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Why wouldn't you be able to resell tickets ??

People regularly ask for transfers and sell them on the platform to others for a buck or less. Sometimes they give them away.

GRT is getting seriously screwed when it comes to fares. Unfortunately this is self-inflicted by poor design and lack of enforcement. I.E. they do not care.

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Why wouldn't you be able to resell tickets ??

Agreed. As long as they're not stolen or fake, what's wrong with passing along tickets you're not using? GRT still got paid in full for them by the original purchaser.

People regularly ask for transfers and sell them on the platform to others for a buck or less. Sometimes they give them away.

GRT is getting seriously screwed when it comes to fares. Unfortunately this is self-inflicted by poor design and lack of enforcement. I.E. they do not care.

I think is a case of enforcement being more expensive than the problem. Short of somehow indicating who a transfer belongs to it's pretty hard to prevent someone from passing it along. Sure, we could write people's names on their transfers and ask to see ID every time they tried to board the bus using one, but that would be a pretty crappy and expensive solution. Eventually Presto will reduce this, but even then there will be paper transfers for those that pay cash.

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GRT is getting seriously screwed when it comes to fares. Unfortunately this is self-inflicted by poor design and lack of enforcement. I.E. they do not care.

What is your estimate for the proportion of trips for which adequate fare is not paid?

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Does anyone know if this "hub" will completely replace the Charles Street terminal?

It would replace part of the function of the Charles Street terminal -- intercity buses and some local routes. But some of the current Charles Street function would be eliminated altogether through route reorganization into more of a grid pattern and around the iXpress 200 / LRT line.

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What is your estimate for the proportion of trips for which adequate fare is not paid?

Well in terms of a percentage I have no idea. In terms of dollars and cents, enforcement would be FAR cheaper.

Let's say that each day every operator loses only ONE fare .........

Approx (full-time) 370 drivers * 250 working days a year * 2.50 = $231,250

And I can assure you it is many times that. It is not even debatable.

There are no consequences to defrauding GRT and everyone knows it. And it's getting worse by the day.

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Well in terms of a percentage I have no idea. In terms of dollars and cents, enforcement would be FAR cheaper.

Let's say that each day every operator loses only ONE fare .........

Approx (full-time) 370 drivers * 250 working days a year * 2.50 = $231,250

And I can assure you it is many times that. It is not even debatable.

There are no consequences to defrauding GRT and everyone knows it. And it's getting worse by the day.

Fare evasion happens on just about every system in the world. Assuming your math is right, which I assume it is much lower than what the number really is, that would be enough for 5 or 6 enforcement officers who still cannot patrol every route at every given time, which in turn would cause the GRT to spend more money while still losing fares.

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Well in terms of a percentage I have no idea. In terms of dollars and cents, enforcement would be FAR cheaper.

That's really not clear to me. Who would be doing the enforcement and how much would they be paid? How much time would have to be spent by drivers and passengers when enforcement happens? What is the cost of the drivers' time? What is the value of the lost passenger time?

Many of those who engage in fare fraud or evasion are not a potential fare and would just not ride otherwise, so there are limits to how much you can "recover". And if the enforcement is not sufficient, then it's hardly a deterrent.

That said, I would support having fare enforcement officers, but not because they can squeeze out a tiny bit more revenue. Rather, it would make for a reduction in costs and an improvement in overall service by allowing (perhaps selective) roll-out of a proof-of-payment system and all-door boarding.

I should also say that I might be less skeptical on fare enforcement if there were some numbers to back it up locally.

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That's really not clear to me. Who would be doing the enforcement and how much would they be paid? How much time would have to be spent by drivers and passengers when enforcement happens? What is the cost of the drivers' time? What is the value of the lost passenger time?

Many of those who engage in fare fraud or evasion are not a potential fare and would just not ride otherwise, so there are limits to how much you can "recover". And if the enforcement is not sufficient, then it's hardly a deterrent.

That said, I would support having fare enforcement officers, but not because they can squeeze out a tiny bit more revenue. Rather, it would make for a reduction in costs and an improvement in overall service by allowing (perhaps selective) roll-out of a proof-of-payment system and all-door boarding.

I should also say that I might be less skeptical on fare enforcement if there were some numbers to back it up locally.

Just found this article, wich is some-what related to this thread at the moment.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/drivers+r...6658/story.html

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Just found this article, wich is some-what related to this thread at the moment.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/drivers+r...6658/story.html

It is never right to assult someone, but bus drivers are known, in this Region too, to be aggressive at times. At times younger people may not think and assult a driver as a result of an aggressive driver. Again, not acceptable, but I've seen drivers, unfortunately, verbally assult passengers on GRT.

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I'm certainly concerned with a few things I see in the coming P&W Committee Report for December 6...

1) The LRT as long suspected by many is proposed to be privatized, I was holding out hope that the Region would keep this service publicly operated until something 'in writing' was presented to the contrary; which it now appears is being done. Time to funnel more local tax dollars into private companies?

2) Also, we now see that the GO Shuttle service is going to be contracted out to busPLUS (ie. Hendry Coach) which would probably explain the removal of it from the GRT operator's schedule last week, this is in addition to the planned expansion of busPLUS service to Doon South in Fall 2012 which is even more work being contracted out.

I'm terribly disappointed by these developments. :P

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I'm certainly concerned with a few things I see in the coming P&W Committee Report for December 6...

1) The LRT as long suspected by many is proposed to be privatized, I was holding out hope that the Region would keep this service publicly operated until something 'in writing' was presented to the contrary; which it now appears is being done. Time to funnel more local tax dollars into private companies?

2) Also, we now see that the GO Shuttle service is going to be contracted out to busPLUS (ie. Hendry Coach) which would probably explain the removal of it from the GRT operator's schedule last week, this is in addition to the planned expansion of busPLUS service to Doon South in Fall 2012 which is even more work being contracted out.

I'm terribly disappointed by these developments. :P

And from the above report....

The proposed King/Victoria Transit Hub will potentially be integrated into a combination of public and private sector higher density developments on the site, possibly including mixed use commercial/office development served by a large multi-level underground commercial parking structure.
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