Riders of Butler Transit Authority bus routes will have to use a different phone application to hold their fare funds in the spring, after the board’s vote Tuesday, Dec. 12 to contract with mobile ticketing company, ModeShift.

The five-year ModeShift contract will cost $341,186. According to John Paul, executive director of the authority, the new fare collection system will replace Token Transit, but riders will be notified so they can use all their Token Transit funds before the change occurs.

“We’re not sure when the exact implementation will be, probably no sooner than May,” Paul said. “We’ll make sure we can move that funding over to ModeShift; we’re going to have to determine how that’s going to work.”

Tiffany Fosnaught, finance manager for Butler Transit Authority, said in an email that new smart cards will also be issued in place of the current ConnectCards. Once passengers have a smart card, they can load funds onto it from the ModeShift application.

“No changes will be made to the current passes,” Fosnaught said. “For now, customers can continue using their current fare paying method.”