Cubic Transportation Systems said Feb. 1 that it received a $1.1 million, five-year contract extension with the University of Maryland to upgrade the university’s NextBus fleet management system.
The system, already on approximately 80 buses, includes GPS-based trackers and automatic vehicle location features. The contract extension will add new features to the system, including automatic passenger counting and automatic voice annunciation. The business will start installing the new systems this month.
With the GPS data generated by the system, riders can consult their mobile phones to find out when the next bus will arrive. “It makes the difference between standing in the cold in the morning, or waiting at home and finishing your coffee,” said Matt Cole, now president of Cubic Corp.’s transportation segment, in a 2013 interview. “Transit agencies acquire the NextBus product because it takes away the uncertainty of public transport. … Many NextBus customers have found that by taking away this uncertainty, they will see a dramatic increase in public transport ridership.”
The upgraded system will generate even more data for the university. Automatic passenger counting will allow transit staff to track ridership in real time.
Cubic Corp. (NYSE: CUB) acquired the NextBus business in 2013 for about $20 million.
The University of Maryland is in College Park, northeast of Washington, D.C.
