#ThanksABillion for one billion Compass taps!
#ThanksABillion for one billion Compass taps!
It’s time to celebrate!! We are quickly approaching ONE BILLION Compass taps across the system and we want to commemorate this special occasion and to thank YOU, the Compass user, we have an exciting contest where you could win one of ten, special edition #Canada150 Compass Cards loaded with $50 in Stored Value!
Update: Around 8:30 a.m. on August 24, 2017, a customer who boarded a bus on the 100 22nd Station/Marpole Loop tapped in on the bus’s mobile validator to record the billionth tap since the Compass system was first switched on for testing in September 2013!
How to enter (you can choose one or both entry modes!):
1. Comment on this Buzzer blog post with a memory that you have from before Compass by filling in the blank: “Remember when….”
2. Retweet one (or all!) of the following tweets on Twitter:
#ThanksABillion we’re nearing 1 billion Compass taps! 10 chances to win $50 in Stored Value. RT to enter https://t.co/KVwE7WnlEp ^at pic.twitter.com/XgeXGZYLKU
— TransLink BC | Masks Mandatory (@TransLink) August 23, 2017
#ThanksABillion we’re nearing 1 billion Compass taps! 10 chances to win $50 in Stored Value. RT to enter https://t.co/KVwE7WnlEp ^at pic.twitter.com/ilfnk0oSV6
— TransLink BC | Masks Mandatory (@TransLink) August 24, 2017
**Privacy settings for your #ThanksaBillion tweets
must be set to public to be entered**
The contest will run from Wednesday, August 23, 2017 to Friday, September 1, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. The winners will be chosen at random and notified within 48 hours of the contest closing.
Please read our official contest rules for more information.
Have questions about the contest? Ask away!
Comment below, email us or send us a tweet.
Author: Christina Jakopin
Remember when the streets were littered with used transfers?
Remember when the bus driver used to rip a piece a paper with times on it as our ticket
Remember when the transfer were paper and you had to see what time was punched to make sure you can make it back home with just one fare.
Remember when riders had to go to the store every month to buy a FareCard. Now, we can do it online with the Compass Card.
is it twitter only or can it be Instagram, too? also your system for compass must be super popular!
Twitter or a response on the blog! :)
Remember when you had to keep all your transfers for tax season write offs.
Remembee rush to seven eleven to buy paper pass
Remember when faresaver tickets were discontinue?
remember when you could pay for ticket on the bus and it was still good for the skytrain.
Remember when the UPass had your face on it, at least until you stuck it in the farebox enough times to create a giant white streak down the centre?
Remember when the Canada Line was being constructed near Bridgeport?
Remember when you had to ensure you had enough change before every bus journey
‘remen when I was in grade 7 in Burnaby and kicked off a bus for paying concession fare without having a go card (they didnt issue them until grade 8 I Burnaby)
Remember when… you had to buy a whole bunch of faresavers from the 7/11 near your house before any family trip or school field trip? and carefully rip them off so that you won’t rip it before inserting in into the machine
Remember when the Canada Line was still being built for the 2010 Olympics?
Remember when I didn’t know how to validate the ticket in a winter night couple years ago. I stayed still in front of the door gate and wish it could open quickly… the longest night ever until a security man showed me how to validate at the machine! I love the current process of the Compass better (:
Remember when you had to pick the scratch off card powder out of your thumbnails?
Remember when you either had to always make sure you had the right change or have time to go to 7/11 to get the fare savers.
Remember the Bombardier train that ran from Olympic Village to Granville Island during the Olympics?
Remember when it was only 35 cents to take the bus to school? 35 years ago!
Remember when you had to ask your friends if they had any FareSavers to spare minutes before boarding the ferry, because you couldn’t purchase them at the terminal?
Remember when losing a bus pass meant you had to get Faresavers or scrounge for change for the rest of the month, on top of what you’d already paid for the pass?
Remember when the Canada Line first opened and there were long lineups to get into the train station at Vancouver City Centre station?
Remember when we used to pay with cash for everything (not just buses) and the driver would rip a transfer off at a certain angle to indicate the time of expiry?
Remember when you had to scramble to remember if you had an Faresavers left in the packet to get you on to the bus that day?
Remember when I’m in panic when see transit police on the trains.
remember when there were the 10 pack fare cards?
Remember when it was just fun to insert the faresavers and watch them pop back out?
Remember when we’d have a magical collection of USED tickets at home. Now, how was that for collectors edition!?
Remember when we’d have to UNFOLD used-tickets from our pockets and hope it would still work!
remember that feeling when you woke up on the 1st of the month without a month pass
Remember when it was 150th Canada day celebration and people got selected Compass cards? I hope I get lucky this time.
Remember when you were young enough to not pay adult fare, you used a blue plastic token to pay your fare? And when you needed more, you bought a little paper envelope full of them from the bus driver. Also, the driver gave you change back from your $1 bill using the metal coin dispenser that all drivers had. (1960’s)
Remeber when fares were little brown rectangular papers?
Remember when there was only one b-line and it went from ubc to lougheed mall
the bus driver would rip the transfer ticket with the time left on it
Remember when if you lost your monthly pass you had no recourse?
remember when you used to have to put coins into the machine to get the tickets
Remember when you had to rip Faresavers out of the booklet
Got annoyed of people using the system (faking they had passes). (I can admit I have done it once or twice). But now with faregates, it makes miss miwny go into the system!
Remember when you seen more people on skytrain before compass gates appeared? Remember the transition between bctransit to translink having the system named buslink?
Remember metrotown for 35 and a half years with one elevator and no escalators? Now there are 4 elevators and 4 escalators (2 up 2 down). And having to ask driver “can i get a transfer please” even before faresavers invented!?
I believe 35 years. Not really good with math of year calculating. But 1986 to present. 1 elevator and stairs turns into 4 escalators and 4 elevators with one of them a service elevator. Dont worry the long travel to street level passing in bus loop at metro is soon over with new walkway being created
Remember when Bus drivers are nice and still are!!
Remember when you go to Vancouver International Airport extra $5.00 will be charged automatically from your compass card for one way.
Remember when you had to dig through your purse/pockets to try to find exact change for the bus
Remember when you struggled to put your ticket into the validator on the buses and at the skytrain stations
Remember when you missed a tap-in or tap-out and being blocked next time when you tap.
Seriously, the system needs to send a notification when a tap-in or tap-out is missed.
Remember when you weren’t planning to get rid of most of the ways to get across the Fraser from Richmond to Vancouver with only one zone?
Remember when it was the last day of the month and you had to wait in line for 20 minutes at the Safeway Customer Service Counter to buy next month’s farecard.
remember when the bus driver sometimes forget to hand me my paper transfer ticket when i pay for my bus fare and i would say “transfer please”
Remember when there was one line of skytrain so you have to bus all the way to YVR?
Remember when we used to take the bus downtown from Richmond
Remember when all of your pockets were filled with used paper tickets.
Remember when the transfers were made of newsprint and sometimes you’d luck out and get a transfer with lots of extra time on it?
Remember when we had to rip out a ticket from our fare saver “books”
Remember when the faresaver machine ate your paper pass and spat it back out with a hole in it? :)
Remember when you paid your cash fare on the bus, and it wasted lots of time?
Remember when the transfer would be ripped to show what time it expired?
Remember when bus drivers needed to have different colour paper strips for transfers, where they needed to adjust the tear line every 5 minutes?
Remember when there were white transfers for single zone, green transfers for multi-zone, and pink transfers for I can’t remember what.
remember when we used tickets as fare
Remember when you couldn’t get the tickets wet.
Remember when you had to carry exact change for a bus fare!
Remember when you had to carry tons of change to have exact fare.
Remember when you had to find a London Drugs every week to get a new set of faresavers.
Remember when you would worry about folding your bus transfer out of fear that it wouldn’t work again when you inserted it back into the farebox?
Remember when the Canada Line wasn’t built yet, and you needed a long bus ride to get around?
Remember when you would reach for a valid fare saver ticket and end up grabbing an old, expired one instead?
Remember when the ticket machine on the bus was out of order and you could get a free ride
Remember when you had to make sure you had exact change to put in the farebox, as it doesn’t give change?
Remember when the Canada Line hadn’t been built yet and the only time I spent in Richmond was in the airport waiting for a flight. Now I live here and am able to access downtown with ease. :)
Remember when…. I had to make sure I had the right amount of coins for the ride there AND back?! And to make sure I didn’t spend that money?..
Remember when we had to go to a convenient store to buy a bundle of fares or monthly pass?
Remember the bright monthly passes that had the shiny zone number you had to scratch in order to be validated.
On a fashion note, why aren’t there any gold compasses?
Remember when SkyTrain stations would be full of expired transfers on the ground.
Remember when cars would accidentally turn into the 98 B-line lane in Richmond?
Remember when we used fare savers.
Remember when transfers had expiration times and when your driver would show up 20 minutes late and refuse to let you on the bus because it was past the time on the ticket? Good times.
Remember when homeless people panhandled for faresaver cards?
Remember when we used to have transfers and they would expire and some bus drivers would let you on if it was just a few minutes, and others wouldn’t.
I remember when I used to sell FareSaver cards to all the tourists that did not have exact change when they boarded the 236 at Capilano Suspension Bridge. I even accepted US dollars at par.
Remember when BC Transit became TransLink in the late 90’s. I think we paid 75 cents for a ticket back then.
Remember when the bus transfer was good for the seabus and sky train.
On a side note it Would be nice if translink would put new transfer machines on the buses to give commuters a single use compasss transfer that can be used to get on the seabus and sky train. That way commuters aren’t paying twice or tourists for that matter.
I remember when you could transfer from bus to skytrain without purchasing a one use compass pass unless you were travelling between zones I also remember when the fares were 1.75.man im old
Remember when you had to buy an add fare BEFORE crossing a zone on the SkyTrain. Now Compass does that for you when you tap out-so much easier!
Remember when translink would print special edition bus passes for the Olympics, Police & Fire Games or the Grey Cup? If you volunteered for some of these events, like me, you got one.
Remember when pennies were used for bus fare
Remember when i first moved to north vancouver and i didn’t know that i had to scratch the number 2 on the front of the monthly pass ( for zones 1&2)
Remember when UPasses were physical cards you had to collect each month from the sub?
Remember when you had to get in a long line at Shoppers Drug Mart at end of every month to buy a monthly pass for next.
Remember when bus tickets were just strips of paper that were torn off horizontally by the bus driver?
Remember when it was the first of the month and you forgot to renew your monthly pass and then you got pulled off the train by transit police and had to plead your innocence? Fun times.
Remember when us students had paper U-Passes that were put into dispensera around the campuses every month.
Remember ripping the last fares average out of the booklet and having to remember to go buy another one?
Remember when you had to be careful of tearing out your pass for fear of ripping it?? Hahaha fun times :D
Remember when you had to be careful of tearing out your pass for fear of ripping it?? Haha fun times :D
Remember when you could go three zones after 9:30 and before 3:00 for a single zone fare
Remember when we had newspaper thin bus tickets. We gave it to the bus driver and they would punch out the date and time.
Remember when…
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates based on a former BC Liberal staffer who was now a lobbyist for the company that got the contract?
–TransLink acted as if fare gates and the Compass Card could not exist without each other?
–TransLink lied about having a replacement plan for the pedestrian overpass between Metrotown Mall and Metrotown Centre and tore it down during station renovations, putting thousands of pedestrians a day in peril, and then tried to blame the mall owners and the City of Burnaby for their own lack of concern and foresight?
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates even though they cost more to maintain each year than they save by reducing fare evasion?
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates in a transparent war on the poor and to make it look like they were “improving safety” for middle-class users who found the homeless “icky?” Because as you know, if someone is an actual criminal, they are going to see closed fare gates and think, “Oh, well I can’t go past these without a fare… that would be wrong!”
–there was no completely unnecessary, redundant transit gestapo costing taxpayers millions of unnecessary dollars each year and allowing retired RCMP and VPD officers to double-dip public pensions?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership that led to it being a toy system with overly-small platforms and terribly insufficient capacity, right out of the gate?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership where the contract specifies incredibly large fees if TransLink wants to run trains more frequently after 10pm at night, resulting in a “rapid transit” service with a frequency of only every 20 minutes on its southern branches?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership and TransLink and the private partner lied about how bored tunnelling would be used for the entire route, switching at the last minute to cut-and-cover to save money and thereby destroying multiple small businesses along Cambie Street?
–UBC students got their U-Passes in the mail and they were good for 8 months or 4 months and TransLink didn’t treat students like they were all potential thieves and also didn’t make them pay full price for transit during the summer if their courses didn’t run in all four months?
–the U-Pass was first introduced and was $22/month but somehow its discount vs. regular fares keeps dropping year after year and no one questions what the rationale for that is?
–UBC faculty and staff (and other employees around the region) could get 15% off their transit pass cost if they committed to buying a yearly employer pass?
–families could use a monthly pass for up to 2 adults and 4 children on Sundays and holidays?
–TransLink was going to cut the FareSaver discount to only 15% when they launched Compass and when accused of instituting a fare hike, they claimed it wasn’t a fare hike, it was a “reduction in discount?”
–TransLink committed to raising fares in 2017, 2018, and 2019 using the excuse that fares needed to “keep up with inflation” when, if you look at how much fares had already gone up in the last 10 or 15 years, it was considerably higher than the rate of inflation already?
–TransLink committed to raising fares in 2017, 2018, and 2019 but they’re raising them more for people who travel only 1 zone than those who travel 2 or 3 zones, resulting in people who choose to live closer to their jobs shouldering more of the fare burden?
–Remember when regular transit users who didn’t have monthly passes who were flying home via YVR could avoid being hit by the already-insane YVR Airport addfare of $5 by buying using DayPasses or FareSavers?
and finally:
–Remember when TransLink bowed to political pressure and allocated funds to build rapid transit in one of the most transit-unfriendly cities of the region (Surrey) which wouldn’t know good urban planning if it bit them in the ass, rather than make the sensible choice and fund the much-needed SkyTrain extension to the region’s 2nd biggest single transit destination, namely UBC, opting instead to extend the SkyTrain only to, of all places, Arbutus?
Remember when your fare ticket is damaged by rain in the winter.
Remember when we used to have a piece of ripped paper given by bus driver to tell us how much remaining time our ticket is valid for. (It might be before monthly pass became available)
Remember when a broken farebox meant everyone got a free ride?
Remember when you have to rush to and line up at the UBC bookstore to get the paper upass?
Remember when there were different colours representing each zone for faresavers?
Remember when there were monthly Buzzers with monthly contests?
Remember when…it took us 45min on the Nanaimo bus from 29th Avenue Station to get downtown before the Expo line went in 1986? Now it takes us 15min!!
Remember having to ask other passengers on the bus if they could break your $5 bill because the driver couldn’t make change?
Remember when you had to buy faresaver tickets every few weeks.
Remember when you had to carry exact change for the bus?!
Remember when the bus driver had to rip off a transfer for you?
Remember when all the transfers were littered everywhere!
What Cody said:
Remember when…
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates based on a former BC Liberal staffer who was now a lobbyist for the company that got the contract?
–TransLink acted as if fare gates and the Compass Card could not exist without each other?
–TransLink lied about having a replacement plan for the pedestrian overpass between Metrotown Mall and Metrotown Centre and tore it down during station renovations, putting thousands of pedestrians a day in peril, and then tried to blame the mall owners and the City of Burnaby for their own lack of concern and foresight?
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates even though they cost more to maintain each year than they save by reducing fare evasion?
–the BC Liberals forced TransLink to install fare gates in a transparent war on the poor and to make it look like they were “improving safety” for middle-class users who found the homeless “icky?” Because as you know, if someone is an actual criminal, they are going to see closed fare gates and think, “Oh, well I can’t go past these without a fare… that would be wrong!”
–there was no completely unnecessary, redundant transit gestapo costing taxpayers millions of unnecessary dollars each year and allowing retired RCMP and VPD officers to double-dip public pensions?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership that led to it being a toy system with overly-small platforms and terribly insufficient capacity, right out of the gate?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership where the contract specifies incredibly large fees if TransLink wants to run trains more frequently after 10pm at night, resulting in a “rapid transit” service with a frequency of only every 20 minutes on its southern branches?
–the Canada Line was built via a public-private partnership and TransLink and the private partner lied about how bored tunnelling would be used for the entire route, switching at the last minute to cut-and-cover to save money and thereby destroying multiple small businesses along Cambie Street?
–UBC students got their U-Passes in the mail and they were good for 8 months or 4 months and TransLink didn’t treat students like they were all potential thieves and also didn’t make them pay full price for transit during the summer if their courses didn’t run in all four months?
–the U-Pass was first introduced and was $22/month but somehow its discount vs. regular fares keeps dropping year after year and no one questions what the rationale for that is?
–UBC faculty and staff (and other employees around the region) could get 15% off their transit pass cost if they committed to buying a yearly employer pass?
–families could use a monthly pass for up to 2 adults and 4 children on Sundays and holidays?
–TransLink was going to cut the FareSaver discount to only 15% when they launched Compass and when accused of instituting a fare hike, they claimed it wasn’t a fare hike, it was a “reduction in discount?”
–TransLink committed to raising fares in 2017, 2018, and 2019 using the excuse that fares needed to “keep up with inflation” when, if you look at how much fares had already gone up in the last 10 or 15 years, it was considerably higher than the rate of inflation already?
–TransLink committed to raising fares in 2017, 2018, and 2019 but they’re raising them more for people who travel only 1 zone than those who travel 2 or 3 zones, resulting in people who choose to live closer to their jobs shouldering more of the fare burden?
–Remember when regular transit users who didn’t have monthly passes who were flying home via YVR could avoid being hit by the already-insane YVR Airport addfare of $5 by buying using DayPasses or FareSavers?
and finally:
–Remember when TransLink bowed to political pressure and allocated funds to build rapid transit in one of the most transit-unfriendly cities of the region (Surrey) which wouldn’t know good urban planning if it bit them in the ass, rather than make the sensible choice and fund the much-needed SkyTrain extension to the region’s 2nd biggest single transit destination, namely UBC, opting instead to extend the SkyTrain only to, of all places, Arbutus?
I remember when we would have to pick up our upasses every month at the vending machines on campus.
Remember when university students had the upass with their photo on it :)
Remember when I was in elementary I would hop on the bus, pay my fare and the bus driver would tear me a paper transfer. :)
Remember when it only cost 10 cent to ride the bus. :)
Remember when…a monthly pass meant free fare during weekends and holidays for a family of two adults and two kids?
Remember when you could just leave a SkyTrain stat8n without getting bottlenecked at the compass gates?
Remember when we saved money on tickets by buying booklets?
Remember when you had to have your hand rummage through your pocket; fingers jostling through coins and keys just to find the exact fare
Remember when there were blue tokens?
Remember when we had to keep several faresaver booklets of different zones in our bags?
Remember when there were paper fare slips back in the 90’s? The fare ticket boxes for fare savers seemed like such an advancement at the time. Now we save so many tree with tapping!
Remember when the bus coin machines would miscount your coins and you’d end up paying more fare.
Remember when we had the employer pass with our photo on it? I lined up for an hour at Burrard station to get it done.
Remember when you had to get a UPass at the machines every month and there would be massive lineups?
Remember when bus passes were a thing and sometimes the bus driver wouldn’t even look your way.
Remember when you had to use a booklet of faresavers just to avoid using coins?
Remember when there were only Mark 1 trains?
Remember when… we had school bus passes!
Remember when a Compass was clumsy and made of glass, and not a handy lightweight blue card? It told us where to go, but couldn’t take us there!
Remember when your parents would wake up each morning and make you ham and eggs and sit down to eat breakfast at the table during a hot Christmas morning and one of them hit his/her head with a spoon and say: “DARN IT i forgot to buy the TransLink monthly pass” and everyone starts crying and cursing (politely). I also remember when my dad one day said “Son, (or daughter), I wish TransLink would create CompassCard so we never have to do this ever”
Remember when… you can collect your pennys and put them into the fare machine and listen to all the cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching but the bus driver may be annoyed and taking the bus at the time costed .50-.75 – Thomas