The paper bus ticket will soon be a thing of the past.

The London Transit Commission’s long-awaited smart cards are hitting the streets just in time for back-to-school — for some.

As of Tuesday, Fanshawe College students became the first to use the chips embedded in their student cards that allow the rider to simply tap a terminal to pay their fare.

The LTC has been working on launching the cards since 2012 but glitches and testing have repeatedly delayed the launch.

Even now, the system will only roll out in phases.

For the general public, replacing the regular monthly pass with the smart card has been pushed back a month and will begin in October.

“We wanted to get the Fanshawe stuff working smoothly before adding another element,” said LTC manager Kelly Paleczny.

A few months down the road, the LTC will introduce a card that can be loaded with a stored value that will replace the paper ticket.

About 27,000 Western University students, who get bus passes as part of their student fees, will have to stick with the old cards for now. The university is still working on updating all student cards with the chip needed for the smart card system.

Paleczny said the tap-and-go passes will speed the boarding process and make the system more efficient and running closer to schedule.

The LTC will also be able to get much more information on rider use, including when and where buses are boarded, allowing for fine-tuning the system.

Paleczny said there have been some glitches with Fanshawe cards not being accepted by the card readers. But she said that was due to a delay in updating Fanshawe registration information into the LTC system and should be cleared up in a couple of days.

In the meantime, Fanshawe students can still board by showing their student pass to the driver.

Allan Bushell, president of the Fanshawe Student Union, said the smart card will be a great convenience to Fanshawe’s 15,000 full-time students.

He said the Fanshawe student card has contained the chip for years, in anticipation of the LTC launch.

Fanshawe route buses are heavily used and Bushel said the boarding information may help the LTC deliver better service to the campus.

“They can get accurate boarding numbers to adjust their routes,” he said.

The smart card system cost the LTC about $3.7 million to launch but the cost is fully funded by Ontario’s gas tax. Paleczny said she expects the efficiencies will pay back the cost in about eight years.

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