St. Catharines Downtown Association

St. Catharines Transit is ditching its old fareboxes on Saturday, July 10 with new devices that won't accept pennies.

American coins will also be rejected by the new system and bus tickets replaced by ride cards.

Transit Commission general manager Dave Sherlock said the old boxes are obsolete.

"They were about 28 years old and it was becoming very difficult to find parts," Sherlock said.

"That's the driving factor."

He said the $1.5 million changeover will also make it easier to validate and process fares, record revenues and generate fare-related information.

For cash fares, coins will now be inserted in a slot.

Pennies, park 'n bus tokens and American change will be rejected and returned in a dispenser. Bills can also be inserted for payment.

When weekend family bus passes are bought, they will be swiped in a new magnetic card reader. When transfers are required, they will be dispensed through a slot.

Sherlock said bus tickets will be accepted over a three-to-four month grace period as they are replaced by ride cards.

He said rejecting pennies was the only option with the new system, and added notice of the changeover was posted inside buses for two weeks.

"It's similar to parking metres and payphones," he said.

"With the technology today, we won't be able to accept pennies anymore."

All monthly passes will remain the same for July and August and fares will not change. A basic one-way fare is $2.50

The St. Catharines Downtown Association will continue to sell the 25-cent park 'n bus tokens to its downtown members.

They in turn use them to encourage downtown visits by subsidizing their customers' City of St. Catharines parking.

"Over the last few years, a lot of people haven't been using them for downtown transit," said Association general manager Tisha Polocko.

"So I don't think it will be a big issue that transit will no longer be accepting them."

People with questions about the new system are asked to call the Commission at 905-687-5555.