Friday, April 15, 2016

This Morning In Clarkland...Who Should Be Assisting Those That Need Help At Translink Fare Gates, 24/7?

NevermindTheBollocksHereComeThe
ClosedFareGatesVille


The latest in the travesty that is costing we, the people, $200 million and counting, as reported by CTV:

A university student who relies on the wheelchair-accessible gates to be open to get into transit stations says he’s frequently locked out under the new Compass system.

When TransLink started closing all the fare gates last week to clamp down on fare evaders, officials said they had a fix for people with disabilities unable to tap their Compass card in or out.

Spokesperson Jennifer Morland told CTV Vancouver it would continue to have staff at most of its stations along the SkyTrain and SeaBus...



So.

Who should be manning those unmanned  (i.e. not 'most of') gates 24/7.

Well...

My vote goes to the F'in Fare Gate Glimmer Twins, Mr. Kenneth Dobell and Mr. Kevin Falcon.

To start, at the very least.


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Again, this stupid system (which still won't take bus transfers bought with cash) was conjured up, pretty much out of thin air, to deal with a fare evasion problem that did not exist before it was manufactured by forces aligned with the two former public servants mentioned above, and then wurlitzered by a compliant Lotuslandian proMedia herd...The real solution?...If these bloody things can't be made to work for absolutely everyone they should be yanked out immediately before they cost us even more money and grief...Or, at the very least, open them all up and let people keep using the cards as they were up until last week. And for those that can't let validated their cards at the gate, let them get them validated by staff, security or otherwise, anywhere within the system (and if those staff, security or otherwise, aren't encountered by folks that need them, tough)...Alternatively, we could all be given information on how to do the bloody Compass Hack given the embedded stupidity within the stupidness of the ridiculously stupid system that, again, we are paying $200 million for thanks to the Glimmer Twins mentioned above.


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8 comments:

Lew said...

If the fire or security doors in any building with public access were to prevent escape in the event of an emergency, I’d like to think the fire department would shut the building down until the doors were repaired. Where is the fire department or the newly minted Public Safety Minister on this?

I’m sure Dobell could come up with a solution for another $100 million or so. And he could do it completely without any messy or time-consuming paperwork.

I second your nominations and propose two more to round out the core team. Michelle Stilwell and Stephanie Cadieux.

Anonymous said...

I live in Victoria and I admit I don't understand the fare gate issue. However, I fail to see why they couldn't have installed gates wide enough to allow a wheelchair to go through and put the sensor (or whatever they use) at a level where somebody in a wheelchair could reach it. Seems so simple to me.

North Van's Grumps said...

@Lew for those of the traveling public where their only means of exiting is by elevator from translink stations, underground or otherwise, are they operational when the power is lost?

Escalators become stairs, Stairs remain stairs, but elevators becomes a box!

Anonymous said...

Another nominee, fartbender!

RossK said...

Lew and Anon-Above--

Stay tuned for our new game show to come called 'Pay (Them) Not To Play!'

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NVG--

Even if the elevators work on back-up power, many are still on the inside of the gates

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Anon-From-The-Island--

The real issue (and this is the real security issue in my opinion also) is that there are no permanent attendants in the stations to help anyone who needs it when things inevitably go wrong.

As for the stupid fare card system itself...It's completely hackable by anyone with a smartphone and two free apps. Additionally, if you buy a ticket with cash on a bus that feeds into the train system your transfer is useless and you have to pay the fare again...Once again this is a problem that could be dealt with by an in station attendant who could look at the transfer (or put it through a reader) and let the person through.

Finally, all of this is stupid in the supreme because it was sold/rammed through as something that would end a 'massive' fare evasion problem...The only problem?...The evasion is massive and the money 'saved' will never, ever pay for the stupid reverse engineered system...

And why was the system reverse-engineered?...Because when the system was built everyone knew that the faregate thing was stupid, especially when the idea was to have the stations unmanned.

So.

Given all that, anybody paying the least bit of attention at all has to ask....Who benefitted?

(hint for answer to question: see above)


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Anonymous said...

Ken Dobell... anyone know if the klusterflunk that is replacing the Fraser tunnel has any of Dobbell's fingerprints on it?

Ray Blessin said...

Just eliminate the f#cking transit fares! Imagine!!

RossK said...

Anon-2-Above--

A most excellent question.

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But Ray--

We've got a second $3 billion bridge to pay for.

Not to mention an unneeded 10 billion dollar damnable dam.

And a $56 billion dollar IPP bill to take care of.

How can we possibly do a thing like you are advocating?

Especially for those adult disabled who only 'choose' to use public transit.

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And apologies...Left out a 'not' in comment upthread...

Should have read:

"...The evasion is not massive and the money 'saved' will never, ever pay for the stupid reverse engineered system..."


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