Miami-Dade Transit, Florida’s largest transit system and the 12th largest in the U.S., has awarded a $45 million contract to Cubic Transportation Systems to convert its 25-year-old fare collection system to contactless technology that will provide auto reloading and web ticket purchases.

It will become the first transit agency in Florida to adopt contactless technology and it’s expected to pave the way toward future interoperability with other agencies in the South Florida region, including the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority/Tri-Rail, Broward and Palm Beach counties. To achieve this objective, the system will be compliant with the Contactless Fare Media Standard ratified and published by the American Public Transportation Association in 2007.

Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego, Calif.-based Cubic Corporation, will replace its original Cubic system installed in 1983 which is expected to lower agency operating costs and create new service options for patrons.

Miami’s new fare collection system will be based on Cubic’s technology and software platform for all contactless smart card ticketing, most recently delivered to the Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA).

The fare collection technology will be based on Cubic’s Nextfare Solution Suite, and includes all hardware, software and support utilities. The suite features Cubic’s open architecture Tri-Reader® smart card processor and the Nextfare Business Management System, a total enterprise management system for fare collection operations. Miami-Dade Transit will be the tenth deployment of this suite since its introduction in 2005. Other users include Washington, D.C.,Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia and Brisbane, Australia.

New features such as Auto-Reload and Web Ticket Purchases will be facilitated by the overall solution. The Miami fare collection system will use both full-feature smart cards for regular commuters and limited use smart cards for visitors and occasional riders, providing added convenience for Metrobus and Metrorail users.

Serving more than 326,000 riders daily, Miami-Dade Transit includes a Metrobus fleet connecting most areas of the county and a 22.4 mile elevated Metrorail system.