Oyster in London.

I think one major benefit of the new compass card is that those living close to zone borders no longer have to pay extra.

i actually think Compass is better than octopus or oyster

.

.... :seriously:

You can't swoosh a card to get onto transit?

Lord help you when you face real life bro. You're Fucked.

just give translink sometime... you cant get a perfect system over night...

Wow. Sample dialogue in the discussion of these cards.

"Gawwwwd...why can't translink be decent and have a transit card like they do in ASIA where everything is infinitely better than anything here. Stupid Translink"

"and in other news, Translink has announced the Orca card, mimicing the systems used in Asia to make for a more efficient transportation system..."

"Gawwwwd...you are going to have to tap in AND out of the the transportation system. Stupid Translink."

I'm down with bashing Translink in anyway you want...but you've got to give them some type of leeway to at least fuck up first, THEN bash.

i wonder who's actually a translink user here or someone who just says, this is similar to hk/london's system so it must be good....

personally, i like the current system including its flaws...i walk to the train, run up the stairs to the platform, get off the train to the bus stop and hop on again....those extra 10-15 seconds are at time very important to me as i see my bus leaves too early than the suggested time and seeing it move away from the station bites...

oh well...i'll still be paying more next month which still saves me a lot versus gas/insurance...

Does that Mean the upass will be built into the compass card?
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I was a regular transit user, and am now a casual user. I've lived in Vancouver my whole life, but spent a chunk of time in Korea, part of it in and around Seoul where they use the T-pass which is a system nearly identical to the new compass card.

If you'll look at the faregates, the gates themselves are actually about a pace and a half ahead of where your beep your card; the reason for this is so that there is no delay or waiting or anything of the sort. You beep as you walk up to it, and the gate opens ahead and swings closed just as you walk past.

When it comes to getting on busses, instead of flashing your pass to the driver, you just beep it against the console--it takes no longer than it did before, and if someone doesn't have enough money, then it's the same as when a driver busts someone for having a one-zone transfer on a two-zone bus ("Excuse me? You need to pay another..."). Delays will happen regardless, and the efficiency of this is great.


The only part that does mildly concern me, though, is the beeping off. The release said that when you get on the bus but you don't beep off, they'll charge you three zones. I'm hoping this was a misprint or an incorrect publication and that they'll charge you "for the maximum number of zones you travel through"; so the 135 would charge you for two zones unless you beep off in a single zone or somesuch. We'll see, testing begins in another couple months, and full implementation doesn't happen until Fall 2013. Plenty of time to work out the kinks.


My guess is that University students will either get a special compass card, or there will be a 'university charge station', where the upass 3-zone thingie is loaded onto your/any Compass card. Though it wouldn't surprise me either to see a new Upass/Student ID integrated card (since the deal with upasses is that you need to have photo student ID with you).

We'll see. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

London had that same issue (minus the buses where you don't have to tap out because Buses are all considered "one zone" but with zero transfers allowed)

Sometimes there are stations where you can actually exit without any fare gates - but you still have to tap out. If you don't tap out - they will just charge you the maximum number of zones possible (up to 7 i think?). But if you did it accidentally (it happens) - next time you tap in, there's a special beep to let you know that you didn't tap out. You just go to the counter and let them know and they'll adjust it for you. Not sure how it will work here though.

The transit police there sometimes will just hop on buses and trains to check to make sure people have tapped in (there are many stations that are unmanned and it's easy to hop the gates). They also check for student IDs, because there are student oysters - and they will match your name with your ID, so you can't be caught using other people's cards.

Coming soon to Translink: compass chip integration in your penis so you can tap that shit all day every day.

Disclaimer: Surgery will not be responsible for any type of penis deformation or mishap. Small penises need not apply as length will not be suitable for tap in/tap out. Penis may fall off do to cancer, chances of happening are 5/1. Translink holds no liability to disease orpenis problems associated with compass chip .

IIRC London is the Oyster card.... :badpokerface:

I was only there for two weeks and you could "rent" one through the machine for $20. Based on the hostel I stayed at (in Greenwich) it was way cheaper travelling around London with the Oyster for two weeks than buy a ticket every time I went somewhere. At the end of the two weeks I returned the card and received my $20 back.

There were also Oyster only turnstiles (if you can call them that since they are just flapper doors) so you could bypass the line for people that just bought a regular ticket. One of the other neat things was the mag stripe on the regular tickets was right down the middle. So you could insert the card in any way/shape/form and it would go through and read. Rather than having to figure out which way the stripe is supposed to go.

So wouldn't you prefer to just tap a card rather than have to validate a prepaid or wait in line for a ticket machine? Or are you reffering to the fact that this is what you are already doing (if so, I didn't realize the Compass cards were already in effect).

i read while back saying so
I'd imagine that helps with loss prevention as well

Compass Card will likely be supporting NFC so it shouldn't be so inconvenient tapping out (unless you own iPhone :troll:)..I mean 90% of the bus transit riders pretty much have their phone out at all times.

We just got chip and pin at our pumps and a number of customers have had problems. Why? Because people don't read and are use to the old system. This mostly has to do with older people but it happens with younger people too. Had a couple of customers leave without getting gas. Compass pass may be easier and faster but there will still be a few people that will complain.

People are gonna complain no matter what. I like the new system.

One: more efficient. No longer requires drivers to inspect each pass (or not) or have people tear out the tickets when getting on the bus/skytrain
Two: less fraud. Electronic systems are of course, imperfect, but are more difficult to defraud than printed paper tickets and passes
Three: better information. Currently, translink makes decisions simply based on bus capacity. Once Translink can trace travelers and routes (obviously anonymously but at least in terms of get-on-get-off frequencies) it'll make for better more efficient busses. Ever had one of those "I see the same 15 people get on this bus and transfer to another, why don't they have an express bus" moments? Well maybe they will after the compass.
Four: FUCKING FAREGATES AT THE SKYTRAIN.

IMO anyone who doesnt have experience with both vancouver and asian commute systems should not comment on the pros and cons of this system.

People mentioning tapping out as problems, its not. Would you seriously be dumb enough to wait until the door opens before you take out the card and tap it? Also, as in Korea, if you know there is no more zones to cross, many people tap out wayyyyyyy before their actual stop. Also the machines can read the cards without you having to take it out of wallet/bag (unless there is another NFC card that will confuse the machine)

As for the no cash thing, in Korea, they have temporary cards where you pay an extra 50cent deposit and it is returned when you return the temp card to a machine. Im sure this would be implemented somehow on buses and stations. But people who use it often enough will probably have a card anyways.


Its also going to be awesome if they can manage to connect these cards to a credit card instead of pre-paid. Im sure translink will slowly evolve into an almost exact replica of asian systems. In Korea, these pre-paid cards can be used at convenience stores, taxis, and other misc places. (basically paypass)

And as for faregates, it differs from stations, the busiest stations have an opened faregate and the blocker only activates when the card is not swiped/read. Not to mention that there are more than 1 gate . I hope translink isnt stupid enough to build like only 1-3.

etc etc.

And to be 'devils advocate', these improvements are for the daily commuters and heavy users and im sure those people can surely see that the benefits of this system outweigh the inconveniences. If you are an occasional user; suck it.

and to add to point, if you ever had to go and find change/break a bill for a bus, that alone should be a good enough reason to support this. If you know there is a chance you will be transiting even once a year, you should buy a 10$ card and keep it in your wallet.

To all the people in this thread trying to make a point about the Compass Card, you do realize that you're debating about a system that hasn't even been brought into service? Why don't we all sit pretty and wait for the service to actually go live before we start shooting off meaningless crap in all different directions?

You guys are hilarious.

Yep! But this is the internet.



What else are we gonna do?

Oh, I could give you a list of things we could do :ifyouknow:

i don't validate anything...i have a monthly pass

Though it hasnt been implemented yet, some of us have experienced such a system and can at least make comparison comments.

If London's Oyster can handle their legit busy rush hours, I'm pretty sure this will be fine. I think Compass is mainly going to be implemented to stop skytrain hoppers. Honestly, I used to be one but I got ticketed once :okay:, and never since. You can't have cops there checking tickets in every station all the time so this would be a more efficient way.

And if someone was curious about the student thing, apparently you have to top up the card beginning of every month, just like how you get a new card now. Guess we get a special compass card?