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The City of Regina is taking more steps toward making its transit system more attractive.
It’s looking for someone to create or provide an app for mobile ticketing and fares for transit.
“Right now we have a card-based system which means you can load value onto a card,” explained Nathan Luhning, manager of transit administration for the City of Regina.
“An account-based system is where you have an account and you can load funds remotely. You can manage what kind of fares or how you pay. So it kind of expands beyond what we have today as opposed to just having one reloadable smart card.”
Luhning said people will be able to use the app, credit card or reload the card online, as well as the ways people pay their fares right now.
However, Luhning doesn’t expect the app to be up and running until the middle of next year.
The city is also looking to take another step toward replacing its fleet with electric buses. It’s currently looking for pricing.
In March, the city announced it had received $26 million from the federal government for that purpose.
“Our priority right now is to upgrade our facility so it can handle the charging of the buses,” explained Luhning.
The upgrades are expected to happen through this year and into 2025. He expects the first electric buses to be in the city in 2025.
The tender for pricing says it’s looking for “firm pricing” for the supply and delivery of up to 51 40-foot and 60-foot electric transit buses.
It also lays out a timeline for buying the buses — up to seven buses in 2024, up to 11 in 2025, up to eight in 2026, up to 10 in 2027 and up to 15 in 2028.
The purchase would also include training for the mechanical and operational staff.
Both of these pieces are being done under the Transit Master Plan which was developed to entice more people to use transit.
Luhning said Regina Transit has already implemented free fares for anyone 13 years of age and under as part of the master plan and put in new services for areas near Costco and, recently, to the airport.
