VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It didn’t take long for TransLink to round up hundreds of fare cheats who have outstanding fines.
In about a month, it has flagged 583 drivers and passed their information along to ICBC. Those drivers won’t be allowed to renew their licence or car insurance until they pay up.
“This new legislation came into effect back in September when TransLink took control of issuing transit fines and collecting and receiving those payments,” Adam Grossman with ICBC tells News1130.
“Just to clarify, the debt only comes to ICBC for a refuse to issue notice after 90 days and after the person has completed any dispute process.”
The province brought in the new rules after it was revealed last year that TransLink couldn’t force people to pay fines. It was up to ICBC to play the role of debt collector and it relied on collection agencies to track down fare cheaters.
As a result, roughly $7.5 million in tickets went unpaid between January, 2011 and March, 2012.
“In the past, when a ticket was issued, officers pointed out the ticket was required to be paid but the person being ticketed always had it in the back of their mind that there were no long-term consequences if they didn’t pay,” explains Anne Drennan with Transit Police.
“Now that these [rules] are in place, it’s easier for our officers to point out that if you don’t pay, you will have to face consequences,” she adds.
Derek Zabel with TransLink agrees that people will be less likely to try to sneak onto a SkyTrain, now that the new legislation has kicked in.
“It’s a pretty big deterrent,” he says. “A lot of people are out there paying into the system, and when people come on for free it’s not fair. This legislation makes it fair.”
Riding transit without a ticket results in a $173 fine that goes up to $233 if it hasn’t been paid within a year.
TransLink is also in the process of installing fare gates at SkyTrain and Canada Line stations. They will be up and running in the fall.
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Only in Vancouver do we not have faregates for Skytrain. Being built in 86, you would have figured that not everyone is “honourable” in paying their fare.
Look at Toronto, NYC, and HK to name a few international cities (aside from Toronto) that have faregate. Translink is 27 years late.
About flipping time they started enforcing things around here. Like the turnstiles. Hello!! I grew up with these in Toronto. Why in the world did it take so long to address the obvious? Must be NDP naïveté residue. Are you listening Mr Dix?
guess what it was bill bennets baby NOT the ndp
I’m glad they’re finally doing something good about Fare Evasion. I’ve seen Transit Security 3 times today and EVERYTIME they were dealing with someone who didn’t pay.
Has Dix found his skytrain tix yet?
Wow the online report says 68% were from slimey Surrey and the rest from East side Vancouver. No surprise really. Most scum and murderers are from Surrey area. Hey I can’t dispute facts.
The West side Vancouver deviant types are up to far more sinister crimes than fair evasion. Get off your high horse.
which part of surrey are you from ?
I think the last 2 stations that are getting the turnstiles would be Main Street and Metrotown, which are probably the stations with the HIGHEST number of fare evaders…. Doesn’t make sense to install the turnstiles LAST at the 2 stations that contribute the highest number of cheaters?? Not much common sense applied there. Main and Metrotown should have been the FIRST stations to be installed.
Even though there won’t be turnstiles at Main St or Metrotown until those stations complete their extensive renovations, the turnstiles at the other stations will limit abuse. You’ll still have to “tap in” or “tap out” of the system at Main St. and Metrotown. Also, if you fail to “tap out”, you’ll be dinged for a 3-zone fare because the system assumes you took the longest trip. Same goes for people you improperly use the emergency exits – if you don’t exit through a turnstile or “tap out”, you’ll be hit with a 3 zone fare.
Main Street will be getting fare gates before the end of this year.
and an escalator too !
Well said.
So what is translink doing about the other 6.8 Million it lost coddling Vancouver transit users who don’t drive? Oh yes I forgot, raising property taxes and adding to the various driver specific levies.
Here’s a radical thought, how about the the bulk of the transit users who live in Vancouver pay a 2 zone rate while travelling “within” the city limits?
As it currently stands, Vancouver tranist users are subsidized by the less dense populations of the lower mainland who are getting fraction of the service levels Vancouverites take for granted. Hey if we are moving toward a user pay system for bridges, perhaps it is time to extend that to transit riders. Those who use the system the most should also directly support that level of service.
Ummm… well no actually, you’ve got that completely backwards.
It’s the transit riders of Vancouver who deal with packed buses and filled up drive-bys that subsidize those who choose to live in strip-mall land. If the bridge and tunnel crowd that stream into the city had a decent infrastructure that supported the densities for transit, we wouldn’t have to continually bail them out.
Perhaps the next time you get in your car to go and vote for a municipal counselor, you will clue into the fact that you’re forced to drive because of the dumb choices you and those you vote for have made. I doubt you can actually think rationally, but you might consider giving it a try!
Have a nice day!
you got that right
the fare plus fine is 173+2.5=175.5
175.5*600*12month=1263600 which is 1.2mil, don’t think it’s enough to feed the company, but it’s still a large amount. But after the gate is in effect, then there’s no more or much less fines to collect, and what they get back is 600*2.75=1065 or 600*5.5=3300 per month. Maybe they can use such money to pay one of their employee…..what else could they do with such little money. I’m not saying they shouldn’t enforce fare purchase, but this doesn’t sounds like the best way.
also
how could they say there are 7.5 mil ticket unpaid for 14 months?
that’s roughly 535714 dollars per month. 535714/173=3097 and 535714/233=2299 evaders in a month….
Isn’t the difference too large compare with 600?
Even if you double the numbers as presumably not all cheaters are caught, the whole project makes no financial sense and seems like a huge money-sucking black hole. Many folks who currently refuse to pay fares will simply not ride the trains and find some other method of getting to wherever they are going. Some will still find a way to cheat and a few will indeed finally start paying. Overall the numbers are just far too small to recover the gigantic cost of installing and servicing the fare gates. The only rational way of looking at the project is that it is yet another way of transferring public money to a private purse.