TransLink fare gates don’t make “economic sense”

TransLink was lacking a business case when it entered into a $170-million commitment to implement smart cards and install fare-control turnstiles at SkyTrain and SeaBus stations starting in 2011, according to a report to be presented to the TransLink Board today.

Andy Ross, speaking on behalf of the The Joint Union Committee (JUC), which represents Lower Mainland transit employees, said the cost of operating the fare gates will exceed the $5 million to $9 million that fare evaders cost the system every year.

Ross said his members are not opposed to the smart card technology — just the decades-old idea of policing fare evaders with expensive gates.

"Since they put the first SkyTrain in in 1985, there have been discussions on using turnstiles or fare gates. It has always been soundly rejected because it didn’t make economic sense," Ross said.

The adoption of fare gates at all stations by 2013 accompanies a $100-million commitment to replace the current no-tech fare system with smart cards similar to London’s Oyster card or Hong Kong’s Octopus card, which would calculate fares based on distance instead of by the current

zones.

The unions are siding with the concerns raised in the past by mayors and Metro Vancouver staff and board members — that the money currently lost in fare evasion is just a fraction of the costs of operating and maintaining turnstiles.

"We’re spending what I would say is a waste of $90 to $100 million in capital costs and an ongoing unknown amount of millions of dollars that could be used in actually moving people to and from work or school," said Ross.

In 2005, the TransLink Board rejected the option to include fare gates on the Canada Line system even though the stations were designed to accommodate them. A staff report estimated that yearly operations plus installation costs, amortized over 20 years, would mean annual payments of $30 million for the system. In 2009, Transit police issued approximately 24,000 tickets for fare evasion, and independent audits performed in 2004 and 2008 estimated that the yearly loss from unpaid fares, which was under three per cent of all trips, was between $5 million and $9 million.

Ross said the motivation behind the current investment is political. "It’s all to give a perception that you are recouping money from fare evaders."

Ken Hardie, a spokesman for TransLink, confirmed that public pressure to crackdown on fare evaders — who are seen to be "stealing" from the system and hence from the taxpayers TransLink relies on for funding — is a strong reason to bring in turnstiles.

"Regardless of what statistics say and what studies say, one of the most persistent public perceptions out there is that fare evasion on transit is much, much higher than it’s ever been measured actually to be," he said.

However, Hardie also said TransLink is getting a good deal, because TransLink’s capital outlay for the fare gates is zero. "We’re in a position now where senior governments are paying the capital cost. We have received federal and provincial funding for the fare gates that amounts to $70 million," he said.

Hardie also said that necessary renovations to the Expo Line stations and the introduction of smart cards are two more reasons why it makes sense to bring in a fare gate system now. Earlier this week, TransLink announced a contest to name the smart cards that will be introduced next year.

rcoppin@vancouversun.com