The metropolis of Halifax is aiming to rotation retired an app that would let transit users to acquisition tickets done their telephone by the extremity of the summer, arsenic portion of a long-awaited fare strategy upgrade.

Most different superior cities Successful Canada – with the objection of Charlottetown, Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Iqaluit (which does not person a nationalist transit system) – person immoderate signifier of cashless oregon paperless fare payment, similar reloadable transit cards oregon debit and credit. A tap-and-go aviator programme is besides successful the works for Victoria.

Most recently, successful neighbouring New Brunswick, Fredericton Transit launched an open outgo system for their autobus fleet, allowing transit users to wage fares with their debit oregon recognition card.

But those boarding a Halifax Transit autobus oregon ferry indispensable either wage with nonstop change, insubstantial tickets oregon passes purchased astatine prime locations crossed the city.

Local transit idiosyncratic Brett Feltmate gets a autobus walk done his school, but helium questions wherefore the transit strategy inactive doesn’t person physics payment.

“I conscionable don’t recognize wherefore we don’t person it yet,” helium said. “It’s not a strategy we request to invent. It’s conscionable a strategy we request to borrow.”

Feltmate, who lives successful the Tantallon area, said if radical are capable to program their trips successful advance, it’s “not that inconvenient.”

But helium notes tickets and passes “aren’t ace accessible.”

“You can’t conscionable spell anyplace and bargain them. You person to cognize wherever the pre-approved places are,” helium said. “For me, being a mobile person, OK, sure, I tin woody with it. But if I had immoderate benignant of carnal limitation, it mightiness not beryllium casual for maine to get to those places.”

The municipality has a full of 47 retail partners that merchantability tickets oregon autobus passes: 22 successful Halifax, 11 successful Dartmouth, 7 successful Bedford/Sackville, 3 successful Eastern Passage/Cole Harbour, and 1 each successful Hammonds Plains/Upper Tantallon, Fall River, Porters Lake and Timberlea.

The retail partners are mostly made up of convenience stores and cause stores – with varying hours of cognition – and determination are nary self-serve kiosks astatine large terminals to drawback tickets oregon passes erstwhile those stores are closed.

And successful immoderate areas, the retail partners whitethorn beryllium fewer and acold between, necessitating a autobus travel to bargain tickets oregon passes successful the archetypal place. Those without tickets oregon a walk indispensable wage for their fare successful nonstop change.

Coun. Waye Mason, who represents Halifax South-Downtown, described the existent strategy arsenic “antiquated” and acknowledged it’s a occupation arsenic cash-carrying becomes little popular.

“There are places wherever there’s nary country stores oregon casual places to spell get passes, monthly passes oregon tickets. And that’s a existent impediment to folks who trust connected the autobus system,” helium said.

“It’s adjacent harder for radical who lone occasionally usage the bus. You know, I’ve been caught retired wherever I’ve been downtown and I wanted to instrumentality the ferry and I didn’t person a ticket, and there’s obscurity adjacent to get one.”

Mobile app coming soon

Cashless and paperless outgo for transit has been a agelong clip coming. Mason said erstwhile helium was archetypal elected successful 2012, Halifax had “buses with nary exertion astatine all.” Since then, the municipality has implemented a caller scheduling system, doorway sensors, and audio/visual halt announcements.

Electronic payment, Mason said, “was ever the past signifier of the exertion upgrades.”

“We had a program to bash a fare container upgrade that was more ticket-based and little tap-based. That’s been acceptable aside, but it was acceptable speech close earlier COVID and past uncovering a replacement for a much pay-by-tap tech mentation took a while,” helium said.

The metropolis is present moving connected a phased attack to bring successful much cashless and paperless fare options. In July 2020, determination assembly voted to o.k. a program to determination to a mobile app, and last July, it awarded a five-year, $1.5 cardinal declaration to tech institution Masabi.

Mason said they anticipation to person the archetypal signifier of the program – which would let radical to acquisition tickets done the app, which they tin past amusement the autobus operator – by the fall.

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“Hopefully astatine the extremity of the summer, you’ll beryllium capable to amusement that you paid for a summons connected your phone,” said Mason.

The 2nd signifier volition impact installing hardware mobile summons validators connected the transit fleet.

The 3rd signifier volition impact implementing a reloadable integrative card, and the 4th and last signifier volition alteration utilizing debit oregon recognition cards to wage for the fare – which Mason described arsenic being the “holy grail of proscription and transit.”

Mason anticipates the afloat implementation of the phases should instrumentality astir 18 months, which helium said isn’t excessively acold down different Canadian cities.

“About fractional of the large cities successful Canada, a small little than half, person pay-by-tap. The different fractional are each getting it successful the adjacent year-and-a-half. So we’re benignant of successful that 2nd question of precocious adopters,” helium said.

The different large cities that person had debit and recognition fare outgo options for a portion are “all the biggest cities successful the state wherever the state contributes a batch of money,” Mason added.

“The benignant of investments that those aboriginal adopters marque are beyond what Halifax tin bash by itself,” helium said. “But we’re astatine a constituent present wherever there’s plentifulness of backstage assemblage providers who person off-the-shelf solutions that are affordable that we tin do.”

As the program has been successful the works for a while, said Mason, the metropolis hasn’t invested successful much places to merchantability accepted autobus tickets.

“It’s truly hard to warrant spending wealth connected a summons vending instrumentality for the span terminal oregon the ferry terminal, erstwhile you cognize this exertion is coming precise soon,” helium said.

“The occupation is that the contracting has been taking a small spot of time, and the procurement is taking a small spot of time. So, you got this spread of, you know, a mates of years, wherever we should person had immoderate amended solution.

“We’re going to get it now, but I cognize it’s precise frustrating for people.”

Mason besides said the metropolis plans to support accepting accepted autobus tickets and currency adjacent erstwhile the caller exertion is implemented.

“It’s not arsenic accessible arsenic it needs to be. And we cognize that. And that’s wherefore we’re going to put the wealth successful the caller system, for sure.”