City
A Newer and More Appealing Metropass
Subway abusers will have a harder time trying to replicate and obtain Metropasses. This morning, TTC Chair, Adam Giambrone unveiled the new holographic Metropass at TTC headquarters. The first edition will hit the system this month. No, this isn't a special Star Trek Edition - this is the TTC's newest initiative to reduce fare fraud.
The Metropass itself will come with a sticker on the face which must be removed by the commuter before use. The sticker will stop users from pass renting, a practice where users purchase the pass only to return it later for a refund. Fraud accounts for $2 million in lost annual revenue a number which could be a fraction of that with the new measures.
Although the magnetic strip exists on current passes, counterfeiters are able to bypass this by quickly showing their pass to collectors. With passengers entering vehicles in herds during rush hour, collectors only have so much time to check the pass. Many of the fake passes don't have an active magnetic strip although one is usually present on the backside.
Simplistic measures such as these will not only make the system secure, but will also make the pass much more aesthetically appealing. Giambrone mentioned today that the plastic would also get some much needed "Toronto flair". Metropasses have been evolving visually over the past few years, but with very little headway. With the Toronto Transit Commission appealing to the city's art institutions in the fall, we should see the face lift by April 2010.
At an investment cost of $250 000, the system plans to save millions which in turn will help the system expand. The next step for Toronto is a unified system such as Tokyo's Suica card, or London's Oyster system. Not only are these systems more secure, they will make the TTC increase efficiency. Luckily today's announcement brings the SmartCard dream closer.
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Clowns at the TTC, top to bottom, and a few holographs on my Metropass isn't going to change that.
I told someone from Europe that the TTC pays someone $40,000/year to look out the window and press a button to close the subway doors, and they laughed at me.
The TTC saves millions annually by keeping a simplified fare structure, one fare for any one way trip no matter how long or how many transfers, Oyster and it's ilk only make sense in a system with a zoned fare paradigm. Just because it seems kinda cool doesn't mean it makes economic sense, so here's what will happen if we ever get something like that. Oh it will probably happen some day because Metrolinx, which let's not forget is EVIL, will force it. So the TTC will spend 250-350 Million they don't have to put a fare reader on every vehicle in the system, there will be huge economic pressure to eliminate cash fares and tokens so that physical fare boxes no longer need to be handled so the system gets less convenient for casual users. Then once they have all that infrastructure someone will notice that there's no technical obstacle to zoning fares so we'll get that. It will still cost 3 bucks to ride a streetcar or the subway within a fare zone but cross city commutes and crossing systems will suddenly start to get more a lot more expensive, what's a single ride from the outer burbs to the City in London, look it up, you'll be shocked, even with an Oyster Card it's 6 pounds for a rush hour trip, half that at off peak. That's 10 bucks for a single tube ride.
Let's say you and me spent the day at the zoo looking at the animals...
Then we go home, I go to the Scarborough Town Centre station then you go to Kipling...YOU will use far more resources.
Most transit systems in Europe and GO Transit are fare by distances.
Yes You should pay more to go to the zoo than me.
Yes, someone from NewMarket should pay more to go downtown than someone from Scarborough.
I couldn't believe I was asked to pay $13.25 for five tokens at Chen's Variety on Dundas St. E. last Friday. The TTC charges $11.25 for five tokens.
I walked out without buying a single token. I'd rather give the TTC $3 cash each fare than support greedy retailers like this. According to the TTC, there are 1,200 TTC Authorized Ticket Agents in Toronto. Are the ones in small corner-store shops like this allowed to overcharge on TTC tokens?
We are no closer to being able to use CONVENIENT, fraud-proof magnetic stored value cards that Second Cup and Starbucks have enabled for years.
Does Giabroni have the intellectual resources to look at a more fair payment model that charges you by the distance traveled? I don't think so. Coming to the TTC in the year 2025.
This will never happen in Toronto for (at least) two reasons. 1) businesses would lobby strongly against it and 2) anyone negatively affected by zoned fairs would be down at city hall crying about their 'rights'.
Miroslav's comment is correct: Universal fares are the enemy of good transit. Until that changes, the TTC will remain in the dark ages.
Brad Ross
Toronto Transit Commission
Brad Ross
Toronto Transit Commission
2. "make the pass much more aesthetically appealing": I'll take dog poop smeared on a paper bag - I don't care if my metropass is aesthetically appealing. Use my money towards improving the system thank you very much.
3. Side note - I witnessed my King streetcar driver close the door (HARD) on two entering passengers this morning in the span of 6 blocks...never to apologize to these injured passengers. They were not pushing or rushing to get on to the streetcar...he just HIT them because he was not paying attention. I honestly think he was asleep. I can't believe I'm paying for this. And they're focusing on making the passes prettier? Is that supposed to justify the $109 price tag?
Chester: I agree. These people who liver further out already have to deal with a longer commute and in a zone system they'll have to pay more for it when they aren't even leaving the city.
Now think of the reverse situation. If they are handed a professional clean looking metropass that has images of our citys culture, events, architecture, etc. it will show that we are a city that cares about how we reflect ourselves to the international stage sending a more positive message.
Of course this is on a minute level, but over time these things add up to create an image of our city. If you went to a city that had poor quality transit passes, ugly currency, badly design city maps, and brochures, youll leave with a poor quality impression.
It doesn't cost much, and shouldnt even be argued ourselves, why should we strive to remodernize ourselves? Security costs a lot, new graphics don't.
The design is atrocious, and while I agree it's not a major issue in the grand scheme of things, it's another example of how everything done by the TTC always seems to be half-assed, without an ounce of professionalism or taste.
Brad, you guys can pay any number of the hundreds of designers in this city a fraction of what you're paying whoever created this monstrosity and have it come out leagues above what is shown above. Get with it.
I guess everyone here is either too young or too new to remember zoned fares on TTC buses. Every City, Town and Toronto's only Borough charged different fares. You paid the extra $$$ when exiting the bus. BTW - TTC drivers also carried change for exact fare!
This month I received the pass in the mail, however the downtown express sticker is ON TOP of the yellow security sticker that has to be removed. If I pull the yellow security sticker off, it will take the downtown sticker with it! When I try to use that pass on the 142 (sans downtown sticker), the driver will expect me to pay an extra fare.
I'm going to call the TTC tomorrow to ask what I should do.
The ads all over the TTC system are complete pats on their own back. More secure for you... but, what is in it for me?
Will I be able to get the GTA pass at more locations now? NO
Will I be able to ask more drivers for assistance now? NO
Will I save any money? NO
Will I experience less delays from technical issues? NO
Will this effect me in any way, ever? NO
What's your next big development that does nothing for your users TTC?
And on a side note: I've taken the Berlin, London, Paris systems - they're all shit. Antiquated, horrible stuffy cars, and frequent malfunctions and delays. Made my vacation more stressful than it should have been.
Whenever our friends from London visit, they marvel at how "clean" our cars are, and how "easy" the transit system is to use. People are never satisfied with what they have in their own cities, I suppose.