Eric Chris on Fare Evasion and Opens A Pandoras Box
It seems from TransLink’s ownAi??numbers that it will be extremely difficult if not impossible
for TransLink to reach ridership goals set for 2020.
Eric Chris, has done some very good research on the fare evasion issue and heAi??brings up some very important points.
Focusing on the light-metro network, is TransLink doing a good job moving people? Is the SkyTrain network actually catering to the passenger loads that we the public are lead to beleive?
According to TransLink’s figures, the actual number of peopleAi??using by the Canada Line in 2011Ai??wasAi??38,758, Ai??just 30,398 persons less than the rest of the SkyTrain Expo and Millennium Lines combined! If true, it means that ridership on the SkyTrain light-metro system is far less than TransLink would have us think! In fact, theAi??actual number of persons carried by theAi??the SkyTrain light-metro just doesn’t meet the number to justify such expensive light-metro construction. If true, no wonder TransLink has financial problems.
The actual number of persons carried by both the Canada, Expo and Millennium Lines in 2011 is a mere 107,914 persons. Put another way, the taxpayer has spent well over $8 billion to date to carry 107,914 people in 2011! For added insult, just over 80,000 people first tookAi??the bus and transfered to the light-metro system, as TransLink has admitted that over 80% of SkyTrain’s ridership first take a bus the transfer to the metro!
There is something drastically wrong with TransLink’s calculationsAi??and if these figures are to be beleived, Translink is in very serious trouble and will be in the future, as we just do not have the ridership to sustain the current level of servcieAi??on the SkyTrain and Canada line light-metro systems. Yet we plan and build more with the Evergreen Line and the UBC subway!
BC’s Auditor General must step in and do a complete audit of TransLink, West coast Mountain Bus, the three light-metro lines, Handy DartAi??and Seabus, to give a clear and honest picture of the financial viability of TransLink.
Kim,
It is comical for TransLink to make such a spectacle of fare evasion.Ai?? Many fare evaders are bums or teenagers who either ride for free or donai??i??t ride at all.Ai?? So, TransLink might be losing a seat on transit but it isnai??i??t losing much money:
After TransLink hires a collection agency to go after bums and teenagers, rest assured, fare evaders will end up costing taxpayers more than the $170 million for the fare gates and up to $15 million annually to administer the fare gates.Ai?? Mayor Corrigan thinks that TransLink is deceiving the public about fare losses:
Now if you want to report on something substantial andAi?? serious, how about reporting on the fact that TransLink collected $1,382 millionAi?? in revenue to move 317,635 people in 2011?Ai??Ai?? After subtracting $38Ai?? million for toll revenue and $115 million for road, bridge and bicycleAi?? expenditures – transit revenues were about $1,229 million and the administrativeAi?? cost attributed to the deadbeats running TransLink was about $332Ai?? million.Moreover, it cost TransLink $10.60 ($1,229 million / 365 daysAi?? / 317,635 people) to put someone onto transit for one day in 2011.Ai??Ai?? Gulp!How about reporting on the drop in ridership on the CanadaAi?? Line, SeaBus and WCE in 2011?Ai?? See attached ridership which is highlyAi?? inflated for buses in 2011 due to the almost free bus passes handed out toAi?? students in 2011.Ai?? Donai??i??t expect ridership increases of any significance inAi?? 2012.Ai?? TransLink has exhausted all its gimmicks used to inflate ridership – recycling riders and counting them twice when they transfer to the SkyTrain fromAi?? buses, for instance.Ai?? How about reporting on the exploding vehicle useAi?? since the formation of TransLink?Ai?? Transit use is lagging the populationAi?? growth in Metro Vancouver, see attached.ec
Not that you will post opposing views, but a quick comment. Just to be clear the numbers you are talking about are per day, also Eric Chris’s numbers account for the transfers already. His numbers only ‘count riders on the system by mode wher the fare was paid,’ so if they started on a bus they show up as a bus passenger….so if 80% transfer from the bus then your are only counting 20% of the people moved (ie actual total of 539570 per day), this is actually higher than Translinks reported trips of 392200 per day on Skytrain/Canada line (so obviously not 80% transfering from bus).
TransLink is famous for posting all sorts of figures that confusion reigns supreme. This is done on purpose to prevent any sort of accurate accounting of ridership and how the transit system is operating. The old adage, “Figures can lie and liars certainly can figure” holds true.
The fear at TransLink is that an independent audit of TransLink and its associated operating companies by BC’ auditor General, because his report would be extremely damning with not very happy consequences for middle and upper management.
Glad to be off the SPAM list, just for info the APTA now has ridership numbers to 2011 (349,597,600 trips in 2011) so surprisingly ridership is tracking almost along the government goal for now. Hopefully ridership can continue to grow despite the funding problems.
I was also glad to read Jan’s posts on Karlseruhe to get a good idea of theoretical capacity of the system.
Zweisystem replies: I have now confirmed that the portion of line being relocated in a subway was seeing 45 second headways during peak hours and that ridership on the same portion of line has exceeded 40,000 pphpd. The problems experienced was that the ‘mass’ of people caused much congestion and the subway was to remove both the trams and the tram customers from the street.
Rico whoever you are and for whatever reason you are posting nonsense here, you are quoting the number of times that transit-passengers board transit rather than passenger trips or people using transit. Transit users can’t be at two places at the same time. In Metro Vancouver, about 17% of the “working population” uses transit. For the entire 2.4 million Metro Vancouver population including both working and non-working individuals, 11% of the population or 264,000 living and breathing people use transit on average – regardless of the misleading ridership stated by TransLink. Transit typically serves bums, students, seniors and professionals (professionals working downtown) and transit will never appeal to the middle class comprising about 80% of the commuting population.
In 2011 according to TransLink data, the number of times that passengers stepped onto transit or boarded transit was 355 million annually (look under transit ridership in the following link):
http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/statistics/Pages/KeyFacts.aspx
So what? What value is this statistic stating the number of times that passengers step onto a bus or train? It would be the same as ICBC listing how many times drivers get in and out of their vehicle annually – useless information. TransLink states the number of times that passengers board transit to confuse politicians funding transit and to make it sound as if TransLink is moving so many people when it isn’t.
It is very easy for TransLink to “mistakenly” clone riders many times and the stated trips by TransLink can be taken with a grain of salt. Here is how TransLink might inflate ridership: you give students, who don’t have any other way to get around, almost free U-Passes costing $30 monthly – and run party buses from downtown Vancouver to UBC until 3:36 am. Now the world is their oyster!
Students from UBC take the 99 Bee to the home of fellow students to party before hitting the boogie clubs in downtown Vancouver (first trip). Then, students after a few hours of partying make it to the boogie clubs and kick up a storm (second trip).
On the return trip, students go back to the party house for more partying (trip three and counting!). Finally, hooting and hollering students entertaining the residents in Point Grey catch the N17 late night bus provided by TransLink (paid by taxing drivers) for the fourth trip!
So there you have it, the U-Pass has just made four people out of each partying student taking transit and not a single car has been taken off the roads because none of the students would be driving without the 99 B-Line and N17 party buses. Of course this is just a hypothetical example and TransLink is really providing late night transit for hard working individuals who need it. We know this to be true because TransLink says so.
http://www.rockantenne.de/webplayer/?playchannel=alternative
ec
I have been told by a source who works for TransLink, that there was a memo that stated that there have been instances of students boarding the Canada line 8 times in one day, with the U-Pass. This is not to say all students are boarding the Canada Line more than twice a day, but the concern is that many students are using the Canada line for 4 or 6 each day. Example: A Richmond student, going to Langara, may take the Canada line to Oak Ridge and back for lunch and later take the metro downtown, then home again in the evening (5 boardings).
Zei, can you post a link to your Karlseruhe information as it seems you have different numbers than Jan posted (52 trams or tramtrains per hour or 69second headways). Assuming all of these were double trains (most aren’t but I am willing to pretend they are and that headways would not suffer due to longer loading times and clearing intersections for double trains) that would be a practical capacity of 52 trams or trains times 250 people per unit by 2 units for a practical capacity of 26,000pphpd (obviously a lower peak loading number as well). Did you find some other information you can link to that shows your 40,000pphpd?
Zwei replies: But you forgot yo include the “added” service during peak hours, services that are not on a schedule, but added as needed. As well some of the trams carry larger ‘crush’ loads during peak hours. Jan admitted that 45 second headways do happen, thus capacity increases. Your obsession with linking in telling as most of the major misinformation about modern LRT come from links. I use transit journals (most of which is not posted on line) and experts in the field, for my information.
Zei to save me the time please just reread Jan’s post I still have a lot of trouble cutting and pasting from the tablet. Also note that my numbers assumed all double units and this is actually not the case.
Zwei replies: Rico, get a real life, your anti LRT shtick is tiresome, I have talked with experts in the field and they have confirmed that peak hour capacity on the line being put in a subway was 35,000 to 40,000+ pphpd. If you wish not to believe it, go whine on the skyscraper page.
I put a lot of stock on Jan’s posts, but I also consult with real experts, who also have close contacts in the VBK who also have confirmed the initial news release.
The tooth fairy told me her son was one of your experts and he should have a link or source if I ask you nicely.
Re: Scofflaws rack up millions in fare evasion tickets, May 14
TransLink reported $7 million in losses due to unpaid fines last year, while there was a reported revenue of $1.2 billion for the same period. This puts the “loss” at about 0.5 per cent.
Dividing the $7 million “loss” by the fine amount of $173 results in 40,462 – the number of evaded fares. Multi-ply this by the fare of $2.50 per zone, which shows the true revenue loss is $101,156.06. The real loss is less than 0.1 per cent. This level of loss to shoplifting would be the envy of any retailer.
Fines of $173 are ridiculously inflated. If TransLink wishes to further mislead the public so as to justify future fare rate, fuel and property tax increases, they could always increase the fine to $500 or even $1,000, thereby increasing their supposed revenue “losses.”
ROBERT LOBLAW Vancouver
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Number+crunching+fare+evasion/6670319/story.html#ixzz1vnSca5a8
Not working from the tablet today. From Jan’s comments,
‘During the peak hour between (which in Karlsruhe is rather between 7 and 8 AM by the way) you’ll get a maximum of 52 trams, respectively a headway of 69 seconds, and that is about the maximum you can operate before reliability starts decreasing considerably, as even today, especially during peak hours trams will often start queuing up at the signalised intersections each side of the central pedestrian area.
Please take note that I am talking about *scheduled* headway there. If you were to go out in the street, you could of course observe trams following each other as closely as 45 seconds, but the difference between those two values is necessary to give the timetable some kind of resilience. Actually *scheduling* trams at 45 seconds intervals would definitively be madness.’
Also note Jan noted that there are 47 scheduled services per hour in the morning peak, the 52 trams/trains per hour includes the extra services. Jan’s comments and numbers make sense to me, they are the best info I have seen, you claim you have better info…..so give me a source or link, otherwise stop spouting sillyness.
Zweisystem replies: Contrary to what Jan said, a transit specialist overseas told me that indeed Karlsruhe’s was seeing 45 second headways in peak hours and there more services than what was scheduled. The congestion, both of trams and people, compelled the transit authority to go underground. Simple math shows that 45 second headways = 90 trips per hour.
Cardinal Fang responds: Rico, your agenda is well known; to score points on the RftV blog on behalf of your pay-masters, Translink & the BC Liberals.
Do your self and everyone else a favour, carry out your own research, formulate your own data and write your own conclusion, rather than posting demands for the bloggers to let you have their sources so you might plagiarise their information.