Canatara Choo Choo Train goes cash-free

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A popular kids ride in Canatara Park is going cash-free.

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Payment via QR code is new this year for the trackless Choo Choo Train at the park, first purchased by the local Seaway Kiwanis Club in 2013.

“We don’t know exactly how this is going to go over, but I think probably more people have phones than have $2 in their pocket,” said the club’s membership chair Donna Kelso.

The move is in part so city summer students who drive the train also don’t have to handle cash as part of their duties, she said.

The train runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekends until July 2, when it’ll run every day except Mondays until Sept. 1, Kelso said.

Mondays are reserved for preventative maintenance on the 42-foot (13-metre) long train, she said.

“In the past it’s been really well used,” she said, describing seeing youngsters jumping out of family vehicles in the parking lot to line up for a ride.

“On a slow day it could be 50 riders, but it could also be 300 or 400 riders, depending on the weather,” she said.

The city has heard repeatedly from people in recent years about a need for an electronic payment option, said spokesperson Steve Henschel, noting there’s no city policy against summer students handling cash, but the club collects and retains the proceeds.

“So it is certainly exciting to see the Kiwanis moving forward with this improvement that will ultimately make it more convenient for families,” he said.

Rides are $2 per person, or $5 max per family and adults ride free, Kelso said, noting until now fares were collected “one toonie at a time” by apron-wearing operators, then secured for the club.

Cash is no longer accepted, the city’s website says.

Money goes to the club’s Animal Farm Foundation, which helps fund improvements to the Children’s Animal Farm in the park.

The club recently purchased a new maintenance vehicle, and added alpacas, a mini-horse and a mini-donkey this year, in part using foundation dollars, Kelso said.

Adjusted for inflation, the club has invested more than $4 million over six decades into the animal farm, club officials said earlier this year, when city council agreed to look into crafting a formal arrangement between the two parties for the 60-year-old animal farm.

The city approached the club in 1959 about teaming up to open the farm, and they made a handshake deal to share the cost of capital upgrades to the city owned asset, the club’s Ken Machan said in February.

The city and club split those costs evenly until about 2007, when the city stopped paying, Machan said about four months ago, noting the formal-agreement request is to resume that cost sharing.

Working out formal agreements with the club may take time, and lawyers, “but the intent is good on both sides,” Mayor Mike Bradley said at the time.

The Sarnia and District Humane Society operates the farm.

tkula@postmedia.com