CHRIS CHRISTENSEN
News Writer

Beginning Feb. 1, Saskatoon is rolling out the most recent updates to its transit line: the electromagnetic Go-Pass.

The Go-Pass is the city’s way of modernizing the old cash fare system, which has been using the same boxes and parts for the past 50 years. As of next month, the old coin machines and cash counters are being retired and the sleek sheen of technology will take its place. A chip embedded in the Go-Pass will be used to register travellers by merely bringing the card into the proximity of the reader as they board the bus.

The change has been coming for some time now. Russ Dixon, spokesperson for Saskatoon Transit, has been watching the project from its conception in 2004.

Despite having earmarked the project’s $3 million budget several years ago, the changes are only coming now, Dixon believes, because the technology needed time to develop.

“What we wanted to do three years ago is far more possible now than it was back then,” Dixon explained.

“It’s not just the issue of old fare boxes, either. The new system can do much more than that.”

For years, a major problem with transit has been in trying to determine ridership data: where and when people are most likely to travel. But no truly accurate information has ever been determined.

Because the Go-Pass records every instance of a card being used, peak hours and transit levels can be tracked, and the city’s bus routes and frequencies adjusted accordingly.

“What this means is that some time in the near future, customized bus routes and travel times become a possibility,” Dixon said.

Efficiency has always been the name of the game in transit. And, perhaps now more than ever, a new approach is needed. Kyle Kluchewski, a third year chemistry student at the University of Saskatchewan, believes the bus system is slowly losing its reliability.

“Sometimes I’ll end up late for class because the bus is running behind, or it simply won’t show up at all. Those are the times I end up having to drive myself to class, having to pay for parking and missing the first half of my lectures.”

Being able to shift bus travel times to line up with typical class schedules or to adjust routes during peak hours might prevent similar problems from arising in the future.

For students, the old U-Pass sticker is being replaced with a much larger electromagnetic strip that will work with the new technology.

Also, starting Feb. 1, bills are no longer going to be an acceptable form of payment on the city buses — coins and passes only. Because the money has been set aside by the Saskatoon government several years ago, no fare hikes are associated with this switch-over either, and a lost pass still carries with it the $15 charge for a replacement.

There are no changes to the U-Pass agreement with this new system, though an opt-in program is available that ties a student’s card with the Go-Pass. The underlying idea is a quick replacement of a student pass if a card happens to be lost or stolen. Furthermore, a program called Ridership Rewards is expected to start up next year, rewarding those who utilize public transit most often.

Chris Stoicheff, vice-president external for the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union, believes this will be an overall positive thing for the student body, bringing with it “less potential for disputes between bus drivers and students.” Though such instances are rare, less reliance on the operators to judge the validity of passes brings with it less room for error. However, Stoicheff invites any students concerned with the changes, or needing to talk to someone about student transit, to speak with him directly.

If everything proceeds as smoothly as Saskatoon hopes, more efficient travel and increased reliability should be available soon. The Go-Pass is, after all, only a stepping stone towards a larger goal. Perhaps in a few years’ time, the transit system imagined in 2004 will be complete and operational, streamlined well enough to carry the growing city of Saskatoon long into the future.