a holistic view of a city’s transport journeys will remove
the information silos that currently exist among operators, agen-
ple) as an account token, and creates transactions centrally, by
account, from captured transaction fragments. The token can
be understood by any readable device with adequate security
provisions for communicating in the required protocol.
Nextaccount can coexist with other end-to-end transport
legacy fare collection systems (such as Cubic Nextfare) and
leverage the other functions within those systems. It can also
be deployed in conjunction with other next-generation Cubic
central systems – Nextledger, Nextcontact, Nextdata, Nextinfo.
Nextledger is an integrated suite of next-generation Cubic
central system products and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
third-party products that will serve as an integrated clearing
and settlement system. Nextaccount will record all of the transportation journey transactions and output to Nextledger the
necessary accounting and monetary adjustments that need to
be made. Nextledger will then connect with the banking system
to action the necessary interagency transactions.
Nextcontact
An integrated suite of next-generation Cubic central system
products and COTS third-party products which will serve as a
Web and smart-phone enabled transport fare collection CRM
platform comprising customer-assisted channels such as retail
points of sale, Integrated Voice Response (IVR)/call center
systems and customer information and data repository. Nextcontact will also include customer self-service channels such as
interactive Web site, mobile Web site, smart-phone applications
and Short Message System (SMS) capability.
Nextinfo
A next-generation Cubic Management Information System
central system product which pulls data from all operating
systems within a transport environment, and integrates and
presents the data in real-time, interactive information formats
to enable transport stakeholders to understand the travel patterns within a city.
cies and regulators, and empower stakeholders to understand
the demand for, and use of, the existing transport infrastructure
to best determine where excess capacity exists, and where new
capacity is required.
Finally, cities with the Nextcity platform will be able to create
an integrated charging policy utilizing a single account-management and payments engine called Nextaccount. This payments
engine will leverage Cubic’s ability — already proven within the
global public transportation industry — to configure complex
multimodal fare structures and provide the ability to charge for
the use of the public and private transport assets.
All of the benefits and flexibility of the public transport fare
structure could now be extended to include bicycle schemes, tolls,
parking, congestion-charging and even taxi rides, without the need
for major infrastructure replacement.
Accounts within Nextaccount could even be linked so that the
fare policy could apply to a whole family’s journey choices, not just
an individual’s. When linked with a settlement and clearing system,
Nextledger, the city would also be able to automate the monetary
flows and reconciliations among all of its transport operators.
The opportunity to understand, predict, manage and influence
the use of Nextcity’s transport asset will be significant. It’s what is
needed in global cities and it’s what is coming next: so be on the
look-out for Cubic’s Nextcity.
For more information, e-mail [email protected].
Cubic Circuit............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
SAN DIEGO
These three screen shots show the home page of the updated Cubic Web site.
New Cubic Corporation Web site rolled out
RSS feeds, enhanced News
module and an Events
section among the features
Cubic has launched a new corporate
Web site with an updated design, additional features and more content.
The site, www.cubic.com, went up
April 11 and was months in the making,
said Diane Dyer, who was in charge of
the project.
“Cubic’s legacy site was more than
10 years old and was in need of an overhaul from a content and technological
perspective,” said Dyer, Cubic’s Director
of Investor Relations.
The revamped site incorporates new
designs for Corporate, Cubic Defense
Applications and Cubic Global Tracking
Solutions, as well as links to Cubic’s other
sites, including Mission Support Services
and Transportation Systems.
Among the new features are e-mail
alerts, RSS feeds, an enhanced News module and an Events section.
“The new site employs a flexible Content Management System which provides
many benefits,” said Lisa Loncki, Senior
Business Applications Programmer. “One
of the most significant features is that the
Web site design is separated from the Web
site content. This allows the content to be
easily maintained by individuals via a Web
browser, without having to know how to
code Web pages.
“Web site designers can quickly update
the look and feel across the site by only
modifying a few global style sheet files.
With the Web site content residing in
a database, the pages are generated
dynamically and are search engine
optimized.
“All of these features will greatly
reduce the amount of effort required
to maintain the site as well as facilitate
keeping it fresh and up to date.”
The goal of the redesign, Dyer said,
was to “support and promote Cubic’s
role as a leading technology and services company with a global footprint.” Dyer credited Loncki, Josh King, Chris
Fusilier, Diane Rosine, Susan Caulfield,
Margo Jackson, Michael Haaren, several
other contributors from CDA and CGTS,
and Web developer Web Ascender for
their work in making the project a success.
Cubic employees in San Diego were given a
demonstration of the high-tech gear in the new
iVille room last month. The room features three
large-screen 3-D TVs, a 330-degree rotating projector, computer stations with dual high-definition
monitors and ultramodern neon-blue and white
furniture. It was designed as a place for “creative
collaboration” among Cubic Defense Application
employees. It is part of Imaginuity, a campaign
to foster innovation.
10C��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Cubic Circuit.
in recognition
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Cubic recognized for sponsorship
Chuck Busick (left) and Jack Liddle (right) accept the American Eagle
Statue from Brig. Gen. (ret.) William J. Leszczynski.
Cubic Corporation was presented with an American Eagle
Statue by the National Defense University Foundation in recognition of its sponsorship of the 2010 American Patriot Award.
The foundation’s Patriot Award recognizes those with “an
abiding love of country” whose leadership and dedication to
national security and to world peace “have significantly advanced
our nation’s ideals, values and democratic principles.” Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates was the 2010 recipient.
Chuck Busick, Director of Business Development for Cubic
Defense Applications, and Jack Liddle, Cubic Corporation’s Vice
President of Legislative Affairs, accepted the award from Brig. Gen.
(ret.) William J. Leszczynski at Cubic’s Washington, D.C. office.
CANADA
Vancouver chooses Compass
as name for its smart card
Kelly Sinoski/Vancouver Sun, reprinted with permission
Transit employees are showing off the new card during
the morning commute at SkyTrain stations across the region.
The new card, which will make its debut in 2013, will replace
all of the cards and tickets now in use.
Transit customers will be able to “load” their card with
money to pay for trips and will simply tap the card on special
readers to pass through fare gates or board buses when they
use the TransLink system. The fare charged to their card can
be based on the distance they travel, the time of day, the specific route or other factors, depending on the fare structure.
The transportation authority is also installing fare gates at
SkyTrain and SeaBus stations.
TransLink’s electronic smart card and fare gate system
is being designed by Cubic Transportation Systems, which
designed London’s Oyster Card, the Metro Tap card in Los An-
geles and Brisbane, Australia’s go Card system. Cubic and IBM
Canada have signed a deal to operate and maintain the system
for 10 years.
The provincial government will contribute $40 million toward the smart card/fare gate project, with another $30 million
from the federal government’s Build Canada Fund. TransLink
will cover the remaining costs.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Parking contracts
Continued from Page 1
and has been providing LAWA with all
hardware and software support on a 24/7
basis since it was first installed. Yes, you
read that right; since the system was originally installed nearly 25 years ago.
Like a Timex watch, the system keeps
on ticking, thanks to Cubic’s crackerjack
team.
The LAX system has 38 entry lanes, 41
exit lanes, seven garage computers, one
central computer, one archive computer,
four terminals to extract data and 22
handheld units for acquiring license plate
information of vehicles parked in the lots.
The ONT system is smaller, with capacity for nearly 5,600 vehicles and a control
system that includes three entry lanes,
four exit lanes and one garage computer.
Cubic airport parking team (from left to right): Carlos Bermudez, Victor Rodriguez, Arturo “AC”
Cervantes, Ryan Reyes, William Horsey and Eddie Estrada.
Cubic Circuit............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Special event
JACKSONVILLE
Cubes honored for work restoring vintage PBY
T
he year-long Centennial of Naval Aviation
celebration moved to
Jacksonville, Florida last month,
and a major part of the event
was the dedication of a vintage
PBY-5A Catalina restored with
help from Cubic volunteers.
The April 4-6 celebration
focused on the Maritime Patrol
and Reconnaissance Force
(MPRF). Hundreds of maritime
patrol aviators and retirees attended the event.
It began with tours of Naval
Air Station Jacksonville followed
by a “flying time line” of aircraft
representing more than 75 years
of MPRF history. A PBY Catalina
led the way, followed by three
PC-3 Orions in custom vintage
paint schemes.
The air show closed with
the future of Naval aviation — a
flyover by a P-8A Poseidon, the
PBY dedication (from left to right): Capt. Perry Yaw, Commanding Officer VP-30; Richard Sorrell, Cubic’s Asfirst time one has landed at the
sistant Site Manager at NAS Jacksonville; Marlin Crider, WWII PBY crewman; Carl Creamer, WWII POW shot
base. The P-8, developed from a down in a PBY; Richard Gammache, WWII PBY pilot; Bill Lahnen, PBY crewman; Gilbert Wood, Cubic Site
modified Boeing 737 passenger Manager; and Rear Adm. Michael Hewitt, Commander Patrol and Reconnaissance Group.
and leader of the restoration project, and Rick Sorrell, Assistant
jet, will replace the turboprop P-3 Orion. The P-8, which is still
undergoing testing, represents the Navy’s next generation of long- Site Manager, were among those credited. Both are P-3 flight simulator instructors at NAS Jacksonville.
range, maritime patrol and antisubmarine aircraft.
About 2,500 man-hours, 3,000 sheets of sandpaper and 32
The celebration concluded April 6 at NAS Jacksonville Heritage
Park with a dedication ceremony for the refurbished PBY, which is
gallons of paint were used to refurbish the aging plane by volunon static display there.
teers from across the base.
PBYs are “flying boats” capable of taking off and landing on sea
“The markings on this particular PBY-5A honor a crew from
and land. During World War II, special black-painted versions used
VP-41 that flew in the Battle of Dutch Harbor during the Aleutian
for night patrols were known as “Black Cats.” PBYs served in every
Islands Campaign in Alaska June 3-4, 1942,” Hewitt said at the cerbranch of the U.S. Armed Forces and in allied countries during
emony. “During the seventh hour of their patrol, the crew of BUNO
World War II and are still used today for firefighting.
6582 was overwhelmed by Japanese fighters.
“It’s my honor to join you for the dedication of this World War
“With one engine destroyed, the Catalina crash-landed at sea
II-era PBY-5A flying boat,” Rear Adm. Michael Hewitt told the
with three of its nine-man crew surviving in a life raft. They were
crowd at the dedication.
picked up by a Japanese vessel and spent the remainder of World
“That the two-year restoration effort culminated with the Cen- War II as prisoners of war.”
tennial of Naval Aviation celebration makes this event even more
Retired AOC Carl Creamer, a surviving member of that crew,
special. We couldn’t have picked a better time or place to honor
was an honored guest at the ceremony. Hewitt also introduced
this aircraft and its crews than today at NAS Jacksonville Heritage
Marlin Crider, Richard Gammache and Bill Lahnen, former WWII
Park.”
PBY aircrew members in the audience. A dedication plaque was
Hewitt praised the many volunteers who worked nights and
unveiled honoring all sailors who were lost while serving aboard
weekends rebuilding the PBY. Gilbert Wood, Cubic’s Site Manager
PBY Catalinas.
www.cubic.com
9333 Balboa Avenue, San Diego, CA. 92123
(858) 277-6780
For a complete listing of Cubic subsidiaries, divisions and offices, go to:
www.cubic.com/Contact-Us/Locations
Editor: Jim Okerblom
e-mail: [email protected]
San Diego photography: Daniel Kingsbury
Published by the Corporate Communications Department
© Cubic Corporation All rights reserved
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