Cubic Interactive

About the city. The Miami-Dade County transit network is the 17th largest in the United States, covering 360 square miles. Determined to reverse the decline in public transit ridership, the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) has reached out to Microsoft partner Cubic Transportation Systems to help create a solution aimed at increasing ridership and reducing traffic congestion.

Goal

The aim of the project is to incentivise travel on public transportation.

Implementation period. The project was launched at the beginning of 2020.

Fact

Miami-Dade County has discovered a decline in public transit usage. Since 2014, the Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) has lost 28% of its riders.

Solutions

Cubic Transportation Systems has partnered with DTPW to introduce Cubic Interactive, a first-of-its-kind loyalty- based advertising service for transit agencies and brands.

The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) recently launched a new GO Miami-Dade Transit mobile app that includes features such as tracking, trip planning, mobile passes, and a rewards program based on the Cubic Corporation’s loyalty  rewards platform-Cubic Interactive.

Cubic Interactive works by allowing travellers using public transportation to interact with advertising content in the transit agency’s mobile app and earn points in the form of “Stars” – a proprietary digital loyalty currency owned and operated by Cubic Transportation Systems. The collected stars can be converted into transit value and used to subsidise or pay for transit – or to redeem in-app offers.

Challenges

Some people concerned that advertising is being pushed to citizens in this way through a public sector app. Miami-Dade’s Bravo claims that this is no different from previous advertising models.

Team

Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW), Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS).

Timeline

Today, about 60% of the app’s monthly users take advantage of Cubic Interactive to interact with advertisers, earn Stars, and redeem offers. Since launch, riders have earned more than 3,500,000 Stars. For Miami-Dade, this program resulted in increased passenger traffic and reduced traffic congestion. As a bonus, the program also generated nearly $17,000 in revenue from video views and attracted valuable partner brands such as Bausch + Lomb, Ricola, Johnson & Johnson, and Paragon Vitamins.

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