City and provincial funding paves way for Smartcards’ arrival in 2010
For immediate release:
August 27, 2008
City and provincial funding paves way for Smartcards’ arrival in 2010
Ottawa – The City and Province announced joint funding today for a new $21-million Smartcard fare system for Ottawa’s transit riders. With the City’s contribution of $14 million already earmarked by Council, the Honourable Jim Watson, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced that the Province would provide $7 million for the project, which is slated to begin implementation in mid-2010. The announcement by Minister Watson, Mayor Larry O’Brien and Transit Committee Chair Councillor Alex Cullen at Ottawa City Hall follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the two governments earlier in the week.
“The introduction of the Smartcard is an exciting new technology for Ottawa’s transit system,” said Minister Watson. “This investment in Smartcard technology for Canada’s capital is just one more example of the Province’s commitment to strengthen public transit in Ottawa and throughout Ontario.”
Once fully installed in 2011, the system will allow transit riders to ditch their passes in favour of contact-free Smartcards, which riders will wave at a card reader as they board the bus, O-Train and future rail lines. Transit users will be able to configure their cards as any one of a number of period passes (monthly, annual, Ecopass, semester, etc.), or casual riders will be able to load the cards up with money and have the fare deducted from the card every time they use transit. Customers will also have the convenience of purchasing their fares from their home, office or “on the go” through the Internet, telephone or pre-authorized debit payment.
Customers who do not have a Smartcard will still be able to pay their fare with cash.
“The Province’s contribution underlines their commitment to the future of public transit in Ottawa, and I am grateful to Premier McGuinty and Minister Watson for their support,” said Mayor O’Brien. “The introduction of the Smartcard is yet another step forward in the evolution of e-service in Ottawa. At some point, this same technology could be expanded to pay for parking tickets, admission to City facilities, or even public skating.”
The introduction of Smartcards will also allow riders to continue seamless transfers between the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO) – which has had a Smartcard system since 1998 – and OC Transpo’s transit system. Card readers on Ottawa’s buses, O-Train and future rail lines will be able to read STO Smartcards. Alternatively, their readers will be able to read OC Transpo cards, thanks to a $1.8-million technology upgrade the STO will undertake as part of their partnership agreement with the City.
“As our transit system approaches the 100-million-annual-rider mark, it’s important that our riders’ experience remains positive,” said Councillor Cullen. “By improving the speed, convenience and efficiency of transit – reducing the time it takes to board, making it easier to buy passes and fares, ensuring free movement between OC Transpo and STO, and eliminating wasteful paper tickets and passes – we will attract even more riders to OC Transpo, with all the benefits that brings to both our community and our environment.”
August 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
It’s nice to see something happening at OC Transpo, but smart cards are hardly new technology. They’ve been in use for a generation. I remember seeing them in use on the country bus networks in rural Italy in 1983, Hong Kong in 1985 and just about everywhere else outside Ontario by the early 1990s.
Now, if OC Transpo could manage to clean the interiors of the buses more than about once per year and maintain them at a standard of cleanliness typical of most Third World transit system that would be ’smart’ !
August 28th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Technologies such as smart cards are great, as is the initiative to reduce paper usage in municipal business.
Unfortunately it will take much more than token moves to rebuild taxpayer confidence and put your corporation on a sound fiscal footing.
How much paper would be saved if the City stopped mailing useless junk mail “educational” pamplets, such as the one telling us that increased municipal taxes are the fault of MPAC?
How much money is being burned on the salaries of Web-Surfing city employees?
Why did Transpo buy questionable ticket capture equipment when smart cards were coming? Are we to believe a city of Ottawa that can’t maintain 1970’s mechanical fare box technology can be trusted to choose 21st century information systems wisely?
Why does our tax and spend city leadership only care about things when they have caught political or media heat?
The Amalgamation has failed, and it’s time to face facts.
We’d respectfully request less propaganda and more value.