I <3 Translink

[se7entse7en]

http://globalnews.ca/news/779741/with-n ... transfers/

[Wetundies]

And how much are they receiving in funding that they can't do everything at once. They are only going to come back and ask for more.

[Duncan]

what a time to change jobs and take transit... honestly, the thought had crossed my mind to just drive to work and pay $200/mo for parking and probably $300/mo for gas just so i don't have to deal with this translink garbage...

luckily, i don't have to change between a bus and skytrain, but there are a few times that i might because of circumstances...

oh, btw, they're phasing out the subsidized employer translink passes at the end of the year. another cash grab

oh, btw, they're phasing out fare savers to force the compass pass. another cash grab

what gets me is that what about all those electronically illiterate seniors who are the ones who really rely on transit? how will they deal with the compass card?

[geForce]

This is a horribly played out transition period by Translink. However, to be fair:

- They're not forcing you to buy double passes. They're just warning you that if you are buying a faresaver by cash, you can't use it on the Skytrain, so it's in your best interest to get a Compass card. If you get a Compass card, then you won't have to pay double. Inconvenient for some, yes... but I don't see it as a cash grab. Just poor planning.

- I'm not sure how Translink benefits from phasing out employer subsidized passes. Were they giving discounted rates to employers for the subsidized passes?

- A lot of places with superior transit systems than ours have an electronic card system in place already (i.e. - Hong Kong). I'm sure once things get going, even the elderly will have no troubles using it.

I totally agree though - yet another poorly managed/implemented project in BC.

[geForce]

Ohh... wait, did you mean subsidized employEE passes? The free ones that Translink hands out to their employees and their families?

[joel]

i think he means the employee transit pass that would discount the monthly pass by 10%, but required that you sign up for the full year. they are discontinuing that program.

not sure if that change has anything to do with the implementation of compass card or just they decided they want to end that program close to the same time.

as dunc pointed out removal of faresavers also impact cost. as a faresaver packs would essentially give your 10th pass free. That's why they named it faresaver, since you save a single fare on a pack of 10. if they don't implement the discounted purchase for multiple fills on the compass card then it could impact ppl who use faresavers regularly.

in general, i don't think there's a big problem with the compass card or it's transition, to spend 25M installing card/dispensing machines on buses, or having the new electronic still handle those old paper transfers for a group of 6000, doesn't seem like good value. I think as long as they provide ppl used to using cash transaction to load/buying cards with cash still i don't think it should be that big of a deal. lets not waste money making everything backwards compatible. I think they should actually phase out the cash transactions entirely on buses if they can.

adding gates to the stations will be a good at reducing the amount of unpaid commuters too. I'm not really sure about transit costs compared to other cities, but i think the cost for the transit commuter is fairly reasonable and a great deal cheaper than a non-carpool driving alternative.

my biggest grip about transit is usually to do with the reliability of the trains/buses to come on time and not have delays.

[Duncan]

yea, the employee passes that you get because there are more than 15+ commuters at your work and you all pay for 12 consecutive months so you get 15% off the usual monthly rate... that's gone. And yea, that's gone regardless of the compass pass

And to tell you the truth, fare savers are actually cheaper to buy than monthly passes if you don't bus on the weekends (which most of us don't who work downtown). imagine a 1 zone adult costs $91 for the entire month. a 10 pack fare saver for 1 zone costs $21 for 10 passes. if you break it down, each fare saver costs $2.10, or $4.20 for a round trip day.

Basically:
52 weeks in a year is 52 * 5 = 260 days worth of travel on business days.
260 days - (3 * 5 days) = 215 days of real travel to account for on average 3 weeks of vacation most of us get
215 days - 10 days = 205 days of real travel after considering the fact that we get 10 stat holidays a year (11 for those of us who get boxing day off too)

at the end of the day 205 transit days * $4.20 = $861/yr
12 months * $91 = $1092/yr

if you ask me, someone figured this out at translink and that's the real reason why they're getting rid of fare savers.

The only real monetary benefit to month passes is that you can write them off in your taxes so you see the benefit in your taxes.

[joel]

well if you were purchasing monthly passes, wouldn't you not buy one for the month you were taking your vacation in, so you'd be using a combination of faresavers/monthly pass? unless you break up your 3 weeks of vacations evenly spread over all 12 months.
I guess the monthly pass is only beneficial if there are more than 21 commuter days in that month for you.

I didn't realize faresavers are actually 24% off. they used to only be 10%, (back when 10 * 2 zone = $27, instead of the 10*3$(old price of 2zone)), so that has changed a lot in the past.

I wonder how they will do the transit tax rebate after the compass card, i guess maybe it will apply to all transit fares.

I would really love to see them integrate compass card with a more universal id, like a drivers license or something, and then so we never have to worry about losing said card, it'd be embedded in some kind of chip under your skin. what was translink thinking... why didn't they do that?

i think that even if transit costs increase for each user, which seems likely in their plan... it's still much cheaper than the solo driving as a method for commuting, plus all those other tree-hugging benefits.

[joel]

actually while they still don't have gates, the cheapest option is to ride the train without any pass as long as you don't get caught more than 5 times (173$fine each time) a year, you're ahead.

and during peak times 7-9am 3-6pm, they basically never check b/c it's just to busy on the train. i think i would get checked maybe once a year.

[geForce]

I thought they meant they are discontinuing the paper fare saver tickets. We don't know what type of discounting program they'll have with the Compass card. They might have an even better rate than before.. Who knows..

[joel]

[nature boy]

i'm all for the changes. having a reloadable compass card trumps any dumb system they had before. and for those who are complaining about the new system (on facebook), i've found that they just don't understand how the new system works.

if you're a regular transit user, the compass card is the way to go. much better system than the old bus passes. maybe local convenience stores will implement payment with them like they do in hk.

and i was under the impression that there will be gates that will open once you flash your card.

[Duncan]

i don't think we're saying that the compass cards are bad, it's just how they're phasing them in and and phasing out other things like fare savers which will cost people more money to take transit.

[nature boy]

didn't you get "free" buspasses from your dad all throughout highschool? lol, i think it's that kind of thing that they're trying to prevent. i agree that they should have implemented some sort of transfer system from bus to skytrain, but from what i read the entire system will be eventually revamped, there just isn't the money right now. going in stages like this (which will affect only a handful of people and largely one-time users) will be, i can only assume, temporary until they complete the whole revamping.

and i was speaking more about people on facebook who were complaining about the new system. i had a friend who claims to be a life-long transit user talking about boycotting translink entirely and just ride her bike instead. i was thinking, if she's a "life-long" transit user, this won't affect her because she'd have a compass card anyway. she clearly didn't understand how the new system works.