Cubic’s general manager of Asia, Mick Spiers, doesn’t own a car.
This is because he is a firm believer in the potential of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to alleviate congestion and provide a more seamless journey to users.
Mick recently traveled to New Delhi, India to share this vision for a single account to plan, book and pay for travel with an audience of India’s leading transit agencies, operators and industry representatives at APSCA’s Transport Payments South Asia Conference.
In the face of rapid population growth and urbanization, Indian cities are desperately in need of innovative strategies to combat congestion and reduce air pollution from the overwhelming number of motor vehicles on their roads. Therefore, India is becoming the world’s largest market for public transport ticketing and the fastest growing payments market. Over the course of two days, attendees at Transport Payments South Asia explored different strategies to promote greater public transport use and increase interoperability not only between cities' individual transit networks but also between public and private modes.
During his presentation, Mick shared insights gained from Cubic’s experience building and rolling out ticketing systems in world-class cities including Sydney, London, Chicago, and New York and how these could apply in India.
He also explored the need for a Maas Platform and workshopped different governance strategies with the audience, as well as discussing the potential of future technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver greater benefits to transport users.
In closing, I challenge you the same way Mick challenged the audience: "What should optimal modal use look and feel like? Think about that when you take your next ride on the bus or ferry."
Anna Allwright is a Marketing Communications Specialist at Cubic Transportation Systems (Australia). In her role, she is responsible for leading the development and implementation of creative marketing and communications strategies for the Asia Pacific region. During her time at Cubic, she has implemented marketing and communications campaigns to support the roll-out of the award-winning Opal smart card ticketing system and the roll-out of contactless payments technology in NSW. She has also led the creation and implementation of communications plans for the NSW Intelligent Congestion Management Program and the QLD Next Generation Ticketing Program.
