[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto to test mobile ticketing app for island ferry"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Jennifer Pagliaro goes into more detail</> about the new use of a mobile ticketing app for the Toronto Islands ferry.

If you’re reading this in line under the sweltering sun at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, you are doing it wrong.

That’s the message from Mayor John Tory as the city looks to tackle line-ups in the rush of summer.

For the month of August, the city will be trialing ferry ticket sales through established Toronto-based mobile phone app Ritual. Those destined for Centre Island rides, picnicking and beaches will have a new way to buy tickets in advance or on the spot to avoid lines. The ticket will be scanned from the purchaser’s phone.

“We want people in Toronto, every single person, to feel that their island is accessible to them in every way,” Tory said Friday outside the gates in announcing the new partnership in a photo-op ahead of the long weekend.

If the trial goes to plan, Tory said the city will look at extending the availability of tickets on the Ritual app.