Will fare gates spell end of transit cops in Metro Vancouver?

by Carlito Pablo on July 13th, 2011 at 3:07 PM

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Burnaby city councillor Nick Volkow says that soon there may be little use for the transit police.

With work already started on TransLink’s smart-card and fare-gate project that will become operational in 2013, Volkow suggests that getting rid of most of Canada’s only armed transit-police force is in order.

But that doesn’t mean that Volkow is supporting the idea of putting up barriers at SkyTrain stations.

“The media seems to think, ”˜Oh, well, that’s okay [to] spend $190 million, redesign all SkyTrain stations, put in all these fare gates and everything else, and spend $30 million a year to maintain these things in order to save”¦anywhere from $3 [million] to $8 million,’ ” Volkow told the Straight in a phone interview. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

On July 11, Volkow and the rest of Burnaby council voted unanimously to request that TransLink suspend the implementation of the smart-card and fare-gate system.

“The main reason for the creation of that police force was to go after fare evaders,” he explained. “Well, now that police force has grown to about 220 people. It’s got a budget of $28 million annually. If the fare gates are now going to stop all the fare evaders, what are we going to do with all these cops? Is there a need for all these police? Maybe we can cut back that police department by 75 percent. That’s what I think. The main reason”¦for this transit police and giving them guns to chase after people that are stealing a $3 ride, I guess that reason for their existence doesn’t exist anymore.”

A city staff report recalled that Burnaby council had previously endorsed smart cards but not fare gates. “The smart-card idea might be smart [but] the fare-gate portion of it is pretty stupid,” Volkow said.

The staff report also related that in 2002 and 2005, the TransLink board rejected fare gates because the cost of putting up and maintaining such barricades are far greater than what can be recouped even if fare evasion was eliminated.

Comments

14 Comments

Wait, Nick Volkow wanted more cops on skytrain, regardless..

Jul 13, 2011 at 5:29pm

<i>"Burnaby councillors want to get TransLink police out of their cars and onto SkyTrain.

City councillors are calling for a meeting with the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service to find out how much time officers spend policing transit.

"We should find out exactly what their jurisdiction is, what their mandate is," Coun. Nick Volkow said at Monday's council meeting. "I think we're in the dark about a lot of what these people do."

Last week, Raj Chouhan, NDP MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds, said there have been 10 assaults near the Edmonds SkyTrain station this year. A teenaged boy is suspected of grabbing women's breasts, buttocks and crotch areas.

Volkow, who is a truck driver, said he often sees transit police driving in police cars. <b> He said transit users would feel safer if more police officers were patrolling SkyTrains and buses. </b>

"It drives me crazy to see these people driving around in their Crown Victorias," Volkow added."</i>

http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=01cfef09-80ea-4a2b-b5be-d11bbb...

Fran

Jul 13, 2011 at 6:25pm

One thing... fare gates stop fare invaders, yes... but they don't weed people with behavior issues or weapons stuffed in their coats and backpacks. SkyTrain needs police in order to keep the system safe -- you try standing outside of Broadway Station or New Westminster at shy of midnight waiting for a bus... the system is full of freakshows -- it's been a circus since Expo.

Neilio

Jul 13, 2011 at 10:15pm

"there may be little use for the transit police"
They were looking out for those stealing from TransLink??
I thought maybe they were providing security for the riders.
Silly me.

Rick H

Jul 13, 2011 at 10:27pm

Like authoritarians will ever concede power willingly. Crown Vics, indeed.

jesssie

Jul 13, 2011 at 11:44pm

Official reason for AK47 transit patrol: catch fare cheats!

Real reason: cut down on rapes, murders ...

Law Abiding Citizen

Jul 14, 2011 at 10:23am

Putting in Turnstiles & Card Readers should NOT cost $190 Mill.

Transit needs to do it in a few million or less certainly not more than $5 Mill.

As for the Transit Police it would make too much sense to make them ride Transit, no cars, if they want to engage in Car pursuit they can call the local City Cops with Cars.

I know common sense hard to find in Transit.

real reason?

Jul 14, 2011 at 10:42am

Yes sir watching those officers chasing that bus because granny who didn't have enough for her fare who could be a murder no doubt And now we can all rest better and it isn't like the police are good at catching rapist and murders as Pickton speaks volumes of their capability to do their job.
Get yourself a pink whistle was the solution to the attacks at 29th station and not having transit cops about. as women were being attacked.
The real reason is to keep the low income who have no means to get about off public transportation. If it was for dangerous criminals they wouldn't be following buses all around the city except for the rich end ticketing the poor.

And the Mayor of course

Jul 14, 2011 at 11:43am

Who didn't pay enough fare for that extra zone.

derka

Jul 14, 2011 at 2:58pm

I am a fare commando i never pay out of some ancient anarchists creedo.

Anyways I've noticed there already aren't any Transit cops around. You only see Transit 'Security' now, the cops are basically real cops and meshed into the VPD/RCMP

Protip: When the fare gates start, you can clone the cards easily and reprogram your fare onto them. $190 million for some useless gates that any hacker can bypass easily with a MSR