With the Pan Am games coming to Toronto later this month, the city has been in a mad dash to prepare for the influx of tourists that are expected to come to the city as a result of the event.
Even the Toronto Transit Commission, usually slow to adopt technologies like contactless smart cards, is using the opportunity to roll out some long overdue quality of life improvements to its service.
In the next couple of weeks, the TTC will release an app on Android and iOS called TTC Connect.
While we don’t know all the features this app will ship with, we do know that it will allow Torontonians and people visiting the city to purchase Single Day Passes and Group Day Passes online or on their smartphone, and that they’ll then be able to use their mobile device to show a TTC operator their pass.
According to the TTC’s website, the passes can be purchased with a credit card, and must be activated before embarking on a trip to be considered above. The screenshot above shows what the tickets look like when viewed in one of the apps.
It’s unclear whether this is a one-time experiment for the Commission or the first of many digital projects undertaken in time to replace one-time payments, tokens and tickets with the Metrolinx-controlled Presto Card, but it’s a good start.
[source]TTC[/source]
(Thanks Max!)
