Cross your fare-paying fingers — if all goes to plan, London Transit riders will be tapping smart cards when boarding buses starting in September.

The plan to move to a payment card that can be recharged, a so-called smart card, has been in the works since 2012, but glitches have delayed the rollout.

Instead of being able to pay electronically, riders on the city’s transit system have seen blank card readers staring back at them from the front of buses.

The goal now is to roll out the new system in phases.

“For now, we’re making it optional, just so we don’t have everyone moving to the new system all at once said London Transit Commission general manager Kelly Paleczny. “But the end goal is eliminating the paper tickets and passes completely.”

The $3.7-million project cost is funded fully by Ontario’s gas tax.

It means every full-time Fanshawe College student with a bus pass would use the new card as of September, as well as passengers who opt for a smart card when buying monthly passes at LTC’s Highbury Avenue or Dundas and Richmond streets locations.

Smart cards won’t yet be available at independent locations that sell monthly passes.

“I’m quite excited to see this rolling out,” said Ward 4 Coun. Jesse Helmer, a transit user who sits on the LTC board. “I think it’s a good thing for the system overall. It’s a great thing that’s been a long time coming.”

Smart cards will also be transferable. Someone with a card can give it to someone else to use. Existing paper passes, with a photo of the passenger, aren’t transferable. Western University has yet to adopt the system because it would have to replace every student card to accommodate chip technology required, Paleczny said.

Eventually, customers will be able to top up cards online, she added.

The cards will be sold at city recreational facilities and city hall later in the fall.

But it all depends on the results of one last test done recently.

Earlier tests in June found problems with the operating software on buses and the card management and central software systems.

“We’re waiting with bated breath for those results. We are still waiting for the fix, then we have to push it to our equipment,” said Paleczny.

“If we can’t do it by mid-August, when the September cards go on sale, we may have to bump the launch by a month.”

kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca

Twitter.com/KateatLFPress