TransLink introduces idiotic new changes to the U-Pass programme

TransLink has made substantial new changes to the U-Pass programme.  The U-Pass was introduced as a mandatory programme for University of British Columbia students in 2003.  Under its conditions, students paid a fixed rate as part of their student fees, and received a pass by mail which was valid for unlimited public transit use, one for the winter term (September - April) and one for the summer term (April - August).  Fees for the winter term were $190, or $23.75 per month.  The pass had the student's photograph, a magnetic strip, and was colour-coded according to which specific period it was valid for (an example of an old UBC U-Pass is pictured at left).

Since the programme was introduced various other Lower Mainland universities and colleges have signed up, often with great resistance from TransLink, which demanded significantly higher fees from students at some schools.

One of the requirements of the programme is that it is very difficult to opt out.  Most registered students cannot opt out unless they have a medical condition which requires them to take alternative forms of transportation, or they are already covered under a different transit pass programme.  This applies even to students in graduate programmes who do not attend classes and do most of their work off campus.  Subsidies are available to some students who are not eligible to opt out but who cannot afford the cost of the pass.

Under the new changes, set to come into effect in September, fees are increasing to $30 per month, or $240 for the winter term.  An extra $50 in fees may not seem like much over an 8-month period, but for most students it could easily pay for one or two text books, school supplies or a much-needed item of clothing, or cover the cost of food for a week.  Still, for students who rely on transit, $30 per month remains a significant savings over the roughly $80-$150 it costs for a full-price monthly transit pass, although the introduction of the Pass has caused other problems, like overcrowding on buses; car users driving partway to campus, taking up all the parking in nearby residential areas, and taking the bus the rest of the way; and ongoing complaints from people who use alternative forms of transportation like cycling.

Besides the price hike, the new passes will no longer bear the student's photo; instead, every U-Pass holder will now be forced to carry her or his student ID, which must be produced along with the pass when boarding transit vehicles or when proof of payment is demanded.  This is idiotic enough, but even more stupidly, instead of the 4- or 8-month passes which were mailed to continuing students in the past, each new U-Pass will now have to be replaced every month.

The new cards will be dispensed by a machine, which will presumably check the student's continuing eligibility before spitting out a new card.  While the logical place for TransLink to put these machines is at train stations, the "disaster circus" that is TransLink doesn't do logical.  Instead, unbelievably, every student will be required to physically go to their campus U-Pass carding office to get a new card every single month during the period in which the student is eligible for a pass.

Most carding offices are located at campus book stores, and anyone who has ever braved one of these otherwise wonderful places at the start of term will immediately understand what a colossally cretinous plan this is: 50,000 students trying to buy text books in one shop means queues that rival the bread lines in former Soviet nations, extra staff working extra hours, general frustration, and a less than pleasant shopping experience.  Indeed, one of the major complaints when the U-Pass programme was introduced was the long lines at carding offices at the start of term. This problem was solved by switching to the system of mailing the passes shortly before the start of term.  In its wisdom, TransLink has obviously forgotten about this, or it simply hasn't occurred to its Board (most of the overpaid, under-worked members of which likely never even use public transit) that giant lineups might be a problem.  Or they simply don't care.

New machines, new cards, and the need to produce 8-12 passes per student per year instead of 2, also mean extra expenses and less money to pay for transit services.  So why is TransLink making this latest in a long line of stupid decisions?  As usual, because the inmates are running the asylum.  TransLink is notorious for making bad decisions, ignoring its users, and generally mismanaging its money (see our earlier story on the decision to finally install fare gates at train stations, 25 years after the SkyTrain made its debut).

The only possible explanation for this new rule is the fraudulent use of U-Pass cards.  A U-Pass is non-transferable, meaning it may only be used by the person in whose name it is issued (which is to say, on the old passes, the person whose photograph is on the card).  Each student must pay in advance for the 4 or 8 month period during which he or she will be eligible for the programme.  If the student leaves the participating school for any reason during that time, his or her U-Pass privileges are cancelled and the student's card disabled.  However, Because SkyTrain currently runs on the "honour system" and bus drivers do not usually inspect passes or require pass holders to insert their cards in the fare box for verification, it is fairly easy to illegally use a cancelled, stolen, or borrowed U-Pass.

But as usual, TransLink has provided no rationale, no evidence that this is actually a widespread problem, and no explanation of how the new system will solve it.  What could help solve the problem, if it actually exists, would be returning to requiring each bus passenger to insert the card into the fare box for verification; this system was abandoned long ago because it slows boarding to a molasses-like crawl, throwing off schedules, increasing trip lengths, and irritating everyone.  Additionally, there have been problems in the past that caused fare boxes to read all U-Passes as invalid, requiring the re-issuing of all U-Passes.  And now that the new passes will no longer bear the holder's photograph, drivers are even less likely than before to be able to verify at a glance whether a given U-Pass user is the legitimate holder of that card.  Requiring riders to show both their school ID (which has a photo) and their U-Pass (which no longer will) would only be making the latter less efficient than it used to be.

Requiring users to acquire a new card every month will certainly reduce the use of stolen cards, although there is no evidence that this is a big problem anyway.  But it will not reduce the use of borrowed cards (for example, people who drive cars loaning their passes to friends who do not), because U-Pass holders can have their card collected by someone else if they choose.

Additionally, while under the old system TransLink (or its armed goons) was able to confirm on the spot whether a given U-Pass was current or was being used by its legitimate user by simply scanning its magnetic strip and looking at the photograph, it has not announced whether it will still be possible to confirm by scanning an expired monthly pass that its holder is actually still enrolled in the U-Pass programme.  It is very easy to imagine busy, stressed out students forgetting to make a special trip to update their bus pass, particularly those who do not ordinarily have to go to campus.  It is also obvious that many students will be out of town during the period when old cards expire and new ones become available, leaving them without a legitimate pass on their return.  It is outrageous that people who have been forced to prepay for a transit pass might face fines or arrest simply for forgetting to have a new card printed.

The only thing this new plan achieves is to purposely make a system (one that was surprisingly efficient by TransLink standards) more costly and less efficient.  It will result in increased traffic to universities and colleges on already overburdened roads and transit routes around the beginning of each month, and will cause headaches for book stores and carding offices.

Call TransLink's "customer feedback" centre at 604.953.3040 between 8am and 8pm, or use their online form.  Head office, open weekdays between 8am and 4pm, is at 1600 - 4720 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4N2, and the phone number is 604.453.4500.