Opinion: TransLink and BC Transit should use the same digital fare system | Daily Hive

Opinion: TransLink and BC Transit should use the same digital fare payment system

TransLink's Compass Card (left) and BC Transit's UMO Card). (Shawn.ccf/Shutterstock | BC Transit)

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by North Vancouver resident Johnathan French.

In the coming years, TransLink is planning to upgrade the Compass Card system to allow for distance-based travel fares.

While this is great, I feel like we should think outside Metro Vancouver’s boundaries and consider the bigger picture.

Upgrading the Compass Card system isn’t just an opportunity to improve public transit in Metro Vancouver; it’s an opportunity to improve public transit across British Columbia.

This is a golden opportunity to finally integrate Metro Vancouver’s fare payment system with BC Transit’s fare payment system, and to save taxpayers millions of dollars per year.

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Both TransLink and BC Transit use the same American company to design and operate their fare payment systems: Cubic Transportation, which is based out of San Diego. Both fare payment systems have similar features, with BC Transit’s being a bit more advanced (they have an UMO app!).

Thousands of British Columbians live near the border of Metro Vancouver and have to use both BC Transit and TransLink fare payment systems on a regular basis. These people always have to pay twice, and many simply choose not to use either transit system and drive instead.

UMO smart card. (BC Transit)

UMO fare validator machine on a bus, with the QR fare payment code on a smartphone being scanned. (BC Transit)

Both systems are paid for by taxpayers; why are they so different?

In 2024, Ontario launched the “One Fare Program,” designed to allow free transfers between different public transit agencies. To pull this off, they had to get the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), Brampton Transit, Durham Region Transit, MiWay, and York Region Transit to all work together. It took years of work, but they knew it was worthwhile to ensure that the system was fair.

If we wanted to achieve the same, it would be far easier, as we only have two public transit agencies to deal with.

If I pay a TransLink bus fare on my Compass Card, I should be able to transfer to a BC Transit bus without paying twice. Similarly, if I’ve already paid for a BC Transit bus on my UMO card, I should be able to seamlessly transfer to a TransLink bus using that one card.

The same goes for monthly passes. If I have a monthly pass on my Compass Card, using a BC Transit bus shouldn’t be full-price! It should be discounted, or free, depending on how far I go.

Or how about this: we could just have one fare payment system across B.C.!

Why do we need separate fare systems? If you travel from Vancouver to Victoria or from Abbotsford to Langley, you shouldn’t have to research how each public transit system works. You should just be able to get on the bus, and tap your card.

We shouldn’t put up barriers to people who want to use public transit.

Compass Card being tapped on a bus validator. (TransLink)

translink fare gates canada line skytrain subway waterfront station f

TransLink fare gates at the Waterfront Station of SkyTrain’s Canada Line. (Kenneth Chan)

Why are taxpayers paying double for two similar-yet-incompatible systems when we could just use one? If we worked together, we could save TransLink and BC Transit millions of dollars per year by merging both fare payment systems.

Think of how much money it costs to operate a regional fare payment system. The servers, customer support, kiosks, fare gates, equipment, maintenance, and more. We could save money by having all of this managed by just one agency instead of two.

TransLink is facing a fiscal cliff. If they don’t find a new funding source, they will have to cut service drastically. While additional funding is needed, we also need to look at opportunities to save money, and this is one of them.

TransLink is planning to spend $216 million to upgrade its fare gates and fare payment system in the coming years. If we’re going to spend all that money anyway, replacing all of our equipment, we should work together with BC Transit.

The status quo isn’t good enough, and it isn’t fair to those who need to transfer in and out of Metro Vancouver.

Let’s implement a unified, distance-based public transit fare payment system across the entire province.

Let’s save our public transit agencies millions of dollars per year.

Let’s make public transit fares fair.

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