Halifax Transit’s long-delayed mobile fare app will be available for download Thursday.
Coun. Waye Mason mentioned the status of the mobile app, which is called HFXGO, in his newsletter on Wednesday, writing the app would be ready “early November.”
Halifax regional council learned on Wednesday afternoon that the app would be ready for download on Thursday. That’s when the official launch will take place. HFXGO will allow passengers to purchase and use tickets and passes with their smartphones.
As Zane Woodford’s been reporting since 2022, the mobile app has been a long time coming.
In July 2022, Halifax regional council approved the $1.5-million contract with U.K.-based company Masabi, to develop “a mobile fare payment application and onboard validators.” The contract includes five years of technical support.
At that point, Marc Santilli, manager of technical services Halifax Transit, told council it could be four months before the app was ready to go.
Still, the delays continued after that four month period was up.
In August 2023, Halifax Transit said it still didn’t know when the app would come online. During a Transportation Standing Committee meeting that month, Mason asked Dave Reage, executive director of Halifax Transit, the status of the app.
“We are actively working with the vendor on the implementation of this. So we’re through all the procurement, we’re through all the contract signing, all the statement of work is done, and actively working on the solution now so that’s great,” Reage said.
“At this point, though, obviously, it’s the end of August. This is not going to be ready by end of summer as we had hoped.”
Reage said he’d have a timeline for councillors in the coming weeks, but it will be fall.
HRM said on its Twitter account the official announcement would be sometime Thursday.
It seems pretty clear that the delay was in the procurement, legal, and contracts side of things. This is an area of our bureaucratic processes that more Canadians should be concerned and upset about. This is consistently adding massive delays to projects in Canada, including what are essentially purchases of “off the shelf” products or products with only moderate customization.