Cubic Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of US-based Cubic, has begun piloting its smart card-based fare collection technology on buses in the Indian capital New Delhi.

The five-month trial is being carried out on new low-floor air-conditioned buses on a route operated by Delhi Transport Corporation.

The company has provided the city with nearly 5,000 smart cards as well as smart card validators and an on-bus processing platform driver control unit, which integrates automatic fare collection and intelligent transportation system applications such as GPS-based vehicle tracking, passenger counting and security systems.

The cards uses contactless radio-frequency identification technology and track the number of passengers using a particular bus route or parking facility.

The new card system is part of the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System, a joint government transportation infrastructure initiative to improve the city’s transportation system ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.