Translink petition to stop "double charge" with cash payments: overblown much?

Dec 19 2017, 4:10 pm

Yesterday, we told you that bus transfer tickets from cash fares will not be accepted on SkyTrain’s new Compass card fare gates. Some Metro Vancouveries have started a petition in hopes that TransLink will hear the plea of residents and figure out a way to eliminate the double charge if they choose to pay with cash.

The problem is such adaptability through the installation of new fare machines inside TransLink’s 1,500 buses will cost $25-million. It would also deter users from registering for and using a Compass card, which is arguably the much more convenient method to go about on transit.

Such a double charge while using transit can easily be avoided if commuters get around with the Compass card, which conveniently provides users with a cashless option and access to discounted fare prices. Such non-transferability fare systems for cash payments are also common worldwide in major cities with no issue or fuss.

If Hong Kongers, Londoners, and Parisians can handle bus cash fare non-transferability, why can’t Vancouverites?

Really, we don’t see what the issue is and this is getting overblown out of proportion. Get the Compass card: problem solved and you’ll never have to carry coins with you.

And if you’ve been paying cash this whole time, why? Have you never heard of the discounted FareSaver tickets? Not that this will matter for much longer, FareSaver tickets will be eliminated in January 2014 and replaced with fare discounted pricing within the Compass card.

From Change.org:

SkyTrain will soon not accept bus transfers with the new Compass Card system. Transit users will be forced to pay for a second transfer. This is absurd.

TransLink is claiming this Double Transit Fee will only impact 6,000 riders. We find this extra fee punitive and this impact estimate hard to believe.

We call on TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis to Stop The Double Transit Fee and revisit the decision.

Background:

TransLink spokesman Derek Zabel said that at $25 million, it was too expensive to upgrade all bus fare boxes so they would dish out Compass-compatible tickets.

If a passenger carries a bus-transfer pass to the SkyTrain, they will be told to get a Compass single-trip pass from a machine. There will be no trade-ins, nor will there be a discount for cash-only bus fares, Zabel said.

Image: · Steve ·

DH Vancouver StaffDH Vancouver Staff

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