Cubic has announced the launch of Umo, a fully-integrated suite of platforms for riders, transit agencies and mobility service providers that enables riders to conveniently pay fares and plan trips across public and private modes, earn rewards for riding public transit and access real-time information to optimize their mobility experience.
Umo’s scalable platform-based approach is designed to benefit agencies of all sizes from the smallest bus operator to larger towns and cities. Large and mega-cities also benefit with Umo’s suite of platforms complementing their existing fare collection systems with options including enhanced multi-modal journey planning, next generation mobile applications, digital loyalty and rewards, operator intelligence, passenger information and a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform.
“Cities are undergoing a paradigm shift for transportation, with COVID-19 capping a decade in which the transit ecosystem fractured into a complex landscape of new private modes alongside public networks,” says Mick Spiers, general manager of Umo. “With Umo, our vision is to improve quality of life in towns and cities around the world through optimized mobility. Our platform is accessible to all types of travelers and provides the tools people need to travel without congestion, without delays and ultimately, without stress.”
“Umo is a single multi-agency platform. All customers connect and consume the service in a subscription-based model, much the same as you connect to services such as Spotify, Netflix or Office 365,” adds Spiers.
“Umo provides our riders with an easy-to-use platform for engagement with public transportation that simultaneously offers accessibility and trip-planning information across private modes,” says Alan Bright, chief financial officer of Shreveport Area Transit System (SporTran). “As cities everywhere look to recover lost transit ridership after a pandemic-induced decline, Cubic’s technologies are critical in helping us do that by delivering an intuitive, streamlined experience.”
Umo comprises six distinct travel solutions, each one a powerful standalone tool that becomes even more productive when combined with other offerings in the Umo platform. Riders can access Umo products through the convenient and easy-to-use Umo mobile app or contactless bank or metro card. The platform includes:
- Umo App: A colorful, user friendly experience with best-in-class multimodal trip-planning and fare payment capabilities all in one app. Developed in partnership with Moovit.
- Umo Pass: An account-based fare collection platform for transit agencies that reduces the cost burden of traditional fare collection and makes it easier for riders to pay through various touchless options, including both electronic payment and cash-preferred riders.
- Umo Pay: Provides a simplified approach for allowing transit agencies of all sizes to accept contactless scheme cards (Mastercard, Visa and American Express) as payment on buses and at railway gates.
- Umo Rewards: A loyalty program that incentivizes riders to engage with public transit and their communities by rewarding frequent, safe and congestion-reducing travel behaviors. Riders also earn rewards through engagement with sponsored content from Umo partners, which can provide a new revenue stream for transit agencies.
- Umo IQ: Enables transit agencies to monitor and manage their vehicle fleet, and deliver accurate, real-time travel information to riders’ phones and digital displays at transit stops to maximize travel efficiency.
- Umo MaaS: A marketplace that brings together public and private mobility operators and provides connected journey options that are tailored to the preference of the traveler.
The first Umo products, Umo App and Umo Pass, will be available in 15 markets across the US in the coming weeks. Several agencies, including Shreveport, LA; Skagit County, WA; and Victor Valley, CA go live this week. Contactless readers will be installed on buses and in subway entrances in 16 additional markets – including Raleigh-Durham, NC and Ventura County, CA – in the spring of 2021.
The next products to launch will be Umo IQ, integrated within the Umo App across 100 cities around the world and Umo Rewards—which will be made available first to existing Umo Pass and IQ customers.
