Cubic’s Transportation Systems’ (CTS) business division has won two major transportation industry prizes at the ITS Australia National Awards for its role in the world’s largest transport management testbed, and a contactless transit payment system in Sydney.
The University of Melbourne and CTS won the Research Award for the Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem (AIMES), in which Cubic’s technology plays a major role. The AIMES is the world’s largest live city-based ITS test environment, and is implemented and maintained by 37 industry and government partners with Cubic’s Transport Management Platform(TMP) as the main integration hub.
Containing high and low speed roads, freeways, bus, tram, heavy freight and city logistic, and high pedestrian and cycle traffic, the testbed covers about 16 miles (26km) of roadways in the heart of Melbourne, Victoria. It is fitted with thousands of intelligent sensors on road and transport infrastructure to provide unprecedented insight on the efficient management of transport systems and road networks.
Cubic’s TMP collects data from public, private and active transport using testbed sensors in order to generate information that is essential in guiding city planning, reducing congestion, and improving traffic patterns. The AIMES testbed is the only testbed worldwide that facilitates research and development to address the scale of connectivity needed for real-world application for emerging technologies. The implementation of the testbed will be fully completed by the end of 2018.
“It has been an honor to work with the University of Melbourne and our project partners who play a major role in AIMES,” said Tom Walker, SVP and managing director for the Asia-Pacific region at CTS. “By collaborating with industry partners and utilizing our state-of-the-art technology, we are able to continue developing solutions that effectively analyze and respond to the evolving transport needs of Melbourne.”
CTS also won the Industry Award for the Manly Ferry Contactless Payments Trial, which is currently underway in Sydney, New South Wales. The field trial of contactless transport payments on the Manly to Circular Quay ferry route is the first deployment of this technology in both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. The system enables travelers to use a contactless credit/debit card to tap on instead of their Opal card, with the fare calculation and payment processing taking place automatically within the system.
Walker commented, “We are honored to accept the award for which congratulations also go to Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) and to NSW’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Andrew Constance, who arranged for this new technology to be trialled in Australia for the first time.”
