'Overwhelming' response to test GRT's new EasyGo fare card

After an overwhelming response from bus riders in Waterloo region, Grand River Transit (GRT) had to close their application to be a beta tester for the upcomingEasyGOfare card.

On Jan. 25, GRTasked for 100 frequent bus riders to become a fare card beta tester.

• EasyGO fare boxes won't be fully operational until January
• GRT's new electronic fare card named 'EasyGo'

In less than a day,GRTreceived 185 applications. The application is now closed.

"We are really excited and happy that people are that into it and that interested in working with us," GethynBeniston,project manager for electronic fare systems for Waterloo region told CBCNews.

Recreating 'unusual situations'

Volunteer beta testers are tasked to use the EasyGOfare cardfor a monthand provide GRT staff with feedback.

"If I have 100 people riding on buses, I'm going to recreate all of the unusualsituations that I can't do here in the lab or in the garage," Beniston said.

"If there's some strange thing going on in our system that I haven't seen, these people hopefully will find it for us before we roll the system out further."

This beta testing is one of the last tests before GRThopefully launches EasyGOin June, said Beniston.

However, not all the EasyGOfare card featureswill be available during beta testing. For example,beta testerswill only be able to reload the fare card at the Charles and Ainslie Street Terminals.

All GRTbuses have the new fare boxes installed and if all goes well,GRTwill do a second beta test in March, where beta testers will be able to load their farecards online.

For this round of beta testing, GRT will notify chosen volunteers by Feb.19.