HSR is eliminating paper tickets later this year
- Michael Kras
- 05 Feb 2020
Hamilton’s public transit system is on its way to becoming paperless later this year.
This week, the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) announced its forthcoming plans to eliminate paper tickets and paper monthly transit passes as a means of riding local public transit.
The plan comes in an effort to push more Hamilton commuters towards using PRESTO Cards as their primary means of fare payment. In an agreement between the city and PRESTO, the goal is to increase the number of PRESTO users in Hamilton to 80 percent.
If ultimately approved by Hamilton city council, paper tickets and passes will no longer be accepted as an HSR fare payment option as of this coming September, following suit after neighbouring cities like Burlington, Toronto, Oakville, and Brampton have also gone paperless.
I'm at a #HamOnt public works meeting. They're about to vote on phasing out paper HSR tickets entirely this year & moving everyone to PRESTO. The last day for paper tickets would be Sept. 1, 2020
— Samantha Craggs (@SamCraggsCBC) February 3, 2020
While the initiative may help streamline fare payments on local public transit, and certainly promises to be a more eco-friendly approach than single-use paper products, the plans haven’t come without their share of controversy.
There’s the criticism that switching to a paperless fare payment system is classist, adding difficult barriers for Hamiltonians who may not have regular access to a computer or reliable means of reloading a prepaid PRESTO Card.
There’s also the fact of the upfront, mandatory $6 cost of buying the PRESTO Card itself; money that doesn’t in any way subsidize transit fare, and challenges the idea that PRESTO Card is a more affordable means of riding public transit than paper tickets.
What do you think of these forthcoming changes? Let us know in the comments!
Comments 0
There are no comments
Add comment