City blames Apple’s ‘last-minute hiccup’ for snag in transit payment app’s launch
Calgary Transit has hit a road bump on the launch of its new fare payment phone application.
City officials unveiled the app Tuesday, saying it would roll out to the public on Canada Day for both IOS and Android devices. The app, called My Fare, allows users to purchase single tickets, day passes and adult or youth monthly passes.
However, iphone users attempting to download the app on Wednesday morning found it wasn’t available in the Apple app store.
Stephen Tauro, communications and information lead for Calgary Transit, said the delay was caused because Apple requested a technical change to the app one day before the launch.
“We were asked to make an adjustment on June 30,” said Tauro. “So that last-minute hiccup just caused a delay.”
He said the change has been made and they’re working with Apple to get the app up. Tauro expects it could be available Thursday.
In the meantime, he said 2,500 people downloaded the app on Android devices.
The delay led to complaints on social media, as many were counting on buying their monthly July pass through the app.
Farkhod Fayzullaev said he was looking forward to the app because it offers a contactless purchase option and would save him a trip to the store.
He said the pandemic has him working from home but he normally travels to work daily on the Ctrain.
As a software developer who has created apps for IOS in the past, Fayzullaev questioned the city’s timeline for launching the app.
“They were saying for weeks now that it would be live on the first of July,” he said. “I know that there’s a possibility to submit the app beforehand and then get it ready to launch on a specific day.”
Fayzullaev said he was able to get the program on his wife’s Android phone and he will use the app once it is available.
The system comes five years after the city called off plans for a prepaid fare card system called Connect, which would have let riders tap a card to pay to board the bus or Ctrain.
The city spent $5 million on the ill-fated project but it was scrapped for good in 2015 over what were called reliability issues.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Tuesday that developing an app is a better approach. The program cost the city $5.5 million.
“It has allowed us, at relatively low cost, to develop an electronic fare product for people and skip over the smart card stored value system that has cost so many transit systems so much money and has come in over budget so many times,” he said.
Calgary Transit’s acting director Russell Davies said the app has gone through “extremely rigorous testing ” in the past two months and the city is “very confident” in it.
The launch of the app-based fare collection system also heralded the return of front-door boarding on buses.
The city mandated rear-door boarding on buses shortly after declaring a state of local emergency in March, and returning passengers to the front doors this week is part of an effort to recoup revenue lost because of the COVID -19 pandemic. While riders have still been required to pay throughout months of public-health restrictions, it’s essentially an honour system since the driver stays at the front.
Transit has been hit hard during the pandemic, and city officials say losses across Calgary’s system could top $90 million by the end of 2020.
After first trimming bus and Ctrain service, the city laid off 430 transit employees and eliminated 25 bus routes in May.
Those employees haven’t been called back and the routes are still off-line, but Davies said some ridership is starting to come back. With more businesses allowed to operate and limited gatherings allowed under Stage 2 of Alberta’s reopening, ridership is down around 65 to 70 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels — an improvement compared to past months.