With a history of more than 30 years in the United Kingdom, Cubic has established itself at the forefront of enterprise management systems and services for what is considered one of the largest and most complex, and arguably the world’s finest smart card ticketing system – the Oyster® Card.

But Cubic’s presence doesn’t stop there. Over the past 20-plus years, Cubic has also delivered revenue management systems for many of the country’s private rail operators that together comprise the National Rail system.

Since 1952 (the earliest date for which comparable figures are available), the United Kingdom has seen a growth of car use, increasing its modal share, while the use of buses has declined, and railway use has grown more slowly.

In 1952 27% of distance travelled was by car or taxi; with 42% being by bus or coach and 18% by rail. A further 11% was by bicycle and 3% by motorcycle. The distance travelled by air was negligible.

By 2003 85% of distance travelled was by car or taxi; with 6% being by bus and 6% by rail. Air, pedal cycle and motorcycle accounted for roughly 1% each. In terms of journeys, slightly over 1 billion are made per annum by main line rail, 1 billion by light rail, 4.5 billion by bus, and 21 million on domestic air flights.

Passenger transport has grown in recent years. Figures from the DTI show that total passenger travel inside the United Kingdom has risen from 403 billion passenger kilometres in 1970 to 797 billion in 2004.[4]

Freight transport has undergone similar changes, increasing in volume and shifting from railways onto the road. In 1953 89 billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved, with rail accounting for 42%, road 36% and water 22%. By 2002 the volume of freight moved had almost trebled to 254 billion tonne kilometres, of which 7.5% was moved by rail, 26% by water, 4% by pipeline and 62% by road.

Although the decline in railway use led to a reduction in the length of the rail network, the length of the road network has not increased in proportion to the increase in road use. Whereas the rail network has halved from 19,471 mi (31,336 km) in 1950 to 10,014 mi (16,116 km) today, the major road network only increased from 44,710 mi (71,950 km) in 1951 to 50,893 mi (81,904 km) in 1990, and reduced slightly to 50,265 mi (80,894 km) by 2010.[5] In 2008, the Department for Transport stated that traffic congestion is one of the most serious transport problems facing the United Kingdom.[6] According to the government-sponsored Eddington report of 2006, bottleneck roads are in serious danger of becoming so congested that it may damage the economy.[7]

• Air transport
• Railways