Kuba’s fare validators play an integral role in a new open-loop fare payments system launched by MetroLink Tulsa earlier this summer.
With state-of-the-art Kuba validators installed on buses, riders have been enjoying faster boarding and a simple fare payment experience using their contactless bank card or mobile wallet as their token to travel.
This upgrade underscores MetroLink Tulsa’s dedication to providing its community with efficient, modern and user-friendly transit solutions. Integrating advanced payment technology into its services is essential to improving operational efficiency and enhancing the rider experience.
MetroLink Tulsa procured and deployed the solution using the ‘Mobility Marketplace’ set up by Caltrans’ California Integrated Travel project (Cal-ITP, calitp.org). The marketplace offers easy access to three components of a modular open-loop fare collection system: fare validators, fare calculation software and a payment processor. Carefully selected vendors have been awarded Master Service Agreements (MSAs) by the State of California to supply these parts, which plug-and-play together.
Contracts with awarded vendors offer pre-agreed pricing and can be leveraged by any transit agency in the United States. MetroLink Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of a number of agencies outside of California to use this framework. Selecting Kuba to provide fare validators, it is also working with Littlepay and Elavon, for fare calculation and payment processing services.
Brian Frank, General Manager of Kuba North America, comments:
“The open-loop deployment in Tulsa shows that the framework provided by the State of California can be successfully used by transit agencies anywhere in the United States. Pre-integrated, standardised products and services can be rolled-out more easily and cost-effectively.”
Sheryll Ricketts, Head of Solutions at Littlepay said:
“I’m thrilled to see another project outside of California go live using the Cal-ITP procurement system. The mobility marketplace is paving the way for agencies all across the US to provide a modern way for their passengers to pay for their travel.”
Find out how Cal-ITP’s Mobility Marketplace and Kuba fare validators were used by another transit agency, Monterey-Salinas Transit. Discover how to use the Cal-ITP framework to modernize fare payments in your transit agency – contact Brian Frank today.
