A Transit Officer in action

One of the questions we’ve heard since the fare evasion discussion started is how exactly TransLink estimates fare evasion each year, particularly on our buses and on West Coast Express (which had a fare blitz earlier this week). I checked in with transit security to find out more about the process. What I found is that fare audits involve much more than simply asking bus operators to press a button that records whenever someone refuses to pay a fare. While this is something that operators do, it’s just to get a picture of where fare evasion might be occurring and the scale of the problem. For official fare evasion estimates, TransLink uses fare audits and “yellow card” checks, both of which are considered best practice by the International Bus Benchmarking Group (IBBG).

Fare audits

We conduct three in-depth fare audits each year on SkyTrain, SeaBus, buses and West Coast Express, with each audit lasting a total of 225 hours. Fare audits are system wide and the data collected contribute to where to allocate resources and the cost of doing so. Last year our fare audits checked more than 141,000 people to get a representative sample of fare evasion on our system

During a fare audit, staff check passenger fares as they board a bus or enter a SkyTrain or West Coast Express Station or SeaBus terminal. They typically stand out of sight to make sure they’re getting a true picture of what’s happening with fare payments. On buses, someone will stand by the farebox at the front to check fares and, on buses with three-door boarding, staff will check fares just inside each door. Staff keep track of the type of fare product being used (e.g., pass, single fare ticket, FareSaver), time of day and direction of travel. If an audit is interrupted for any reason, it is cancelled and completed at another time to ensure that our audit results are accurate.

Yellow card checks

The other way we estimate fare evasion on buses is with yellow card checks. These checks are specified by particular transit routes as opposed to the system as a whole. If a certain route is shown to have a high rate of fare evasion, these checks flag this so resources can address the issue. Staff will get on board and check fares as a bus travels along its route, and as passengers enter. These also take place at zone boundaries, where staff will board a bus, check fares, and then get off and wait for the next bus. Yellow card checks take place throughout the year – in 2011, we checked more than 92,000 fares this way.

…and the random checks

It is worth noting that the fare audits and yellow card checks are distinct from the random checks that often take place – and which many of you have probably experienced while using the transit system.

I hope this helps to answer the question of how TransLink estimates fare evasion, and adds clarity to the ongoing fare evasion discussion. You can also read the independent fare evasion audit report on our transit system from PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008.

A Transit Police Officer and SkyTrain Attendant at work

Fare evasion is one of those perennial themes I come across when I scan our Twitter channel, Facebook page and various blogs and forums for TransLink related content. Here’s a couple of examples:

“Vancouver is probably the only city in the world that doesn’t have faregates. Trusting everyone to pay obviously isn’t working.” – from Facebook

@translink Thanks for the free bus ride! Keep it up! – from Twitter

The subject is going to be addressed by CKNW on Thursday, February 9 as part of their Waste Patrol series. Tracking fare evasion on the system is complicated and an issue that all transit authorities face. Refusing to pay for transit is not only a loss in revenue for TransLink, but we believe it is a form of theft and in some cases, a safety risk. Let’s take a closer look at these issues:

How much money is lost due to fare evasion

TransLink has had two independent audits conducted into our method of estimating fare evasion – one in 2002 by KPMG and the other released in 2008 by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Both confirmed that TransLink’s fare audit methodology is sound. These studies marked system-wide fare evasion at 4.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit noted that perceived fare evasion is 10 times worse than actual fare evasion. The audit noted that:

“Periodically, the media releases articles indicating that evasion is widespread, although few of these provide specific rates of evasion supporting those assertions. These reports have the ability to affect public perception in this regard and … affect the ability of an individual to rationalize fare evasion. In contrast to the media, our findings show only moderate evasion levels.”

Our internal audits show that fare evasion rates across the system are between 4 and 6 per cent, meaning that 94 to 96 per cent of customers pay their full fare. The lost revenues for TransLink associated with fare evasion is approximately $18 million a year. In 2010, fare revenue totaled $412 million, so the actual loss is less than 5 per cent.

What constitutes fare evasion?

When TransLink tracks fare evasion, we don’t just look at those who refuse to pay the fare while using TransLink’s services. Those that pay partial fares are also fare evading, such as those:

• Who carry FareSaver cards but don’t validate them
• Who have a FareCard, but haven’t scratched their zone off, or have scratched off the wrong zone or more than one zone
• Who have a one or two zone FareCard, but haven’t added the additional fare required to travel within or across other zones
• Who hold a concession FareCard, but aren’t eligible for concession rates

Fare evasion is theft

When you go to a store and don’t pay, you’re shoplifting or stealing. Not paying for your bus, SkyTrain, West Coast Express or SeaBus is therefore also theft. TransLink puts money and resources into reducing the amount of this type of theft. We conduct random audits throughout the system to check fares, encourage fare compliance and where necessary, issue tickets. While these audits can take place anywhere on the system, a focus is maintained on the most heavily-travelled bus and SkyTrain routes.

As a result of the audits, we’ve been able to reduce evasion rates in key areas.  In fall 2011, we implemented a comprehensive security campaign at SeaBus after random audits showed an unacceptable level of fare evasion, in particular with customers that were paying only one zone fares when they were traveling two zones. Since the program got underway:

• fare evasion on SeaBus has decreased considerably (to less than 3 per cent)

• the number of interactions at ticket vending machines has increased, and

• the average transaction amount indicates that customers are adding the appropriate amount to their fares

In late summer/early fall 2011, we campaigned at Commercial-Broadway to address fare evasion on the 99 BLine, where all-door boarding is in use. Since then:

• Fare evasion decreased from 7 per cent to less than 2 per cent and continues to improve

Compass card and faregates

In 2013, TransLink the Compass card and faregates will be introduced system wide. Among other benefits, this new system will help reduce fare evasion.

Customers will not be able to access train platforms without tapping-on with a valid fare to pass through the gates at SkyTrain stations. They will need to tap their Compass cards when they board and exit the buses; those without a valid fare will get both an audible and visual indicator that they aren’t in compliance. We believe that the project will reduce fare evasion, resulting in nearly $7 million in annual savings.

Since customers will need to tap on when boarding and tap off when exiting, the proper fare will be deducted from the card according to the number of zones covered in the trip. This will eliminate issues where customers, either accidentally or purposely, travel into more zones than the ticket they purchased allows. Issues of customers not validating Day Passes or FareSavers will be eliminated, as will the situation where people give away their unexpired FareSaver ticket or transfer. In addition to reducing fare evasion, the new system will hopefully change the perception that fare evasion, particularly on SkyTrain, is a rampant issue.

Operator safety

When someone is caught shoplifting there can be safety concerns for store employees. The same can be said about someone refusing to pay to take the bus or other forms of transit. The primary role of our operators is to safely operate the vehicles they’re driving. In 2011, there were 145 assaults on CMBC bus drivers. Twenty nine of those assaults were the result of a fare dispute, while others listed under other categories – such as “belligerent passenger” incidents – may also have involved a fare dispute.

Due to fare-evasion related assaults, Coast Mountain Bus Company has gradually changed its training policy to shift away from fare enforcement and towards assisting with fare collection. This involves requesting compliance from customers who refuse to pay their fare, reminding them of the correct fare and advising them that, should they be caught in a fare paid zone without proof of payment, they are subject to a fine. Operators are trained to assess the behavior of customers and determine whether it would be in the best interests of the other customers to pursue one non-paying customer for the fare. If a passenger refuses to pay a fare, the operator can enter “fare not paid” into the bus communications system, which is then compiled electronically.

Transit Police and Transit Security

Transit Police are responsible first and foremost for ensuring public and customer safety on and near the SkyTrain system. They focus on fare compliance and work with SkyTrain staff to conduct fare checks and issue tickets on both an ad-hoc basis and through coordinated blitzes. People often ask why we don’t put an officer on every bus, which is like asking why there isn’t an officer on every street corner. With up to 900 buses on the road at any time of the day, hiring additional Transit Police Officers to check fares would mean we’d have to have a larger police force than the Vancouver Police Department. Hiring more officers to check fares is seen as a poor allocation of resources.

Instead, Transit Police work cooperatively with both Transit Security and jurisdictional police departments to share information and ensure safety and security on buses. Transit Police also works directly with Coast Mountain Bus Company to help target key routes and transfer areas where there are any public safety concerns which may include fare evasion.

Why do people refuse to pay their fare?

Although Compass card and faregates as well as the continued actions by Transit Police will reduce the amount of fare evasion on the system, changing the mindset or attitudes of fare evaders is key to reducing the costs of fare evasion.

When I think about fare evasion, many questions come to mind including these:

• Why do people feel that they don’t have to pay to use transit?

• Why does fare evasion sometimes result in assaults on bus operators?

• If someone does not have the means to pay, what is TransLink’s (and therefore tax payers) responsibility to provide mobility to them?

TransLink has chosen the Buzzer blog as the place to have a thorough discussion with our customers regarding this issue. When people don’t pay their fare, it hurts all of us. There’s a cost to enforcing fares. More importantly, someone has to cover the cost of those who ride for free – customers, tax payers and governments. These are important questions and ones I hope readers of this blog can help me answer.

The #3 and Andrea

The new print Buzzer is out! A good chunk of this issue is devoted to what’s in store for transit in 2012. I don’t want to steal the issue’s thunder, so make sure you pick up the issue on the buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express or, alternatively, download it. For more specifics on the improvement to transit this year, check out the Transit looks ahead press release.

The cover of the February 2012 Buzzer

I’ve started a new semi-regular section of the print Buzzer this month called Metro Vancouver by transit. The idea is to spotlight a community that can be reached by transit and explore great places in that community that you can reach by transit. This first instalment is on Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. There’s a lot going on in this part of Vancouver, so it’s easy to say that it’s worth checking out. I’ll be looking for more communities to spotlight, so if you have any ideas, please do send me an email to thebuzzer@translink.ca.

I also wrote a piece on thefts of smartphones near SkyTrain stations. These handy and expensive pieces of electronics can be tempting to criminals so it’s good to be vigilant when out on the system using them. I list five common sense tips that can protect yourself and your smartphone from harm.

The rest of the issue is comprised of the usual suspects including Coming events, Contest Corner and Back Issues. The February 1974 issue of the Buzzer is this month’s look back at transit history gold. That issue featured an article on a board game based on Vancouver bus routes called, “Vancouver Buses”. If any Buzzer blog readers have a copy or have even heard about please shoot me an email. I’d love to know more about it or even play it!

Our artist this month is Andrea Rodgers. She was super fun to work with and did a pretty bang on illustration. Here are her answers to a few questions I asked her:

Tell us about yourself and your art.
I like the aesthetic of rough hand drawn lines. Often working in pen, I like to add in watercolour and india ink.
The unexpected nature of the medium appeals to me. Makes it more of an adventure.
For this illustration I scanned it in and worked with photoshop and illustrator.

How did you come up with the concept for your illustration?
Heritage hall is an architectural beauty in Vancouver. It was an easy choice to represent the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.
On a good day – From this point on the hill you can often see the mountains and a good part of the city too.
I suppose it represents a memory of mine.

Are you a transit user?
Occasionally I am a transit user. Nights or days when there is too much ice and snow to ride my bike.
I’m a fan of the skytrain, and am ever-thankful to the Canada Line for access to the airport.

Testers will try out a new feature which actually predicts when your bus will arrive!

It’s that time again to invite Buzzer Blog readers to help us shape what the mobile site will look like in the near future. The first Real-Time Next BusInformation beta testing happened before the launch of m.translink.ca in the fall. Since then, we’ve updated the Next Bus map so you can click on any bus stop # and get schedule and bus information that corresponds to it, search by route # and location, as well as search by the path your bus takes and save your favourite bus route and stops. The old Trip Planner map was also replaced with a Google map update as well as email and print options added.

Chosen testers will be given Fare Saver tickets to cover the cost of getting to and from Metrotower II as well as a gift certificate for a meal.

Ken Cameron, past Manager of Policy and Planning with the Greater Vancouver Regional District and a member of the PlaceSpeak Board of Directors, talks about the importance of the survey.

I just finished filling out the 2012 Metro Vancouver Urban Futures Opinion Survey. I’m told that it’s truly unique in the world of surveys. I can honestly say that I’ve never filled out one quite like it before. It has a lot of transit oriented content, so I was of course compelled to complete it.

The focus of the Urban Futures Survey is to, ” … allow communities across the region to forecast and anticipate the needs and desires of the Lower Mainland’s 2.1 million residents. The survey will be instrumental in meeting the long-term social and economic goals of the region.” It’s broken up into the following six sections: Demographics/Household, Employment, Housing, Recreation/Leisure, Transportation, and Regional Content. These fall under the main themes of the survey: Environment – protecting the environment and responding to climate change impact, Community Life – developing complete communities, Mobility – supporting sustainable transportation choices, Built Environment, Managing Growth – creating a compact urban area, Governance, and Economy – supporting a sustainable economy.

It’s the third in a series of surveys, the first of which was in 1973 followed by the second in 1990. In 1973, roughly 1,500 residents of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) were surveyed. In 1990, UBC professor, Dr. Walter G. Hardwick, conducted a second survey with nearly as many people surveyed in person and over the telephone. This latest survey, led by Dr. Hardwick’s daughter, Colleen Hardwick (Nystedt), is expanding the type of data collected and using modern means to collect it. PlaceSpeak is a location-based public consultation platform developed by Colleen Hardwick that not only allows the survey to be administer online, but as Ken Cameron puts it, “…allows [people], if they’re interested in it, to have an ongoing level of participation and input on all kinds of issues that affect their neighbourhood, their home and the future of their region.”

Once you’ve registered with PlaceSpeak, you can click on the interactive map that shows users as green dots on the map. The idea is to connect people geographically with topics surrounding their area of Metro Vancouver. You can browse for topics or create one of you own.

Speaking with Colleen Harwick, she told me that her hope is that this survey will generate close to 15,000 respondents and that PlaceSpeak will live on as a valuable resource to the community. She’s excited about the hard and usable data that it will provide to all users including decision makers and planners.

The survey starts now and runs until the end of April 2012. If you have 20-25 minutes to take the survey, I can honestly say it was easy and interesting. Let me know what you think of it!

Teresa O'Reilly in front of some work on the NSATP

Starting today, TransLink is announcing Phase 3 of the four-phased North Shore Area Transit Plan (NSATP). In late 2010, analysis of the current network was carried out as Phase 1 of the plan. Phase 2, completed from January to June 2011, was the development of a long-term vision for the next 30 years. Phase 3 starts in January and goes until June 2012. Phase 4 is the monitoring phase, which will continue until the planning process begins again.  To find out more about these plans, I sat down with Teresa O’Reilly. Teresa is the Manager of the Area Transit Plan Program.

The last time an area transit plan was done for the North Shore was in 2000. This new plan started in 2010, and now we’re starting the third of four phases in 2012. What’s the rational for the timing of this stage?

This plan is different than the previous NSATP in two ways: First, we created a long-term vision, which aligns the projected land use from the North Shore’s five Official Community Plans (OCP) with the transit network. We did this once before with the South of Fraser Transit Area Transit Plan. We also had the District of North Vancouver still working on their Official Community Plan update, and we wanted to make sure that our vision, which follows Transport 2040, was in line with the District’s updated OCP.

The second way that this plan is different than the previous ATPs is that we don’t have a specific implementation plan. Former plans would indicate what projects would happen in what years. What we found in the past is that the projects were implemented based on the ebs and flows of TransLink’s funding. So some area transit plans had many projects implemented, and some had not as many implemented because we didn’t have as much funding at that time. The other piece that we found to be awkward was that when we created the implementation plan, it would have a price tag associated with it that TransLink may not have budgeted for. Also, in times of limited resources, we need to make decisions about which projects are implemented. We didn’t have a clear understanding about which sub-regional implementation plan or projects from those plans were the most important for the region. So we needed to way to balance all of the needs in the region. What we decided on is to create a list of priorities for when resources become available. We don’t know the timing of these projects and the timing is, of course, based on funding as well as the change in growth and development on the North Shore. For example, we wouldn’t be improving a service substantially if we don’t have the population and employment that this service would be supporting. That said, not all of the priorities will be tied to productivity. Sometimes, we’ll make a change because it just makes sense to make network simpler to understand, or we’ve had a change in the way people are moving around the North Shore, and we need to respond to that.

So with this ATP, we will have a list of service and infrastructure priorities, and every time there’s a funding opportunity like a supplemental plan, or resources available through network management change, we’ll have these projects for the North Shore ready to put forward. In Phase 4, we’ll be monitoring and reporting on our progress and successes in achieving our goals.  Have we been able to deliver on the service and infrastructure priorities? What are their impacts? We’ll also monitor the projected land use changes. Are areas being developed as planned? Are the transit priorities still relevant?

What are the major goals for this phase of the plan?

All of the work at TransLink, including the area plans, have to support the six goals of Transport 2040 [see goals below].

Goal 1
Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation are aggressively reduced, in support of federal, provincial and regional targets.

Goal 2
Most trips are by transit, walking and cycling.

Goal 3
The majority of jobs and housing in the region are located along the Frequent Transit Network (frequent, reliable services on designated corridors throughout the day, every day).

Goal 4
Travelling in the region is safe, secure, and accessible for everyone.

Goal 5
Economic growth and efficient goods movement are facilitated through effective management of the transportation network.

Goal 6
Funding for TransLink is stable, sufficient, appropriate and influences transportation choices.

For the NSATP, we defined a specific transit mode share goal for the vision. The long-term vision goal is to increase transit mode share by 50% for the five North Shore municipalities. Currently, 10% of all weekday travel by North Shore residents is by transit, with variations by time of day and muncipality. We would like to see that all-day mode share increase to 15% by 2040. Based on projected land use and growth, we feel this goal is achievable.

Do we ever scale projects back because the price tag is too big to implement at the time?
Yes. But we also look at what the cost is of not completing the full project. The value of implementing a change might outweigh the cost of doing nothing. So we definitely take the cost into consideration, but we have seven other considerations such as social and community impacts, economic development, environment, and land use alignment, that we use to evaluate and prioritize projects.

I know there has been a lot of consultation with different parties in Phase 1 and 2 of the plan including the Public Advisory Committee (PAC), key North Shore stakeholders and feedback from different surveys. How much real input on the long-term goals for the plan do they have?

They have a significant amount of input. We work with these groups on several levels. Working with the PAC, which is made up of a diverse array of community members from the North Shore, as well as other stakeholder groups like neighbourhood and community associations, school districts, chambers of commerce, big employers, municipalities, First Nations, and Metro Vancouver means that we not only keep in line with the goals of this ATP, but the local context they provide as well. An ATP is ultimately for these communities. We only have control over transportation. Their input is significant in terms of land use. This connection between land use and the transit network is key. Our long-term transit vision identifies centres and corridors with high intensity of population and growth to be connected by a frequent transit network (FTN). The FTN is a corridor with 15 minutes service or better, from morning to mid-evening every day. With these FTN corridors defined, we can then create the supporting network with the local services connecting into it. For the North Shore, this means changing the network from the traditional commuter travel from suburb to the downtown core, to one that reflects the high demand for internal movements that are happening on the North Shore today. There are more trips starting and ending on the North Shore now. We still need to maintain the downtown services, but we also need to provide an improved network for moving around the North Shore. We’re also looking at making sure that when people travel to the North Shore for work, school, or recreation they have a useful network to get to their destinations.

Are there any commonalities that these groups have in terms of wants for this plan?
In Phase 1, we discovered that some of our bus routes are extremely good in terms of productivity, and some of the routes are not. We then asked these groups in Phase 1 and Phase 2 what they wanted to see that would encourage them to use transit more. There were a few themes. A big one is better East/West travel. Currently, in the North Shore, the majority of routes are designed for commuter trips to downtown Vancouver in the morning and the reverse in the afternoon. We’ve already made a significant improvement to East/West travel – #239 from Park Royal to Capilano University is part of the FTN. Another is to improve travel speed. With the exclusion of a couple of peak hour services and one route from Horseshoe Bay to Downtown, we don’t have any fast services on the North Shore. So most buses stop at every bus stop. On average bus stops are between 250 m and 400m apart! Changing stopping patterns can be significant in terms of travel time savings. There is also a desire for more frequent service and a request to change the fare policy. Fare policy is outside the scope of our work for this plan. We forwarded this request to our TransLink staff responsible for fare policy. Within the scope of the plan, we looked at this request in terms of value for money. One of the things that we want to ensure is that the service we provide customers is good value for the fare. Are we providing customers with high levels of service that assists them with their personal mobility for trips that can happen anytime of the day, for any purpose, have good connections, and supportive and safe customer environments? This is important to us.

Now that Phase 1 and 2 are complete, the public consultation phase (Phase 3), which is to develop near-term (up 10 year) priorities, is set to begin. This phase will include in-person workshops (see below) as well as an on-line consultation period, which will be available via the NSATP Get Involved page on February 6th until March 9th.between February 6th until March 9th. You can download the online questionnaire here.

Workshops

Thursday, February 9
West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre
Activity Room
695 – 21st Street, West Vancouver

6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Coffee Meet & Greet
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Presentation & Workshop

Wednesday, February 15
Pinnacle Hotel
Pier Two Room
138 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver

6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Coffee Meet & Greet
6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Presentation & Workshop

Registration for the workshops is recommended as space is limited.*

To register for the workshops, you can contact Kristin Lillyman, Community Relations Coordinator at kristin.lillyman@TransLink.ca or 604-453-4687
*If demand to attend the sessions is high, more community sessions may be added.

There you have it. Make sure to make your voice heard via one of the workshops. Your contribution can help shape transit on the North Shore for many years to come!

Mayor Richard Walton, the Honourable James Moore, Minister Blair Lekstrom, and the Honourable Denis Lebel at yesterday's announcement

It’s been a long time coming. If you didn’t take in the local news yesterday, there was an announcement by three levels of government regarding the Evergreen Line. B.C. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom, the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages and Senior Minister Responsible for British Columbia, Richard Walton, mayor of North Vancouver and chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, and Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities were all on hand to announce that Pedre Contractors Ltd. will be installing new underground power lines in Port Moody and Coquitlam and Hans Demolition and Excavating will be removing two buildings in Coquitlam and one in Burnaby to make way for the new line. Here’s the link to the official press release.

Linking to the Millennium Line, the Evergreen Line will connect Coquitlam to Vancouver via Port Moody and Burnaby. It’s scheduled to be completed in 2016. There’s a lot of work to be done in five years, so expect more announcements in the not too distant future!

A mobile map of the #9 showing the route after path (in-orange) saved using the new favorites function

Every few weeks or so, the mobile team rolls out refinements to the Next Bus service found within our mobile site, m.translink.ca. This month, I’m very excited to see three new additions that I think will greatly improve helping customers find the right bus for their needs. First up: favourites are now live!

Favorites added to Next Bus

Trip Planner has it, and there was the ability to bookmark favourite routes on the old mobile site. Now Next Bus has favourites built into it! Besides having GPS on the buses and seeing them on the map, for me, being able to save your favourite bus route or stop using Next Bus is one of the most useful aspects of the new mobile site.

Once you search a route or bus stop, simply click the “FAVS” button, and you’ll have them saved for whenever you need them again! I’m told you can keep up to 100 favourites stored (if you save over that number the your 101 favourite will replace your first etc.). I haven’t saved that many yet, nor do I think I ever will.

Within the favourites pages, you’ll also see “Search History”. The “Search History” will keep your route searches regardless of if you save them or not. This way, if you forget to save a search for a route or stop or decide you would have liked to save it, it’s already there.

You can also edit what you name favourite routes and stops. For example, if you look up  #9 going a particular direction, favourites will automatically name that route “Route 009 – WB1A Map View.” If this is your route to school, you can rename the route “School” or anything you want (within 256 characters). This also works for text view.

Functionality improvements

Also new is a “Favs” button alongside a “Home”, “Search”, “Refresh” and “Text View” button at the top of the map for quicker and better usability. Previously, you had to go back to the Home page of Next Bus to search.

Now when you go to m.translink.ca and click on “Favourites” you’ll see all your Next Bus and Trip Planner trips, bus routes, bus stops and search history in one spot!

Search the specific path your bus takes

Select the bus you're interested in and it and it's corresponding path turns orange

Now this is really cool. Before today, if you searched for a particular bus route (by entering the route #22, finding it via a bus stop ID# or simply clicking on it on the Next Bus map) like the #22, the map would show where all the #22 buses were currently and the “usual” path they take. Now, if you click on a particular bus you’d like to catch, that bus’ specific path, along with all the other buses on that same path, will be highlighted in orange. The path that each bus takes within a route are the exact streets, avenues, roads and highways buses take to get from a to b. This is important because previously only one “usual” path was shown on the map. That meant that sometimes a bus would take a different path than was shown on the map. For example, the #22 has numerous paths and even different destinations. Now, once you click on the bus you’re interested in, it shows the exact path it takes! Notice in the screen shot that the #22 chosen goes along Prior Street, not Terminal Avenue, on it’s path to downtown Vancouver.

The bus stop as well as pattern and bus icon change to orange instead of blue now

This new path functionality will help all of us better plan our trips – just last week one of my colleagues got on a 130 that short-turned at Hastings. She won’t do that again after today! Or at least I hope she won’t.

If you zoom into your map, you’ll notice that each bus stop that your bus stops at is also coloured orange instead of blue like other stops on the bus route.

Working out bugs and looking to Android next!

Now that paths are live, the team will be monitoring users comments about it. The mobile site is still in beta, so this is the time to let us know if you find any bugs or have any comments about this new and existing mobile functionality.

Moving forward, the mobile team will be working on making the mobile site function better for people using smart phones powered by Android. The mobile site is officially supported by iOS and iPhones 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S. Android users are one of our fastest growing group of users when it comes to utilizing this mobile site, so it’s important the site works well on these phones. After updates for Android users are completed, the mobile team will focus on other operating systems.

A dad taking his daughter in a stroller on a bus

Before I became a parent, I didn’t think about the logistics of moving myself and my child around. When my little one was little, it was easy: Put the little squirt into some sort of carrying device that makes them hug your stomach, then throw everything else you want to bring with you into a backpack. If you have a car, plunk them in a car seat, and you’re good to go. But using transit with a child isn’t as simple, especially if you use a stroller (which you’ll want to do, especially as your child gets bigger).

Like the first time I put my bike on the bus, I was a little nervous about taking my child and my bulky stroller on transit. If the bus is not full it’s usually a pretty easy experience. Bus operators lower the bus ramp if it’s safe to do so and ask passengers to make room at the front for you and your stroller. Since 1996, TransLink has made an concerted effort to only buy solely low-floor buses (except for highway coaches) that are accessible to people using wheelchairs, scooters, walkers and strollers. If the bus is full, that’s another matter.

Despite operators and most customers usually making it easy to ride on transit with a stroller, there are challenges. This Seattle area blogger wrote an interesting piece on the challenges she’s faced on transit on different Northwest transit systems and in Denmark. She makes reference to TransLink’s rules around strollers (see below) and how the roomier MKII SkyTrain series have ample room for devices with wheels. Canada Line is  roomier than the MKI and MKII’s, so getting your stroller on these trains is usually the easiest.

Strollers may use this area [accessible areas]; however, when demand dictates, the stroller must give way to people with mobility devices, including walkers. In this case, children in strollers should be removed and the strollers collapsed if possible.

*It’s important to note that if a bus operator deems your stroller or scooter a safety concern due to size and inability to collapse (the concern is if devices will block the aisle), they have the right to ask you not to bring your stroller or scooter on the bus.  The maximum ‘footprint’ of a stroller is usually 2 feet by 4 feet.*

Even though there is room available for strollers at the front of the bus, if the bus is full or there are already strollers taking that space, you’ll have to wait for another bus to take you. I find that the smaller the stroller, the easier time you’ll have on transit. If I know I’m going to use the bus and my stroller, I’ll often take my umbrella stroller since it folds up easily, and I can carry it with one hand. The larger (usually three-wheels) strollers take up a lot of room, and during peek hours, it’s more difficult to find a bus to accommodate you. Also, if you have a stroller, be prepared to not find a seat for yourself. In the newer Nova buses, there are usually three seats on either side at the front of the bus that can be flipped up. In the older New Flyer buses, sometime only one side of the bus has seats you can flip up. A stroller will typically take the space of two of the seats leaving one or non left over. Even if this third seat is available, I usually leave it for someone who needs it more than me. Remember that It’s not necessary to use the wheelchair restraints, but the parent, or person in charge should hold the stroller in place and use the stroller brakes. Finally, there’s the fact that people with mobility devices like walkers usually have priority over strollers. So while you might find room for you and your little one for part of the trip, you’ll need to be prepared to fold up your stroller and pick up your child and move to the back of the bus. You can then store the stroller between the seats, or in the wheel-well. In these cases, I suggest bringing a backpack and possibly a carrying device for your child if you have one.

There’s a lot to talk about on this subject matter, so I’d love to hear about your experiences with your stroller, your child and your transit system.

A 1990 brochure featuring the transit system!

Every once in a while, myself and my colleagues receive some interesting content from readers in our email and snail-mail inboxes. Friend of the blog Jason Vanderhill sent me a few images of transit past. The first is of a 1990 brochure, the year of BC’s public transit centennial. The next is an image of a weekly transit pass from 1947.

Public Information Officer for TransLink, Drew Snider, received this photo and a card from the participants in last year’s Shinerama. Shinerama is a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis. Volunteers, like the ones in this photo, shined one of our community shuttles at UBC as part of the activities.

I always love getting transit-related photos/images. If you have some and would like to share them, please send them to me at thebuzzer@translink.ca.

Shinerama 2011

A weekly transit pass from 1947.