Halifax Transit proposing smartphone ticket options

Bus riders in the Halifax Regional Municipality could be paying fares with the flash of their cellphone by the end of this year if city council approves a proposal from Halifax Transit.

The proposal, which will be presented to council on Tuesday, looks at modernizing the payment systemand says mobile ticketing apps are the best choice moving forward.

"That's really, really good news," said Scott Edgar, chair of the advocacy group It's More Than Buses. "I suspect it will mean ridership goes up."

Edgar says with a new system in place, people will finally be able to make a spontaneous decision to hop on a bus. He usedthe example of someone caught in the rain.

"It doesn't matter if they don't have change in their pocket," he said."It doesn't matter if they haven't managed to pick up tickets in the last week."

Halifax Transit scrapped a plan to use large size tickets as a way to ease into a mobile system. Instead, it wants to start looking for vendors to run a ticketing app.

As part of the report, it looked at four possibilities to pay: reloadable plastic cards, limited-use smart cards, a mobile app, and tapping credit or debit cards.

Most affordable option

The report says a mobile app could be the easiest and most affordable way to start. It proposes training bus drivers to check tickets on phones, eliminating the need to install scanners or ticketing machines up front.

The cost of all the scenarios is wide ranging. Smart cards and pre-loaded cards could cost over a million dollars each because they require vending machines and card readers.

The mobile option is unknown if Halifax Transit starts with that phased approach of having drivers check phones. The scenario with cellphone scanners is around $400,000 to get the ball rolling.

Theprice depends on negotiations with app vendors.

"Unquestionably, it's absolutely worth the investment," said Edgar.

He's hopeful this will be the first of several ways to pay transit fares.

Potential problems

The option does come with hurdles.

The report says there is the potential for increased fares, depending on the deal negotiated with the app they choose.

"Specifics of these impacts would be provided in a subsequent report following the procurement process," the report says.

Another problem is accessibility. The report estimates 78 per cent of Atlantic Canadians use smartphones, leaving 22 per cent unable to use the possible new system to pay.

The report says tickets and passes would have to remain available.

"Eventually, it should be possible to move to some kind of smart card, so if somebody doesn't have a cellphone or a smartphone, they can get a smart card," said Edgar.

The report also agrees that more payment methods should be adopted in the long term. It says smart cards and bank and credit cards should eventually be options.

Edgar says the city can learn from the experiences of Toronto or Vancouver. Both cities struggled to implement their mobile systems, but now they're fully up and running.

Edgar says overall, he's thrilled to see Halifax Transit do an about-face on the former plan to have big tickets. He hopes council supports the move to modernize the fleet.

"I'm hopeful we're going to see this on a reasonable timeline," he said.

If approved, the report suggests thenew payment system could be in place by the end of this year orearly 2021, "barring any major obstacles."

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