City upgrades fare collection system for buses

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A City employee demonstrates the tap-to-pay function on a bus Monday.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge transit department is upgrading its fare collection system and introducing new self-serve options.

A new LT Fare mobile app is now available at the Google and the Apple app stores or online by accessing LTFare.ca

The upgraded system now includes tap-to-pay technology for single fares on city buses using debit or credit card, the LT Fare card or mobile phone devices but paying by cash is still an option.

Bus fares won’t be changing and customers can still use their existing Breeze card for now. They will have to upgrade to the LT Fare card or app by Oct.1, Transit Asset Manager Mario Galeana told reporters Monday morning at the City’s transit office.

The LT Fare card can be obtained at various locations including Lethbridge Transit, located at 619 4 Ave. N., the Park and Ride station or City Hall and various vendor locations.

The card will be free with the purchase of rides or a pass until Oct. 1.

The City says the initial Access-A-Ride LT fare card and all balance transfers will be performed exclusively at Lethbridge Transit reception. When people have their card, it can be loaded at any location or by using the app or web portal. The City says Access-A-Ride operators will continue to accept payment envelops until Oct. 1.

The City also says that the Ride-On-Demand service, which was implemented during the cityLINK pilot project and was a free service during the pilot, will now be collecting payment starting Oct. 1.

“We’re very excited to introduce our new fare collection system and the new fare card,” Galeana said.

“With the system, customers will no longer have to go to a physical location” to get a transit pass, he added.

“We also tap to pay technology in all of the buses,” he said.

“We wanted to provide more options to our customers and we’re looking to increase reliability of the equipment,” said Galeana. The changes have a cost of about $1.9 million, he added. The fare collection portion of that was $1.45 million. The other $450,000 was for automatic passenger counters which are used to count the numbers of riders getting on and off buses. Information used to analyze and improve city transit routes.

Changes have been in the works for just over a year, Galeana said.

The changes will increase convenience for riders, he said with everything being able to be done online.