The US business arm of Cubic, Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has announced that a customer open payments trial will begin in 2017 in Sydney, Australia.

With this trial, Sydney will receive open payments ticketing technology, which is already used in London.

The New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said: "For too long, NSW has lagged behind the world when it comes to transport, but that’s changing.

"Contactless payment with credit and debit cards would offer customers another easy to use and convenient option for travelling.

"The Sydney trial is a very exciting development, having the potential to leapfrog Sydney up into the ranks of a select group of leading cities embracing the new technology."

"We’re all about making Opal even better.

"Cubic and the team behind it have done an incredible job.

"Now we want to use the technology behind Opal to further enhance the system."

Opal card is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area of New South Wales.

Before adopting the new technology, the company had held talks with Transport for New South Wales regarding open payments while they were analysing the system.

CTS president Matt Cole said: "The Sydney trial is a very exciting development, having the potential to leapfrog Sydney up into the ranks of a select group of leading cities embracing the new technology.

"Open payments represent a major advance into the future with ticketing technology.

For commuters, it means an end to topping up funds on a smart card and a convenient option.

"For transport operators, it means expanded customer services and potential efficiencies."

In 2012, Cubic launched the first open payments system with Transport for London (TfL), starting with a customer trial on buses.

In Australia, over 15 million journeys are made every week using the Cubic-operated Queensland go card and the NSW Opal systems.