Back in March, BC Transit announced Victoria would be the first region in the province to have its buses equipped with tap-to-pay technology from a company called Umo.
Initially, BC Transit said the Umo Pilot Project would be rolled out in two phases, but it was projected to be fully implemented by spring.
Now with Victoria well into summer, the Umo payment system still has not been launched.
Umo technology will allow customers to pay for transit using an app, tapping a pre-loaded Umo card and eventually tapping a credit or debit card.
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Over this past weekend, a redditor posted a picture of a sign that had been put up at a bus stop promoting the Umo app and announcing that the service had been officially launched, but it turns out that the signs had been put up by mistake and BC Transit is still not ready to launch the app.
“The signs were installed at bus stops in error and are in the process of being removed,” said a BC Transit spokesperson.
“We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”
BC Transit said that its employees and stakeholders still expect it will be “several weeks” before the system and app are implemented and launched.
In the meantime they are continuing to test and troubleshoot the system to make sure when it is launched, it is done so in a seamless fashion.
“BC Transit has been utilizing this valuable opportunity to test the new system to ensure it meets the organization’s high standards before Umo will be implemented for public use,” said the BC Transit spokesperson.
For the time being, it remains unclear when BC Transit will officially launch, but they say they are aiming for sometime this summer.
“Riders in the Victoria Regional Transit System can expect to use one of Umo’s convenient payment methods this summer,” BC Transit added.
