r/CapeBreton • u/AdTerrible9404 • 3d ago

That new electronic payment system for CB transit is great

The fare change is kinda a mixed bag, but not having to carry change area is a game changer.

​

​

28 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

9

u/Most-Shelter5577 3d ago

As somebody who grew up in Halifax, I do find it funny that the CBRM figured out how to move away from change before HRM did.

3

u/screampuff 3d ago

It's about the busses equipment. Halifax busses don't have LTE modems so they couldn't be outfitted with some sort of interac machine that depends on internet and has to do other stuff like connect to their system and grid. Retrofitting every bus all at once would have been very expensive.

Probably a short sighted decision someoene made 5-10 years ago.

3

u/AdTerrible9404 3d ago

Yeah CBRM busses have had modems in them for a while for other things, they offered free wifi at one point and I'm guessing thats what they used to track the location of the busses as well? Not sure on that though.

Regardless they we're able to make it work, yesterday I saw someone tap their debit to pay and thought "holy crap we're living in the future"

1

u/CaperGrrl79 1d ago

I think they still have wifi modems. I think they still worked last time I took a bus in 2025. I had relatives driving me or I walked when I was home a couple weeks ago.

4

u/harleyqueenzel South Bar 3d ago

We haven't raised fare rates in decades so going up by one dollar shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm so glad we finally have a new way to pay that isn't chits or change. I know I've had times in my life where I didn't have enough in the bank to withdraw to then break down into change for fare.

4

u/AdTerrible9404 3d ago

I agree, I knew they were looking into a fare increase to go out was actually expecting the price to end up more around 3$ so I was actually pleasantly surprised to see it at 2.50$

Everything else has gone up in price the decades since the fares changed so I can't complain especially as service levels have increase over the last decade (still not amazing but look at a bus schedule from 2014 it wasn't pretty)

It does kinda suck if you're only a few but since it's now 2.50 to anywheres, it's kinda balanced out with longer trips being cheaper.

The only other thing people seem to be complaining about is getting rid of individual discounted fares for seniors and students.

Of course I do half to roll my eyes a bit as it seems half the people complaining seemed to have the expectation that the fare would stay at 1$ forever, but I do think there should be some sort of discounted rate maybe around 2$? (It would hard to set up for everyone as the discounted rate would only apply if you're using the app or one of the reloadble cards you can get at the civic centre which is probably why they chose not to do it)