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swipe to gain entry to the platform/train/bus would be very nice indeed. I have to wonder if implementing a system like that would ultimately cost less than what it costs now in lost revenue from riders not paying.
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Unless there is a lot of fare evasion going on that the system can't account for, that hasn't been found in audits, there is no way fare gates would pay for themselves. Especially since so many of Calgary's stations would be incredibly hard to retrofit. Just look at Vancouver's oft
delayed fare barrier project for an idea on costs (
$100 million on hard capital costs for faregate installation and station retrofit, out of a total budget of $171 million). And that is for stations that all have controlled access points.
Plus fare gates are not some fare evasion panecea, audited fare evasion rates are higher on many fully gated systems around the world. I think it would be pretty hard to get lower than the current level, without an incredible amount of costs versus a small amount of benefits.
Vancouver is getting gates because of a public perception a couple years ago that the Skytrain was unsafe due to some high profile incidents. It was announced right before the provincial election by the Premier. There was also a NIMBY angle, of trying to keep people of lower socioeconomic status within the neighborhoods where they live, since the percepition was they travelled without paying fares to go cause trouble in other areas.
The card system in Calgary will hopefully reduce the amount spent processing fares, retail margins lost of passes and the like. If the system could be held to debit only for large deposits on the card at the same time, Calgary Transit could potentially save millions of dollars. The benefits of a gate system on the other hand is one of those common sense things that doesn't turn out to be true when implemented in the real world.
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