6 Comments

• Sean Turvey says:

  March 20, 2011 at 8:54 am

  The vast majority of Skytrain’s crimes are fare evasion. Translink has a policy of trust. At the moment there are no gates to ensure honesty. They will install them by 2013. You can hop on the Skytrain all day and never have to prove you paid. Buses are similar, Theoretically the only thing a driver can do if you do not produce proof of fare is to call the transit police (which after hundreds of hours of sitting at the front I have yet to witness).

  The only fare enforcement is teams of two police standing at the “fare paid zone” checking for proof or spot checks on Skytrain. This is completely random so most of the time there is no enforcement. The people who are caught at stations have to be pretty stupid. The police are located in plain site. The evader only has to turn around before reaching them and pay the fare from a distance. The Canada Line even has signs which are posted by the ticket vending machines when a fare check is in effect. It amazes me to see people get caught.
• Sean Turvey says:

  March 20, 2011 at 9:05 am

  On an average round trip, I usually witness 1-2 people being charged for evasion. That would equate to (365* 1.5)=548 of the crimes. That is just one witness making two trips per day.
• Mono says:

  March 20, 2011 at 10:08 am

  After experiencing the warmth, kind-heartedness and friendliness of Vancouverites, I can’t ever imagine any of them evading fares!
• Drew Snider says:

  March 21, 2011 at 8:20 am

  Very interesting stats, but I’m curious: what’s the time frame for the number of crimes on transit that you cite? As for the fare evasion question, the “trust” policy you mention, Sean, has had more pluses than minuses, when you consider ease of loading/unloading and accessibility for persons with disabilities. Also, every audit that we did — internal and external — indicated the evasion rate and the amount of “leakage” were not significant enough to warrant installing gates. But times change and you may have seen a whole lot more fare-checks in the past few weeks. Interestingly, when PricewaterhouseCoopers did an audit of fare evasion in the fall of 2007, the report stated that many people appear to try to duck paying their fare because they’ve heard in the media that fare evasion is “rampant” so they figure “everyone else does it so why shouldn’t I?” (you can find that report on the TransLink website).
• Mono says:

  March 21, 2011 at 12:12 pm

  @ Drew
  Having read the article, they are yearly figures. In other news, Toronto is stepping up on fare evasion too!

  http://www.thestar.com/news/transportation/article/955909–ttc-targets-farebox-cheaters
• Sean Turvey says:

  March 21, 2011 at 4:59 pm

  For those who do not know, Drew Snider is Translink’s spokesperson.

  @ Drew

  I must say, I have always been proud that we have a system based on trust. It is really a shame that we must move (imo) backwards to a gated system. I do love the idea of the smart cards though.

  I have never felt unsafe on any Translink vehicle or property though I have run into some pretty interesting characters outside of NW stn. Even though it is still in the construction phase Plaza 88 already seems to helping greatly with that.

  While I have you on a blog of urban gondola enthusiasts, what would it take to get you to leak something about the CH2M Hill Bby Mtn study?