Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[foolworm]

BCCR had a webinar on the Surrey expansion on Thursday morning (30 April).

[Sheba]

TransLink looking at options to allow front-door boarding, fares on buses

Metro Vancouver’s transit authority is looking at ways to resume bus-fare collection, which was suspended last month due to the pandemic.

TransLink’s bus-operating company is working with labour unions and other transit agencies throughout North America to come up with tools it could put in place to “basically reopen the front door of the bus,” according to TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond.

“The key is to make sure that we are protecting the health and safety of our bus operators,” Desmond told the region’s mayors at a recent meeting. “That’s a key concern … of ours as well as the labour union and I think there’s some tools that we can employ.”

Starting March 20, TransLink instituted rear-door boarding on buses — with the exception of community shuttles, highway coaches and HandyDart vehicles, where only front entry is possible — in order to allow greater physical distancing and to protect drivers.

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When asked what options TransLink might be exploring, spokeswoman Jill Drews said in an email that it’s too soon to say, and no timeline was given for when front-door boarding might be allowed again.

However, Gavin McGarrigle, western regional director for Unifor, which represents 3,800 transit operators at the Coast Mountain Bus Co., said the union has met with the company to review prototypes for driver protection barriers. More than 500 Metro buses have barriers already installed — all new buses come with the barriers and some older buses have been retrofitted. Although the union has questions about the proposed barriers, McGarrigle said they’re willing to work with the company to see what might be feasible.

McGarrigle said he’s not sure what other protective measures may be considered but there have been suggestions from drivers that passengers and drivers wear masks, that the company should further limit bus routes and security be placed on the system to enforce physical distancing.

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[logan5]

I don't understand why it was necessary for Translink to lose hundreds of millions of dollars when the risk to the driver is very low. There is no contact between driver and passenger, and there is a partition as well. The driver could even wear a mask for extra protection. It's basically the same situation a check-out person faces at the grocery store, and I haven't heard of any instances of a check out clerk being infected by a customer.

The least they could have done is allow people to swipe at the rear doors. Not everyone would swipe, but at least there would be some fare recovery. That part is really mind boggling

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by logan5

I don't understand why it was necessary for Translink to lose hundreds of millions of dollars when the risk to the driver is very low. There is no contact between driver and passenger, and there is a partition as well. The driver could even wear a mask for extra protection. It's basically the same situation a check-out person faces at the grocery store, and I haven't heard of any instances of a check out clerk being infected by a customer.

The least they could have done is allow people to swipe at the rear doors. Not everyone would swipe, but at least there would be some fare recovery. That part is really mind boggling

i think a large part of it has to do with optics. they need to at least seem like they are doing something. even if it doesn't help/isn't needed. it creates the appearance of it. plus it probably gave the drivers/union a sense that TransLink cared to do something.

as for the swipe thing at the rear door, that has to do with fairness probably. why should someone with a pass have to pay, when someone who uses cash doesn't?

[Xerx]

Just go the London route and go cashless on the buses.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I suspect that TransLink'll have an easier time with funding the UBC extension than with getting seniors and out-of-towners to understand smartcards.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by logan5

I don't understand why it was necessary for Translink to lose hundreds of millions of dollars when the risk to the driver is very low. There is no contact between driver and passenger, and there is a partition as well. The driver could even wear a mask for extra protection. It's basically the same situation a check-out person faces at the grocery store, and I haven't heard of any instances of a check out clerk being infected by a customer.

I'm pretty sure most of the loss is due to lack of riders in general, not the bus being free part.

[jollyburger]

I think rear door boarding and not collecting cash is moot since the ridership drop was so huge compared to any revenue drop due to those changes.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Sheba

TransLink looking at options to allow front-door boarding, fares on buses

I don't understand why they just don't ask riders to tap their Compass cards on the readers at the rear doors. Yes, people who want to pay a cash fare would have to forego that, and some Compass Card holders might "pretend" that they were cash fare payers who were forced to forego paying, but I'll bet you'd get at least 80% of the revenue anyway. It's no different than what we had with the Skytrain honour system before the fare gates went in.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm pretty sure most of the loss is due to lack of riders in general, not the bus being free part.

Yes, IIRC TransLink is dealing with an 80%+ drop in ridership across the system and a significant drop in fuel tax revenues.

[flipper316]

Originally Posted by Xerx

Just go the London route and go cashless on the buses.

Yea no kidding. Why we still dicking around with the fareboxes 5 years after compass. Didn't we model it after London anyways? Translink really has to grow some balls. They can afford to lose some customers/people not paying because they make some lame excuse about not having a compass card. Drivers and transit police hear some lame excuses every day from regular people and bums never pay.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Yea no kidding. Why we still dicking around with the fareboxes 5 years after compass. Didn't we model it after London anyways? Translink really has to grow some balls. They can afford to lose some customers/people not paying because they make some lame excuse about not having a compass card. Drivers and transit police hear some lame excuses every day from regular people and bums never pay.

Even after the introduction of Compass cards, the fareboxes raised around $2.5 million a month. If it was economically better to drop them, rather than keep them, don't you think Translink would have done that? As earlier posts noted, a surprising number of people still pay with cash.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

paying with cash is a good way to get rid of excess change. plus, some people dont like everything tracked as with compass cards, credits cards, etc.

2.5 million $/month is way more than i thought, though.

[chowhou]

Recall that cash fares are 25% more expensive. It might be paying for itself to keep cash fares higher and just let lazy/ignorant/resistant people pay extra along with people getting rid of coins.

[ilikeredheads]

I wouldn't doubt that Translink is just as surprised that the fareboxes are bringing in those numbers considering paying cash on buses has so many negatives: more expensive, can't transfer to skytrain/seabus, etc.

stupid does what stupid does I guess

[xd_1771]

If you ask me I think that not having cordoned off the front of the bus would have drawn the ire of the workers' unions, particularly given that as of yet not every bus has the security barriers.

In case anyone doesn't remember we are only just out of a near-strike situation last year. Making them unhappy in the context of compromising their safety would've looked really bad. Even now as they try to take TransLink to court over firing people early, a lot of the messaging going out to workers and to the media is to direct ire to decision makers at the province and feds for not allowing transit to receive government support for wages - than necessarily at TransLink for any of their decisions impacting them.

In the end TransLink was neither the only nor the first in Canada to implement a no-fares procedure. Ottawa for example has done it as well.

[Tvisforme]

TransLink has implemented additional cuts to bus service due to the ridership drop and financial losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic:

May 2: Bus Service Suspensions and Reductions (10 routes)

Six bus routes will be suspended:

251 Park Royal/Queens (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel to connect with the 250 on Marine Drive.)
252 Park Royal/Inglewood (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel to connect with the 250 on Marine Drive.)
262 Lions Bay/Caulfield (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel to connect with the 250 or 257 at Horseshoe Bay.)
280 Bluewater/Snug Cove (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel)
281 Eagle Cliff/Snug Cove (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel)
282 Mt Gardner/Snug Cove (Please arrange for an alternate mode of travel)

Four bus routes will have reduced service:

214 Blueridge/Phibbs Exchange/Burrard Station (The 214 will operate on a Saturday schedule on weekdays. Service over the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge will continue until mid-May.)
215 Indian River/Phibbs Exchange (Service will operate on a Saturday schedule on weekdays. Frequency will be reduced to every 30 minutes during weekday rush hours (previously every 15 minutes))
227 Lynn Valley Centre/Phibbs Exchange (Will operate on a Saturday schedule on weekdays)
256 Whitby Estates/Park Royal/Spuraway (Will operate on a regular weekday schedule)

These routes are all on the North Shore, reducing service in West Vancouver (251/252/256/262), North Vancouver (214/215/227), and Lions Bay (262). All service on Bowen Island has also been suspended (280/281/282). Additional cuts are planned for mid-May:

Mid-May: Bus Service Suspensions (41 routes)

An additional 41 routes will be suspended, and frequency will be reduced on all remaining routes.

Expected route suspensions: 42, 44, 150, 170, 179, 181, 182, 231, 241, 247, 258, 345, 352, 354, 370, 391, 393, 394, 395, 416, 509, 563, 564, 602, 603, 604, 606, 608, 614, 616, 617, 618, 619, 719, 722, 733, 741, 744, 748, 749, 791

Precise timing for these suspensions and reductions will be released in due course.

https://www.translink.ca/Schedules-and-Maps/Transit-Service-Changes.aspx

[Dengler Avenue]

791? Those factories along United Boulevard and Mary Hill Bypass though...

[Sheba]

Buzzer Blog - Bus fare collection set to resume June 1

Beginning June 1, front-door boarding and fare collection will resume on all buses. Temporary plexiglass extension barriers are being added to conventional buses currently equipped with traditional operator barriers. Vinyl barriers will be installed on the remainder of the fleet.

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