Kelowna council skeptical of BC Transit's electronic fare collection system

Kelowna City Council was not supportive of portions of a new electronic fare collection system being proposed by BC Transit.

On Monday, Kelowna council was presented with information on the new system which is being implemented across the province this year.

Umo will allow transit users to pay their fare using a mobile app, reloadable smart cards as well as credit and debit cards, say city staff in a report. Cash would continue to be accepted.

Several new policies would be implemented alongside the electronic fare system.

This includes refunds for unused fare products and a one-year expiration date for a 10-ride pass (previously tickets).

The new system would also see the introduction of a 30-day pass that can be bought anytime during the month, instead of being based on each calendar month.

Finally, transfers would be restricted to one connecting bus within 90 minutes of the original fare payment. Currently, there is no restriction to the number of transfers that can be made in an hour and half.

A few Kelowna councillors did not like the idea of the one-year expiration date for the 10-ride passes or the transfer restriction.

Councillor Loyal Wooldridge had issues with the transfer restrictions.

“Regionally, if we have someone living in Glenrosa and they work at the mall and they have to take three buses to get there, technically, with this policy they wouldn’t be able to do those two additional bus rides, they’d only be able to transfer once,” said councillor Wooldridge.

Michael Kittmer, the city’s transit service coordinator, said that was correct.

“Those longer, multi-transfer trips would require either a transition to a different fare product type or to pay again after that second bus,” explained Kittmer.

Councillor Wooldridge said he could not support the proposal as is and suggested council defer their decision. He suggested BC Transit investigate the transfer aspect and come back to council with more information.

Councillor Rick Webber had similar issues with the expiration date for the 10-day ride pass.

Kelowna City Councillor unanimously agreed to wait on discussing the matter further. Instead, they would like more information from BC Transit on the proposed transfers and expiry date policies.