Outdated transit payment options frustrate riders and visitors in Halifax

Halifax is a growing city with many modern amenities, but conveniently paying for transit isn’t one of them.

Tickets or passes can be purchased ahead of time, but after that, the ferry and buses accept exact change only.

“It’s kind of outdated I suppose,” one transit user said.

There are a number of larger cities that offer paperless transactions. Fredericton, N.B., has options that allow for payment with debit or credit cards.

Halifax Transit agreed to transition to a mobile app in 2020 and last summer it handed a five-year, $1.5 million dollar contract to a U.K. company called Masabi to make it happen.

Still, transit riders are stuck checking their pockets for change.

“When I was living in Ottawa we had passes that work for any transit and you just tap them and you could load money on them at home on your computer. That was pretty convenient,” transit user Megan Donahoe said.

“It’s a little limited especially for guests coming in from different places. You kind of assume there would be more of a universal, more accessible system,” said fellow passenger, Brenna Mahony.

The waterfronts in both Halifax and Dartmouth are busy tourist destinations. Recently, the Busker Festival brought thousands into the downtown core of both cities, causing lineups at the ferry on both sides of the harbour.

Some feel the lack of a tap-and-go system slowed things up.

“It’s certainly an inconvenience. You have to build it into your travel plans basically, to stop somewhere to get tickets or to make sure you have the exact change,” said ferry passenger Sarah Sykes.

According to city staff, there are 45 retailers and two customer service centres that sell tickets or passes. Riders say they are not always conveniently located.

“You need exact change and there’s nowhere to buy tickets. There’s no vendors in this area that sell tickets so it’s certainly an inconvenience and not what you would expect in a modern city,” Sykes said.

City officials say they’re still working with Masabi to finalize the contract and statement of work. The original target was to have phase one of the mobile app operational by the fall.

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