If you are one of the many who still use the hard-shell MACPASS to get across the bridge, you don’t need to switch to the sticker just yet.
Halifax Harbour bridges gave a heads up in the spring, they were phasing out the hard-shell because it was old technology and not as easy to read.
However, Communications Manager Stephen Proctor tells our newsroom they put a permanent pause on the switch, in the fall, because of Premier Tim Houston’s election promise to make the bridges toll free.
“When we heard about the promise, we initially said internally, ‘What are we going to do? What is it going to cost? How are we going to make this work?’ But until we had a government, there was nobody that we could actually present it to.”
Proctor says discussions with the Houston government have now been ongoing at the bureaucratic level since the fall and continued into this week.
“Late last week before Christmas, our CEO has met with the minister. There’s been discussions and will continue to be ongoing discussions.”
The plan for now…
Whether you have a sticker or hard-shell, you will be able to use either for the foreseeable future.
Proctor says this decision was actually made in the fall, but word didn’t get out as they intended.
“There’s 30 people lined up in front of the MACPASS office [Monday] morning, worried about getting across the bridge.”
He adds the hard shell will continue to work until they determine what the future plans with the tolls will be.
The original deadline for the hard-shell to expire was December 31.
