Open Letter to TransLink

Dear TransLink:

My name is Lee Ingram and I’ve been riding your buses for many years, over a decade now. In fact, I was riding back when B.C. Transit was the acting transit authority. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about transit in the lower mainland. I know the fares, I have my ticket/pass ready when I board, and I’m courteous and respectful to your staff and fellow passengers. Let’s just say I’m definitely on the ball when it comes to “Transit Etiquette.”

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have a complaint. Recently you introduced 3-door boarding for your 98 B-Line buses (Richmond/Vancouver) and that in itself is great. My complaint does not lie with that service, as I find it rather useful to board at the rear doors if I’ve already prepaid or validated my fare. My complaint is directed towards your transit security (“Transit Cops”) who check fares fairly often. Since the 98 B-Line now supports 3-door boarding, I’ve had my fare checked more often than I think is necessary. Many riders on the 98 B-Line board the bus early on in Richmond and exit the bus downtown. Your transit security checked my fare twice today between when I boarded and when I arrived at my destination. I realize that you may be losing money due to people entering through the rear doors and not paying their fare, but for those of us who do pay our fares it’s an inconvenience at the least.

My suggestion is to have your transit security communicate better and choose one location to check fares. Perhaps only at airport station, or 70th avenue seeing as that’s the zone 1/2 boundary. Having transit security check fares twice or three times per bus, per trip, is irritating and it probably eats up time that security could be using to deal with other issues, like vandalism. I’m suggesting this because the 98 B-Line is a bit special when it comes to the riders, mostly because many people stay on for the entire route (myself included) and therefore we’re subjected to at least two fare-checks a trip.

Please, give your riders a bit of credit and courtesy. Reduce the amount of fare-checks on the 98 B-Line. We’re not all free-loaders, most of us pay our fare.

Sincerely,
Lee Ingram

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