Fare enforcement is going on against transit riders with a Compass Card, but no valid fare.

A spokesperson with TransLink confirmed that transit police are checking on the reloadable cards, but qualified that this is not a current priority.

Responding to questions at a media briefing Wednesday (January 20), Jennifer Morland verified that transit police have given out tickets to people that have Compass Cards with no valid fare.

“Yes they have. I don’t have numbers on that, but yes,” Morland said.

Morland was asked whether transit police are using scanners to check Compass Cards.

“What I can tell you is we do have the capability to see and check fares with Compass Cards,” she replied. “But right now our focus really is on education. We know that this is a big change for our customers, and we want to make sure that we are supporting people along the way.”

On whether fare enforcement is going on, Morland said: “We do have people that are out on the system that can check fare cards.”

“Our focus is on education,” Morland reiterated. “That being said, customers are still required to be traveling with a valid fare in fare paid zones. So that has not changed.”

The Compass Card system was introduced by the provincial government with the stated objective of stopping fare evasion, and to enhance planning of services.

According to TransLink, the program involving smart cards and fare gates will reduce fare evasion by nearly $7 million a year.

The regional transportation authority has reported that fare evasion rates are between four and six percent. It previously claimed to be losing $18 million a year due to fare evasion.

TransLink hired Cubic Transportation Systems to deliver the Compass Card system. The agency has reported that it will be paying the California-based company $12 million a year to operate the system.

At the media briefing, Morland said that TransLink is keeping at least one gate open at every transit station, referring to gates for people with accessibility issues.

“We have been phasing in the closing of the fare gates, and so we do have those gates open and they will remain open until we make that full transition to Compass,” she said.

Morland said that there are now 500,000 riders using a Compass Card.

“I don’t have a hard number or a hard date,” Morland said when asked about when all fare gates will be closed.

Morland added: “We know that we see approximately 800,000 customers using the system every day. So as we get up to that number, then we’ll know that more and more people have made that conversion.”