Burnaby transit users may finally get their Compass Cards this fall.
Compass vending machines are being activated this month at SkyTrain stations and SeaBus terminals, TransLink announced today. Passengers can buy single-use tickets through the system once the machines are up and running, and the machines will be stocked with Compass Cards by late October.
Compass Cards will also be sold at stores, customer service centres and via mail by November, the press release stated.
Initially, the $194-million Compass Card system was scheduled to launch for West Coast Express users in November 2013, and other users by the spring of 2014, but that timeline was delayed.
Many of the glitches and problems that plagued the system in the beginning have been addressed, Colleen Brennan, TransLink’s vice-president of communications and customer engagement, told the NOW in May.
“We’ve made quite a lot of progress, actually, over the last few months, and so, that’s where we’re at now,” she said.
As part of the Compass Card rollout, bus passengers will temporarily only pay a one-zone fare to ride at any time in the region. There were problems with Compass Cards not tapping out properly as riders exited buses, with some riders being charged for three zones per ride.
The zoning change is only for buses and HandyDART, and will start Oct. 5.
About 130,000 transit users now have Compass Cards, according to TransLink’s press release. In May, TransLink estimated approximately 220,000 people would be using the cards by September.
