I Told You so Department.
Old Zwei told you so that the Compass Card was old kit as are the fare gates!
The Compass Card and the fare gates deserve a criminal investigation but that will never happen, not in BC, where the police and courts shy away from political interference.
Fare evasion was not a problem, yet the mainstream media, notably radio ‘NW went on and on about fare evasion to such an extent (the old repeat a lie often enough routine) that the public became enraged at fare evasion and demanded fare gates, which by the way, don’t really curb fare evasion.
Now, TransLink is struggling to install old kit that in all probability will only be used for a short time because they are not cost effective.
Translation: It will cost more to operate the Compass Card and fare gates than what was lost due to fare evasion.
Hate to say it but; “I told you so”.
Will Compass Card technology be obsolete when rolled out?
Other cities have adopted mobile passes
Anita Bathe January 22, 2015
ANCOUVER (NEWS1130) ai??i?? With TransLinkai??i??s Compass Card system not rolling out until at least the end of the year, a digital expert says the technology will be a lot closer to becoming obsolete.
Richard Smith with Vancouverai??i??s Centre for Digital Media says mobile phone payment is really the future.
ai???The smart phone is becoming the thing that people have in their hands and they donai??i??t want to use it to do transactions. To the extent that you can accommodate it, youai??i??re better off.ai???
Heai??i??s not sure how hard it may be to change TransLinkai??i??s system once itai??i??s implemented but he says the technology is in demand.
ai???Tokyoai??i??s system uses a separate card and what people have done is they stick them to the back of their phone so that could be an interim solution. A challenge arises there if you have too many things stuck to the back of your phone then either they mix each other up or they donai??i??t work.ai???
In London, people can use their credit or debit card to get through fare gates and some forms of mobile phone payment are also available.
TransLink would not confirm whether smart phone payment is something it is currently looking at.
Ai??
This analysis is actually incorrect.
Compass is wired for future integration with smartphones because it uses NFC technology – the global standard that is used and processed by Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and other services that will become popular. TransLink has repeatedly stated, through “Ask Compass”, the FAQ page on their website and elsewhere http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Compass-Card/FAQs.aspx), that opening up Compass to smartphone-oriented payment is a possibility – it is just not the priority for now.
The technologies used in Japanese smart card systems (Sony FeLiCA) use older RFiD and have only been directly integrated with few, specialized smartphones because the mobile OS developers (Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc) have all decided on NFC.
TransLink is not behind with the times. As far as I’m aware, the big issue with Compass has to do with card readers on buses and that would seem to have more to do with false advertising from Cubic than our transit operator.
Zwei replies: Well maybe, but the whole system maybe retired before that happens.
I have serious reservations about using our mobile phones to pay for fares. There are millions of phones out there using many versions of iOs and Android. How much will cost to make sure the fare card system is compatible with each version?
Here in Toronto, the PRESTO farecard has been a billion dollar disaster. To load the card, you need to go online, and the funds are not immediately available. You have to wait a few hours.
If you want the fund available, instantly, you need to line up at one of the few transit agents equipped to load a Presto card, or go to a GO station. It’s a crap system.
It seems that farecards are a scam industry and transit agencies have been sold snake oil.
@Daryl DC, the Compass system will never work in Vancouver where a few transit corridors are overloaded and operate on frequent transit network, FTN – go go rush rush, no time to tap “in or out” with cards. Taping “in or out” takes about 3 seconds for each user and not the 0.3 seconds “ass”umed by the clueless at TransLink. If TransLink implements the Compass system requiring a physical contact to board or alight, it will add up to about 40% to the commuting time on the 99 B-Line route, for instance – that will go over well. That is the reason that TransLink is dragging its feet on Compass.
I’m not sure how allowing students to gossip on their cell phones with NFC helps the Compass system avoid the physical tap “in or out” which is the problem. Enlighten us young Einstein. You always seem to have an excuse for every screw up, just like TransLink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication
As with the Compass debacle, TransLink is working on NFC. In other words, TransLink is stalling and wasting our money as usual while it hires a high priced consultant to figure things out while the idiots at TransLink drive with their taxpayer paid driving allowance and aren’t in any rush as each of them is your typical deadbeat government employee who you will no doubt become one day.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1702780/exclusive-high-car-allowances-for-translink-execs-draws-critics-ire/
It isn’t that the smart phones can’t be integrated into the Compass system, it is just that no one at TransLink has the smarts to do the computer programming and electrical engineering. Idiots at TransLink aren’t worth a crap and are just sucking up tax dollars.
“Why doesn’t TransLink offer an app for all NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled smart phones to use with Compass?
Our system is being designed to work with NFC cell phones sometime in the future. But right now, our focus is on getting the system working smoothly and then launching our next phase of implementation. Once that’s done, we’ll look at adding more features that our customers will enjoy, like interfaces with cell phones.”
Yup, TransLink is too “focused” to worry about the smart phone interface right now. Translation: everyone at TransLink is too stupid and incompetent.