Homeless in Vancouver: TransLink on guard against tipsy fare evaders
Yesterday morning I watched the well-oiled and financed TransLink machine stop fare evasion in its tracks. It took one bus driver, two transit supervisors, two transit security guards, and over one hour, but they stopped one half-drunk First Nations guy from getting on a bus for free so he could get home before he passed out. It was awesome, let me tell you.
Dave isn’t really a bad guy. Some would say he has a mischievous sense of humour, and it’s fair to say he has poor impulse control.
There’s a reason his nickname is Dave “Warrant”. Monday morning, when I saw that skinny, obviously half-in-the-bag aboriginal guy making his wobbly way up West Broadway toward McDonald’s, I said to myself: “Here comes trouble.”
Dave’s reputation for trouble precedes him
I was having breakfast. Florida Pete was sitting beside me, talking away, as I worked on my Remembrance Day post. Dave might have been working on a beer, cleverly disguised in a takeaway, paper coffee cup, or it may have been coffee, or Listerine, or rubbing alcohol. It was hard to say. He walked up to the open doors of the Number 9 transit bus and tried to board.
To be sure Dave was tipsy, and certainly had no money for the fare. For whatever reason, the driver wasn’t letting Dave on the bus. Dave tried several approaches but they were all rebuffed.
I wanted to finish my post, but the unfolding street drama distracted me—I could see what was coming next: Dave wouldn’t get mad but he would try to get even. He was only out of sight for a moment, then he came into the McDonald’s to confer with Pete and myself.
Dave declared the bus driver wasn’t going anywhere. Pete and I followed his gaze; he’d pulled one of the bus trolley poles off the overhead wire.
“He's going to have to come out,” Dave declared, expectantly.
If the driver came out to reattach the pole to the wire, I think Dave was planning to jump on the bus and try to get away with sitting in the back. But the driver didn’t have to come out.
He waited for a two-person TransLink Road Services crew, both wearing “Transit Supervisor” jackets, then he came out of the bus. Dave went outside where he and one of the crew had a frank discussion, apparently about passenger etiquette. After the bus was back on its way, the road-services crew stayed—waiting patiently, along with Dave. Someone, at some point, had called transit security.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Dave and Pete and the road crew amused themselves. I worked on my post and lost track of the situation. but at one point I looked up, and two transit security guards were there.
At first I thought they were transit police, but they weren’t wearing guns. One of them was writing out what looked like a ticket, which is pretty much what the transit security guards do. Nothing else notable happened. Dave didn’t cause a scene. He’d earlier confided that he was drop-dead tired, and just wanted to get home.
So I watched TransLink stop an inebriated fare evader (there never was any chance of Dave paying), at a fairly substantial cost. I should emphasize that Dave would have presented as somewhat drunk when the bus driver barred him from getting on the bus, but Dave wasn’t being lippy, loud, or abusive. He was friendly.
Come New Year’s Eve the transit system will happily give free rides to thousands of rude, abusive, loud, and very drunk revellers. But Monday wasn’t New Year’s.
If transit security did write Dave a ticket, they wasted a slip of paper. I don’t suppose they gave him a ride home, so maybe he repeated the entire process 10 blocks farther east on Broadway.
I also don’t know where the blue-jacketed Genesis security company guy was. The one paid for by the South Granville Business Improvement Association (SGBIA), to patrol the area and look for “street disorder”. He’s been in the McDonald’s this morning at least three times already, but was nowhere to be seen yesterday. Oh, that’s right. Yesterday was a legal holiday, and he would’ve had to be paid more by the SGBIA. And they obviously didn’t want to waste the money.
Comments
29 Comments
Michele Baillie
Nov 13, 2013 at 1:00am
What seems to be a waste of money is in fact; a necessary deterrent. The fact that Translink Personnel attending chose to exercise discretion (for whatever reason) and not to take "Dave" into custody is a decision that is entirely within their purview to make.
Guest
Nov 13, 2013 at 6:11am
I was actually there, and "Dave" was not stopped for having "no fare" I enjoyed reading a biased article from the comfort of your seat in a mcdonalds restaurant. Maybe next time you should actually find out what happened, look forward to your next story.
anonymous
Nov 13, 2013 at 6:34am
I'm sure the transit securities were there to back up the transit supervisors, as they are not trained to deal with physical confrontations. Also, I doubt the transit securities gave Dave a ticket, since he was never actually on the bus based on your story. So don't worry about them wasting paper!
Jason
Nov 13, 2013 at 7:09am
I cant believe the straight hired this guy lol. Alot of assumptions going on here.
Sky
Nov 13, 2013 at 8:29am
Seems to me that nobody cared about him, they just thought of themselves and how to handle this fare-dodger without risking any liability. Can't really fault the Translink staff because they simply followed protocol, but it is kind of depressing to see how numb people are becoming in this city.
WTF
Nov 13, 2013 at 9:04am
Transit Policy is that Drivers are to let people on who don't have a fare the decision to charge them is not the Drivers but Security and/or Police for Fare Evasion.
I witness Drivers giving White Women a free pass all the time while discriminating against ethnic minorities and/or the Poor.
This was a colossal waste of time & money for both Transit & the passengers who had somewhere to go.
Transit has multiple layers of redundant Cash devouring Budget ripping Officials...
1. Green Jacket Useless Transit personnel who are in fact sub-contractors without the power to check or issue fare evasion tickets, tens of millions per year wasted,
2. Transit Security, this is a joke since you already have Transit Police who conduct much the same function, redundant waste, at a similar cost to Transit Police 9$50 Million per year+++)
3. Transit Police at currently $50 Million per year+++ when local Police can and do respond to emergencies at Transit locations across the lower mainland,
4. $177+++ Million for Fare Gates + $15+++ Million per year to run them to save on less than $5 Million a year on Fare evasion = Stupid,
Transit ought to allow low income people to ride for free with the Ministry of Welfare and/or income tested with a special pass much like retired Transit employees enjoy.
Ian Simpson
Nov 13, 2013 at 9:12am
What is the point of this article? Was this attempt to display the exploitation by Trans Link towards the marginalized minorities who are punished for their transgressions committed at the expense of taxpayers? Or was this article written in spite of perhaps the author having been "harassed" and punished for bilking a system that has been abused for far too long? I personally commute on the transit system often in rush hour to avoid the astronomical and preposterous rates for parking within financial district of downtown Vancouver, but I digress. The simple fact that I can travel on the transit system within acceptable time frames, and not worry about feeding a starving parking meter every two hours, puts my mind in a peaceful state while I can focus on my tasks and agenda with my clientele. I also applaud Trans Link for adopting measures are put into place to mitigate potential threats to my safety and that of others who utilize the transit system on a daily basis to carry on with contributing as productive members of society. I can recall many incidents on the sky train and bus that required immediate intervention of Police and transit security. And shocking as it sounds, guess who the culprit is nine times out ten? I have witnessed many “fare cheats” enter their way onto the back of a bus and begin what was a peaceful journey into an episode of Jerry Springer on wheels. Again, I can drive my way to my office and meetings, but I elect to avoid the gridlock and congestion of rush hour mania at the cost of perhaps a lively, unscripted and sometimes engaging reality show on wheels. What I find irritating is the unfortunate circumstance that I, along with every other “honest” passenger who pays to ride the transit system on a daily basis, has to fork over more money for fare hikes due to transgressions of those who feel no urgency to remedy their behavior at the cost of honest taxpayers who ride the transit system. I have had on several occasions the Transit guards check my tickets while entering busy corridors and sometimes the occasional surprise check along certain buses. I cannot count the times I’ve heard the numerous bemoans of the “cheats” who declare immunity to being a free rider. It’s at these junctions that allow an opportunity for myself along with every other person who chose to pay to unleash a tirade of expletives and frustration, but it
Ian Simpson
Nov 13, 2013 at 9:12am
wouldn’t do justice, as it would serve only as a platform for those who search for conflict. I don’t mind my contribution of tax dollars to assist those in need of social assistance. As citizens of a productive and prosperous society of free enterprise, I feel it is our moral obligation to lend assistance to those who “choose” to one day become productive members of society, and not to be confused with those who tend to “expose and exploit” the loopholes of social assistance without suffering any repercussions for their “poor life choices”. Again, everything in life is free…even on the Transit system I chose to pay to utilize. Correct?
RICHARD
Nov 13, 2013 at 9:19am
In my opinion VANCOUVER CITY should look to PORTLAND and implement free transit in downtown core.
It would definitely safe money and lives...
David Grey
Nov 13, 2013 at 10:10am
Homeless can get a ministry pass its only 45 dollars a year and is a three zone pass. Worth in the thousands. The problem is they sell them, and then try to ride for free while someone else rides on their pass.