Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

The Official Transit Thread


nitronuts

Recommended Posts

Smart Cards are really effective when everyone has it.

Like in Hong Kong.

I don't see it working as well in Vancouver as it can in Hong Kong.

People here have the need to drive because its so easy to obtain, its faster and its cheap.

Therefore not everyone will own a smart card thus Translink will need to setup Two separate fare systems the entire time and it'll just be a mess.

I know Hong Kong also has two system, card and ticket, but most of the residences own one.

Here, I would say only 40% will get one thus its not feasible to implement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I haven't....but PayPass is embedded in your Mastercard is it not, and you would have to take it out of your wallet?unsure.gif

Ya, but just think of it as similar to paypass but the signal's a bit stronger so you don't have to take it out of your wallet. Quite similar to those RFID cards for elevators and doors to apartments. Sort of hard to explain if you've never used it before. They're actually quite easy to use and are much faster than trying to pay cash and print tickets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smart Cards are really effective when everyone has it.

Like in Hong Kong.

I don't see it working as well in Vancouver as it can in Hong Kong.

People here have the need to drive because its so easy to obtain, its faster and its cheap.

Therefore not everyone will own a smart card thus Translink will need to setup Two separate fare systems the entire time and it'll just be a mess.

I know Hong Kong also has two system, card and ticket, but most of the residences own one.

Here, I would say only 40% will get one thus its not feasible to implement.

If you gave incentive (like 10% off fares or something) and made them easy to obtain with no expiration date, I wouldn't see why people wouldn't buy them. Just buy it and keep it with you in case you want to take the bus. They're about the same size as a credit card and almost everyone carries around one of those without complaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know exactly how it would work here, but in korea there are different buses for different distances and all buses of a type cost the same. Not perfect distance pricing, but pretty close. So it would be like the green buses travel within neighborhoods, like a green bus would stay within "x" km of metrotown. Orange buses would travel between neighborhoods, like an orange bus would travel between metro and brentwood. The red buses would travel farther distances. Like from Metro to Coquitlam Centre. All buses of the same colour would cost the same, but red>orange>green (obviously).

So intead of three zones it's tons of mini zones and a crapload of colour coded pay scales depending on the bus. Either way it's just maximising the amount of money they suck out of transit riders.

That is probably more fair than how it works right now at least.

Problem is I don't want any more cards. I have to many. I will need a wheelbarrow to carry all of them. It seems everyone wants you to get one, and now it seems we won't even be able to ride the bus (at least cheaply) without one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So intead of three zones it's tons of mini zones and a crapload of colour coded pay scales depending on the bus. Either way it's just maximising the amount of money they suck out of transit riders.

That is probably more fair than how it works right now at least.

It's just 3 pay scales. I don't know if that system would work as well here because they use the subway as the backbone and use the buses to transport between neighborhoods (defined by subway stations). I don't think we have quite the rapid transit coverage for that. I was just giving an example of how it's used elsewhere.

Problem is I don't want any more cards. I have to many. I will need a wheelbarrow to carry all of them. It seems everyone wants you to get one, and now it seems we won't even be able to ride the bus (at least cheaply) without one.

True. We do carry around a lot of cards. But do you need all of them? I know for me, I carry around more credit cards than I need to just because I have them. I could easily replace one of them with a transit card even though I don't use transit very often.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's just 3 pay scales. I don't know if that system would work as well here because they use the subway as the backbone and use the buses to transport between neighborhoods (defined by subway stations). I don't think we have quite the rapid transit coverage for that. I was just giving an example of how it's used elsewhere.

True. We do carry around a lot of cards. But do you need all of them? I know for me, I carry around more credit cards than I need to just because I have them. I could easily replace one of them with a transit card even though I don't use transit very often.

What we really need is a universal ID card where it's your license, transit etc all in one. Government issued smart card that institutions like transit, credit etc piggy back on. One card to bind them. One card to rule them all :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ron et al, you're just blindly ranting about what a horrible system it is when clearly none of you have used it.

it is a more efficient system. it's cheaper for the user. it makes more sense. go try it before you wail away about what a stupid idea it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What we really need is a universal ID card where it's your license, transit etc all in one. Government issued smart card that institutions like transit, credit etc piggy back on. One card to bind them. One card to rule them all :P

Then you can implant it in the right hand or on the forehead. You have now gotten rid of identity fraud. You have also started 666. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ron et al, you're just blindly ranting about what a horrible system it is when clearly none of you have used it.

it is a more efficient system. it's cheaper for the user. it makes more sense. go try it before you wail away about what a stupid idea it is.

Agreed. What I find as a perfect example of how ridiculous our fare system is when you go from Joyce/41st to Metro, it's 2 zones. But if you go from Joyce/41 to Waterfront (a way longer trip) it's only 1 zone. Stupid system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ron et al, you're just blindly ranting about what a horrible system it is when clearly none of you have used it.

it is a more efficient system. it's cheaper for the user. it makes more sense. go try it before you wail away about what a stupid idea it is.

Slam dunk...we actually agree on something.

Edited by nitronuts
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then you can implant it in the right hand or on the forehead. You have now gotten rid of identity fraud. You have also started 666. :lol:

I don't know if we need to implant it but let's face it this is where things are and need to head. All the 666 crap is a bunch of irrational fears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ron et al, you're just blindly ranting about what a horrible system it is when clearly none of you have used it.

it is a more efficient system. it's cheaper for the user. it makes more sense. go try it before you wail away about what a stupid idea it is.

They had distance based travel and fillable cards in SF (and gates too!) so ya I have tried it.

I don't think it's terrible, I just think it cost money and accomplishes nothing. If it costs translink money, doesn't generate more revenue, then what's the benefit? Slightly faster boarding times (which will be offset from the new queues at skytrain gates)? It's a money drain on a sytstem begging for money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.sxd.sala.ubc.ca/8_research/sxd_FRB07Transport.pdf

A cost comparison of transportation modes.

lol at driving a prius being better for the enviroment and cheaper than taking the bus. Next time the bus riders union gets upset we should just offer to buy them a prius. It would be cheaper than reducing the fares or putting tons of buses into low density areas like south of fraser! ;):P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...