I've been to London, the only downside to their oyster card system, is that it's not "strong enough" as in if you have a thick ass wallet, full of junk like my friend. He had to take it out everyime to use it.

VS. HKG where no matter how much shit you had in your wallet it still work.

OP

The key point is people need to get ready for the gate and not stand in front of the gate to look for their wallet or card. Just like how people waiting for the bus all take out their tickets / passes as they see a bus arriving at the stop.

HK System

Japanese System

It may initially take longer when people first use it and don't know what's going on. Vancouver being a city with people from all around the world, I am sure that many regular commuters have used one form or another in other countries

Yeah, ^^ It's the same in London. The card is quick and the paper ones are almost as quick in that you can insert them any direction and they pop up just like that as you walk past the gate and you grab it...


Now, here's one issue I see. Unless Translink is going to have kiosks at EVERY gated crossing this will end up being moslty useless. You can't hop the gates in London because there is security and such right there. If they are unmanned here it will be useless.

In Paris they had metal full door turnstiles and in Barcelona a mix of both. I saw people hopping all the time in Spain.

They better make it easy to transfer trains without having to scan in/out.

This may be a good time to apply for a job at Translink since they will probably need a lot of customer service help.
My friend works for Translink and she just walks around as a translink presence and she gets paid $25/hour.

So for those who want a stable job and benefits i'd think about applying for a job.

on top of previous poster, apply at pro trans. they are the canada line attendants and i bet they will need a lot more help when the new system is up and running. i heard they get paid about 27 to 28$ an hour.

We have the gate system in Kaohsiung, and I've never had to wait in line for more than 7 secs to get out of the gate right after the train unloaded everyone during rush hours.

I think the faregates is long overdue in Vancouver. When the Canada Line open, they should have implemented the faregates at that time.

The only concerns with the faregates is that there isn't enough faregates at each station. There is like 3-5 gates at some stations. How is it going to handle the flow of traffic when you have a bunch of ppl entering or exiting the station? I'm expecting a bottleneck at the faregates.

It's about time we got a system like this, Canada seems to be so slow at implementing things. For the skeptics, its very quick to scan in and out. This system has already been successfully implemented in cities such as Hong Kong that have much larger populations than Vancouver (~7-8 million) with a majority that is dependent on public transportation (in 2003 around 14% of households were private vehicle owners). Many people can keep the card in their wallets and scan the whole wallet without removing the card. The cards can also be attached to the back of cellphones.

I'm actually in HK right now and I fully expect that once this system is implemented here, the cards will be slowly expanded to be used to pay for parking and at selected commercial/retail establishments (also it is quicker and faster than using a credit card), which will possibly generate some much needed additional revenue for Translink.

tapping out in hk doesnt clog anything and the system overall is way better, op is wrong
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from what i've been told, faregates only came to be because of all the fare evasion. if the attendants are doing their job properly and are actually on location instead of napping in their little offices or dicking around, the faregate system wouldn't be needed. money could have been better spent elsewhere.

they seriously need to get rid of the fare zones and charge based on distance traveled!
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^ I think that was the whole point of the compass cards (to eventually phase out fare zones and charge based on distance) but I'm not entirely sure. It does mention on translink's FAQ section that there is a possibility of distance based fares in the future.

I always thought how it was unfair for someone to travel from joyce station to metrotown station by skytrain for instance has to pay more than someone traveling from joyce station to say downtown waterfront for example.

Translink is about 7 years behind in technology. Things will slowly happen like charging distance travel versus the current zone system. Compass card is a good start considering what we currently have. But look at it this way, translink is ahead of BC Transit when it comes to technology.

"Behind" is a relative term. While there are lots of metropolises which love to be on the cutting edge, I'd rather Translink take its time figuring out which technologies and methodologies would be most useful and helpful for it.

It's my understanding that Translink will use the trip information recorded from beeping on and off to reprioritize routes and potentially look into the different methods of charging. One of the difficulties of changing the charging methods is making sure that it doesn't increase costs for the people who need transit to travel long distances, and making sure that they don't lose money. Personally, I'd hope for a two-tier charging system similar to New York's with express vs community busses. The 9 vs the 99, where the 9 would be cheaper because it runs all those shitty tiny stops.

why the fuck is this even an argument...
Out of ALL THE THINGS Translink has done, this is the ONLY thing I agree with

The Octopus card is so damn convenient. I use it to buy shit and get around hong kong.
Its basically a prepaid credit card

how the fuck the translink attendants get paid $27 is beyond me. They just stand there with their green jackets and don't do anything. That's more of a $10/hr gig. Yes you have a walkie, but come on. Machines and metal gates have been doing their job for years!

Hope they install proper turnstiles and gates. Customer service on how to use a card could just be played on a LCD monitor.

unions

I wouldn't put much thought into the suggested wage of a Translink Attendant unless an official figure could be provided confirming it, all that's been offered is highly unreliable conjecture. The entry level wage of a Bus Driver is only $19; given that, I imagine an attendant would not start higher than $14-17, on call, minimal benefits, and owing union dues.

a lot of these naysayers probably haven't used these card systems elsewhere in the world.

I own an Octopus card for HK, T-Money card for Korea, and PASMO card for Japan. they're awesome systems, and it's about darned time we get something similar here for the lower mainland.

I'm quite certain Translink will still be selling one-way pass tickets at the Skytrain stations, we already have the ticket booths there. the turn styles will probably be able to scan transfers and stuff. Translink will most likely review, and copy the best systems from around the world. I'm sure they'll have plenty of "turn styles" to ensure smooth entry/exit out of skytrain stations.


I'm sure you know you need to tap out to exit an MTR station. but I agree, that tapping out to exit a bus would be a hassle. Translink should adopt a single ride payment system like in Asia, compared to the time-sensitive "transfer" system we have. this would cancel the need to tap out when exiting a bus. it would also make fares cheaper per trip, allowing more ridership of public transportation.

skytrain attendants make about 27$ an hour while the canada line attendants make 29$ an hour. how they get paid that much is beyond my comprehension. however, they are the first people on the scene when there is a jumper on the tracks and they are the ones to deal with it.

Wages of Skytrain employees, as of 2009, can be found between pages 142-146.

http://www.lrb.bc.ca/cas/WTD5.pdf.

Attendants earn $28.71/hour, Machinists, Heavy Duty Mechanics, and other tradespeople only earn $33.81.

Attendants are clearly severely overpaid, at the minimum $10/hour above private market wages for comparable positions.

Tradespeople are earning below private market wages for comparable positions though, an experienced Machinist would normally earn $35-45+.

I'm not sure what to make of this. It doesn't make any sense.

^^ Sounds like Translink.. Lets not forget, most stuff they do doesn't make a whole lot of sense. :D

i know what to make out of this...anger :devil:

:lawl:

I dont care what or how much translink pays their staff.
Life isn't fair, translink sucks. All we can do is bitch and bitch and BITCH some more.

the OP needs to think

NO FAREGATES were the issue, and now you bitch at having faregates

This, it's a pretty delicate balance. It currently costs $5.50 to travel one way from Surrey to Downtown via the zone system, which we can presume is partially 'subsidized' by those who travel shorter distances but have to cross zone boundaries. Charging riders a more true cost based on distance may encourage some to get back into their cars.

Riders generally have to give up increased comfort, convenience, and time in exchange for saving some money taking transit. If the savings are not worthwhile for the tradeoffs, then riders will be more enticed to take their cars out instead especially if roadways become more efficient.