Photo by Ben Derochie
By Colin Sharp
Humorist Emeritus
Tag:“We’re getting really good at wasting money by changing the system,” says TransLink
In response to continued complaints that the U-Pass program is still not vulnerable enough to fraud, TransLink has worked with Lower Mainland universities to develop a new daily system for transit riders. Under the new system students will not even be required to carry a pass with them as they will be confirming their student status on a daily basisIn a press release issued on Thursday morning, TransLink stated that in order to verify the student status of riders boarding the bus, SkyTrain, or SeaBus, they will simply be asking them to promise that they are definitely students. Their claim is that this new method will enable more people then ever to take advantage of a system created purely for students.
Despite the insistence of TransLink, many taxpayers, both inside and outside of the university community, are concerned that some people won’t be able to flaunt their disrespect of the new U-Pass system openly enough.
“What about people who ride the SkyTrain?”, questioned SFU graduate Kevin Mills, who hasn’t taken a course at the university since 2008. “There’s no drivers, so I won’t get the pleasure of tricking someone into letting me use transit for free.”
TransLink is aware of this concern, and in talks with the Vancouver Police Department to deploy more transit police than ever. These officers will be making riders promise they are students just as bus drivers do, although to make up for their less frequent appearances they may ask riders to cross their heart, hope to die, and stick a needle in their eye.
Last year saw the first in a series of overhauls of the system, as TransLink did away with the old method of a semesterly U-Pass with a photograph of the student’s face. Many deemed that the inclusion of the photograph made the U-Pass “too secure” as it ensured that you could only use the pass if you looked vaguely like the person that it was initially issued to.
The photograph was removed last year when TransLink switched to a monthly pass. Many were concerned about the effort involved in having to fake a new pass each month, but these concerns were quickly mitigated when it was discovered that the pass would be the exact same colour every month.
“I need a three-zone pass, so I was concerned I might end up having to actually buy one,” said Michael Cho, a 26-year-old who has never even attended a university. “But by the time October 20th hit and I had used my girlfriend’s old September pass nearly every day, my faith was restored in TransLink.”
Changes to the U-Pass system are the first in a series of steps TransLink is taking in order to make transit easier and cheaper to use. At a press conference on Friday they announced that starting in May 2012 buses throughout the Lower Mainland will begin accepting I.O.U.’s as a substitute for actual bus fare.
