TransLinked Vancouver's unofficial transit community blog

Dane Nicholson describes Translink's positioning on some of the issues surrounding transit and SFU students in an article in this week's The Peak.

Meanwhile, today was the SFU Sustainability Festival, where a representative from Translink's OnBoard program (also a former SFU student active in the sustainability organization here) listened patiently while I ranted about Toronto TransitCamp, Web 2.0, and the difference between public consultation and participation. I'm hoping to keep in touch with him, he seemed like a good guy. It was very interesting to hear that the OnBoard program, which promotes "transportation management," I believe he called it - basically programs to get people out of their cars - gets no funding for its work getting companies to purchase discounted transit passes or working with companies to provide incentives for switching to more sustainable modes of transportation. This is to be contrasted the US, where it is a federally-funded program. Though it was interesting, I personally think it just means that they need to make better use of the low-cost, word of mouth, less glitzy ways of getting a message and an experience out to people. I also pointed out to him that there are a great many number of people who work as contractors, consultants or as employees of small or medium businesses who are not at a company who can get a discounted pass (the company needs a minimum order of 25 to be eligible). Since their program is run on a shoestring, he pointed out that it was unlikely that these sorts of options would be explored. Well, boo.

...but the best part: paper Millenium Skytrains and Nova Buses for all!

Cross-posted from my blog.

Over at Stephen Rees' blog, a comment from Vancouver City Councillor Peter Ladner started up a bit of discussion about Translink's revised fare policies. All I have to contribute to the discussion are my recent experiences with the new Fare Paid Zone, which says, good luck to getting a straight answer on that from anyone, Translink or any Coast Mountain Bus drivers.

1. Initially, when the fare paid zone came into effect, I thought, "Sweet! I don't have to show my pass anymore, because bus drivers aren't supposed to do it anyway." I have a U-pass, also known as a 4 month transit all-access pass, so I figured I could load onto buses much faster instead of fumbling for my purse every time and save the drivers some time.
2. 3 days into the experiment, a driver on the 135 told me I still had to show the pass. This is where the confusion starts. Didn't that CBC article say that bus drivers aren't responsible for checking anymore...? I figured that since Transit Police are the only ones writing fines, then drivers don't need to check. The driver was quite adamant that I still had to show my pass.
3. An incident occurred that confused me even more, so I sent an e-mail to Translink's Customer Relations e-mail.

   I would like to inquire about what Translink's actual policy is on what bus drivers do and do not have the right to do as a result of the new Fare Paid Zone on buses policy.

   Yesterday (July 24), on bus B8043 (135 SFU passing Kootenay Loop at 12:20pm), a driver asked to see everyone's passes to ensure they had paid the appropriate fare for entering zone 2, stopping the bus and walking through to the back of the articulated bus. He drove for a block and a half, then stopped at a spot that had no bus stop, and asked a gentleman to get off the bus, presumably for being unable or refusing to pay the Add Fare.

   According to reports such as the one from the CBC in June (http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/06/25/bc-bus-fares.html), drivers no longer have the responsibility to enforce fare payment and fines can only be handed down for Transit Authority Police, not drivers.

   I have received inconsistent information from all the drivers I have spoken to, and the activities of the driver I encountered yesterday only further confounds my ability to understand what the rules are. Clarification would be most appreciated.

4. The response from Customer Relations only baffled me even more:

   Good afternoon,

   Operators should still see valid fare, they may also check fares, what they do have is the ability to phone T-Comm (control) to have our police to board buses which have the authority to write fines and can also remove unpaid customers from the bus. With having Fare Paid Zones we have tried to take responsibility from our drivers and have consquences for our unpaying customers.

   Customer Relations
   Coast Mountain Bus Company
   604 953 3040

   Thus addressing approximately zero of the actual experiences I had. Maybe I should have been more pointed with my questions, like whether this driver was within his rights in kicking the dude off the bus.

5. Meanwhile, I have seen a variety of ways that drivers deal with non-paying passengers. Some of them are let on anyway with a stern warning (especially on the suburban route I take home). Some are told to get off the bus (typically on the 135 heading out of the downtown east side).

From a customer experience perspective, this is absolutely awful. I have a U-pass, I know my ability to use transit will never be in question unless I leave my wallet at home, and I'm grateful every day that the vote passed at SFU. I'm interested in visitors' perspectives on this, in comparison from other transit systems. My only other transit experiences have been in Toronto, New York and Hong Kong - all places with elaborate and extensive turnstile systems to curb farejumping. What other places use the honour system and hire police rather than using technological and physical methods to prevent access to trains? Discounting buses, which are an entirely different venue, and where interactions will now be CCTV'd - I'm interested to see whether there are stats from other places that might indicate whether this is actually effective in fare enforcement.

I'm not big on griping. There's been a lot of excellent virtual ink spilled on this topic and I really don't have much to add to it, except hope that there surely must exist some alternative whereby the honour system doesn't involve armed guards and inconsistency on the enforcement and communication of the rules, as well as some, oh, I don't know, participation into deciding whether these rules help create the communities that we really want? Maybe next time I'm on the bus, I'll sit at the seat closest to the driver and read that huge panel of rules already. (The last time I did that I was in Hong Kong, where I found out that buses must have their windows open on the upper level during a typhoon.)