When Compass Card beta tester Patrick Rault was issued the new TransLink fare card last fall, he dutifully tried to use it to tap in and tap out of each bus he took.
But on more than one occasion, he simply couldn't: The driver shut off the engine before he could exit and the card readers shut down.
"It has some flaws," Rault said frankly. And, he added, card reader "reaction time is pretty slow. When you unload a full bus, it will take longer for people to unload, especially in rush hour."
Those are just two of the glitches revealed by Compass Card testing.
Others include hard-to-see card reader screens, poor operation of reader sensors in low light, and fare gate beeping noises that are either too loud or too quiet.
Now, the clock is ticking to eliminate flaws with just a few months to go before public adoption of the system this summer.
Chief among other concerns, Rault said, was that infrequent riders without a Compass Card will have to pay cash to ride a bus (where there is no card vending), then pay again for a card at a SkyTrain station, as they can't pass fare gates with a bus transfer.
"Occasional users will pay more," said Rault, vice-president of the transit advocacy group Transport Action B.C. "They will be charged twice; that is not really fair. That will not encourage people to take transit for spontaneous trips."
Rick Jelfs, a Vancouver bus rider and member of Transport Action B.C., pointed out that consumers will also lose discounts.
FareSaver booklets will be scrapped this summer, so a one-zone trip will rise from $2.10 with a FareSaver to $2.35 with Compass Card's "stored value" discount.
"It's kind of a de-facto fare increase," Jelfs said.
The Compass system works by debiting the maximum fare upon tap-in and crediting for the correct number of zones upon tap-out.
There are concerns that riders could cheat by tapping out at one zone, then staying aboard a bus for two zones on the estimated 50 routes that cross boundaries.
And if passengers forget to tap out when they get off in one zone and the route continues
into a second zone, they would be charged for both zones. A fifth of the 10,000 beta testers made that error.
Adequate public education is also at issue: There are concerns that the AskCompass.ca website may not reach seniors.
Despite these challenges, Trans-Link is forging ahead. By the end of January, about 80,000 people -including TransLink staff, B.C. Bus Pass holders and CNIB pass holders -should be using the new cards. TransLink hopes to convert another 800,000 passengers by summer.
The $194-million system is expected to capture $7 million in additional revenue by limiting fare evasion. Last November, TransLink announced the wider rollout, which was to have begun with West Coast Express riders, had been pushed back because beta testing revealed technology glitches. It was also revealed that the budget exceeded its $171-million estimate. TransLink's Mike Madill said the transit authority chose the phase-in model to "pinpoint issues and work to remedy them."
He explained in an email that TransLink would "make additional hardware and software changes to the system over the next few months, to incorporate feedback from both daily customer usage and ongoing testing."
"We're taking the time to get the system right and we're confident that when Compass rolls out to the majority of our customers later this year, it's an easy transition for everyone," said Madill, vice-president of enterprise initiatives.
Madill countered earlier media reports that seniors who often prefer to use the closer front exit were being required to exit buses from the back to tap out, as a matter of policy. On the contrary, he said, all passengers can tap out or exit the bus "through the most convenient (rear or front) doors."
How the new Compass Card system will affect you:
The reloadable electronic fare cards will work on all TransLink buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus, West Coast Express, but not B.C. Transit.
Cards for seniors and children are orange, adults' are blue.
Cardholders must make a $6 deposit for the cards. Customers can preload cards with cash to create stored value.
