Bus riders within the Halifax Regional Municipality could possibly be paying fares with the flash of their cellphone by the tip of this 12 months if metropolis council approves a proposal from Halifax Transit.
The proposal, which can be introduced to council on Tuesday, seems to be at modernizing the fee system and says cellular ticketing apps are the only option shifting ahead.
“That is actually, actually excellent news,” mentioned Scott Edgar, chair of the advocacy group It is Extra Than Buses. “I think it is going to imply ridership goes up.”
Edgar says with a brand new system in place, folks will lastly be capable of make a spontaneous choice to hop on a bus. He used the instance of somebody caught within the rain.
“It does not matter if they do not have change of their pocket,” he mentioned. “It does not matter in the event that they have not managed to select up tickets within the final week.”
Halifax Transit scrapped a plan to make use of giant measurement tickets as a strategy to ease right into a cellular system. As an alternative, it desires to begin on the lookout for distributors to run a ticketing app.
As a part of the report, it checked out 4 prospects to pay: reloadable plastic playing cards, limited-use sensible playing cards, a cellular app, and tapping credit score or debit playing cards.
Most inexpensive possibility
The report says a cellular app could possibly be the simplest and most inexpensive strategy to begin. It proposes coaching bus drivers to examine tickets on telephones, eliminating the necessity to set up scanners or ticketing machines up entrance.
The price of all of the situations is huge ranging. Sensible playing cards and pre-loaded playing cards may value over one million {dollars} every as a result of they require merchandising machines and card readers.
The cellular possibility is unknown if Halifax Transit begins with that phased strategy of getting drivers examine telephones. The situation with cellphone scanners is round $400,000 to get the ball rolling.
The price depends upon negotiations with app distributors.
“Unquestionably, it is completely worth the funding,” mentioned Edgar.
He is hopeful this would be the first of a number of methods to pay transit fares.
Potential issues
The choice does include hurdles.
The report says there may be the potential for elevated fares, relying on the deal negotiated with the app they select.
“Specifics of those impacts can be offered in a subsequent report following the procurement course of,” the report says.
One other downside is accessibility. The report estimates 78 per cent of Atlantic Canadians use smartphones, leaving 22 per cent unable to make use of the attainable new system to pay.
The report says tickets and passes must stay accessible.
“Ultimately, it ought to be attainable to maneuver to some type of sensible card, so if someone does not have a cellphone or a smartphone, they will get a sensible card,” mentioned Edgar.
The report additionally agrees that extra fee strategies ought to be adopted in the long run. It says sensible playing cards and bank and bank cards ought to finally be choices.
Edgar says town can study from the experiences of Toronto or Vancouver. Each cities struggled to implement their cellular programs, however now they’re totally up and operating.
Edgar says total, he is thrilled to see Halifax Transit do an about-face on the previous plan to have huge tickets. He hopes council helps the transfer to modernize the fleet.
“I am hopeful we will see this on an affordable timeline,” he mentioned.
If permitted, the report suggests the new fee system could possibly be in place by the tip of this 12 months or early 2021, “barring any main obstacles.”
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