Halifax Transit will finally accept electronic payments | City | Halifax, Nova Scotia
OOn Monday, October 3, Halifax’s standing transportation committee met to discuss the upcoming transit payment application that the committee and council have already approved. Today’s brief meeting was mainly about setting fees for the cashless payment app and answering councilors’ questions about its use.
The app allows the city to offer new fare options that were not feasible or implemented with paper payment options, such as two-day passes and seven-day passes. Electronic options are designed to complement paper payment, but not to replace it completely. The city acknowledges that the technology requirement is a barrier to entry that would only hurt people who need transportation the most, since the app requires internet or data to make purchases.
The application is seen by the council as a crucial step forward in modernizing the city, dragging it into the 21st century. It also increases options for riders on how to pay their fares. Due to an incredibly complicated bureaucratic process, becoming a licensed bus ticket reseller can take years. Atlantic News owner Michele Gerard told The Coast in 2015 that she was trying to become a bus ticket seller since 2011. The Atlantic News became an official seller three weeks ago, in 2022. 11 years. This app also bypasses the bureaucratic blockade of the Halifax bus ticket seller.
In the city’s survey that asked what fares people might want to buy, city officials found that Halifax people also wanted to be able to buy:
- five-day passes
- unlimited weekend passes
- commuter pass: Discounted pass available for use on journeys made Monday to Friday during peak hours only
- Off-Peak Passes: Discounted passes available for use on journeys made between 9.30am. and 3 p.m
- Group/Family Pass: discounted fares for a family or group that would be valid for a specified time or journeys made
- Summer Student Pass: Unlimited transit for students during the summer months, available where students obtain a transit pass during the academic year (September-June)
- discounted passes for the summer months to promote tourism around the city
- tourist permit: A permit that allows unlimited travel for a specified period of time. Within that valid time, free entry will be available to attractions such as museums, as well as discounts to some restaurants or sightseeing activities around the city.
Councilor Waye Mason also tabled two motions. The first asked the staff for a report on how to regulate tour operators that are not buses or taxis. Mason told the committee that there is a company operating in this space, but there are no regulations for operating its business.
Mason’s second move was to try to figure out how to create pedestrian-only spaces. This has nothing to do with the Spring Garden Road fiasco, or at least not directly. But there are places in the city that sometimes exclude cars, such as Argyle or Bedford Row, which use different rules and procedures each time they close. Mason wants to see a standard for how the city makes its streets better for people.