FREE TRANSIT
FREE TRANSIT
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALL MODES OF TRANSIT WILL BE FREE TODAY, MAY 22, DUE TO THE MAJOR DISRUPTION.
UDPATE: 12:14pm: Thank you all for your patience and understanding today. We understand the inconvenience and are happy to announce that full service has been restored to the Expo Line.
The SkyTrain disruption that was due to a fire destroying one metre communications cable is now over. Please allow time for the service to catch up to regular timings. Shuttles will continue to be used as needed to help with the flow of riders. ^ac
UPDATE: 10:43am: Follow us on Periscope at noon today (handle: TransLink BC) for a live update on the Expo Line SkyTrain disruption.
UPDATE: 10:36: For those of you who have already paid for transit today, please hold on to your tickets and/or receipts. We are working on a way to make sure you benefit from this.
UPDATE 9:29am: Trains are now able to get to and from (East and Westbound) Broadway-Commercial station. Shuttles will be in place to get people to and from downtown from this point. Please keep in mind it will take a while to get service back to regular timings.
We appreciate your patience as crews continue to work to fix the damaged communications cable caused by a fire.
We will continue to keep you updated on the Buzzer blog, Facebook, Instagram (@TransLinkBC) and Twitter (@TransLink) until the system is back to normal.
Author: Adrienne Coling
It’s unfortunate we’ve had another disruption, but I’d have to say Translink certainly is getting better a dealing with them. I knew as soon as I got on my first bus something was up and the ‘Bus Bridge’ markers are good! Lots of transit staff to help out too. Although, I was heading to Burrard, and I’d like to say the route downtown was a bit circuitous downtown (assuming the routing is a loop of Stadium > Waterfront > Burrard > Granville > Stadium > LeaveDT). For one, I was surprised the Skytrain West bus from Waterfront>Burrard took Codrova/Howe/Pender/Burrard. Isn’t Cordova to Burrad much quicker (same route as 44)? Also the the routing on the Dunsmuir viaduct is horrible as Dunsmuir is always congested in the morning. Wouldn’t it be better to take Pender? Or would that be too far from Stadium?
Hoping repairs go well and SkyTrain will be back online for our evening commutes :)
is west coast express also free today?
That’s great but what’s in it for those of us who buy monthly passes and are repeatedly inconvenienced?
It’s unfortunate that when Translink offers free transportation due to yet another disruption, us with prepaid monthly fare passes don’t benefit. How about sending me a refund for all the days I was late to work and/or getting home?
West Coast Express is free today along with SeaBus, SkyTrain, Canada Line and buses. If you did pay, please keep your ticket. Along with monthly pass holders, we are working on a way for you all to benefit from this. Thanks for your comment Jordan and everyone!
Perhaps for monthly pass holders, when they buy the June pass, show your May pass and get a $5.50 discount (1 zone), $8 (2 zone) and $11 (3 zone). Only problem I see is people need to keep their passes for tax purposes, but then you can’t ensure people aren’t using their last month passes for several discounts (then again, is having more people buy passes really the worst?!). Another flaw, maybe some people have already purchases a June pass?
Actually, that’s not a bad idea with some tweaking. I’ll pass that on, thanks Jordan!
Just hope this info’s already passed on to the drivers, to avoid further inconvenience and disagreements. :)
What about those of us who have monthly passes? I sure hope the train is fixed by tomorrow morning as I have school.
Hi Christine, please see my comment above. As soon as I know anything, I’ll let you know! I’m sure it’ll be up and running by that time as they have already made huge strides in the repair.
I paid today driver didn’t say anything. Was this only for people across the bridge? I’m in Surrey.
Humm… This looks me a pre-planned event by translink. in order to get YES vote. You will see more shutdown of service before the election day.
I paid on the bus today? Driver didn’t say anything. Is this for across the bridge? I’m in Surrey.
Samantha, it was difficult to get the message across to all operators if they weren’t checking their screens. Please keep your ticket as we are trying to figure out how to make sure all riders benefit from this.
Nikolaus, unfortunately this was a result from a fire and a bird’s nest. All information can be found on our Twitter page, Facebook page and across traditional media. Many people worked many, many hours to fix the destroyed cables.
I paid for the transit today too and the driver didn’t say anything, and I’m in Burnaby. I guess the driver didn’t care to tell me that it’s free today. Is there any way I can get a free one-zone ticket for next time as I shouldn’t have used one had I known that it was free today?
I agreed with you Nikolaus…the skytrain disruption today seems more like a pre-planned event by translink before elections….I would say NO more increases on public transportation.
Ugh I just threw my ticket from this morning.
Nikolaus and yunuen: You two seem like trolls. Your comments do not seem particularly helpful to this conversation, particularly because they aren’t supported by any reasoning. Are you just trying to irritate people or make yourselves feel good by being disruptive?
Is it free for the rest of the day, buses and skytrains, in all 3 zones?
With all the delays on Skytrain and West Coast Express Train, people with monthly passes should get a free monthly pass.
Next months passes should be 50 percent off for people who have May passes.
This is the 3rd time in 12 months i am late for work or unable to get home for hours because of translink delays and repair.
Accidents happen but that is no excuse for us not being refunded for the prior outage/events. Why is it that people who buy monthly passes are the ones who never get compensation for outages.
People with monthly passes should not get any refunds just as if you have a monthly pass and are sick one day and stay home. Also February monthly passes are not cheaper than March. Refunds only for those with paid tickets.
Further to “By Jordan, May 22, 2015 @ 11:06 am” post regarding re-use of May pass for credit toward next month purchase and misuse could be avoided by punching or cutting a corner of the old pass to make it invalid and showing credit already paid.
Any word yet on how monthly pass holders will be compensated? Friday’s disruption was better handled than the one on Wednesday at Scott Road. It was a mess there that morning and I was very late for work. Two disruptions in one week, especially during rush hour, make monthly pass holders deserving of some sort of compensation since they rely on transit to get to work each day. It doesn’t seem fair that people who don’t normally take transit got a free ride yesterday because something happened that negatively impacted regular transit users. I think that the free ride yesterday may have encouraged infrequent users to take the bus, because there were more than twice the usual number of people on my bus on the way home.
Translink.
For the people paid the faresaver on last Friday, are we going to be refunded ?
Any update on how passholders will be compensated ?
I need to buy my June pass in a few days.
Thanks !
I also have to buy my June monthly pass soon. How will monthly pass holders be compensated?
Guess we’re not being compensated…it was too good to be true.
At least an acknowledgement to these comments would be appreciated.
Hi Angela, I still haven’t heard anything or I would’ve passed it along as promised. They’re still working on how to make this work on a mass scale. As soon as I do, I’ll let everyone know across our social channels. Thanks!
Thanks, Adrienne.
Hi all,
Check out out the link to the info about reimbursement.
http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Refund-Policy/Service-Disruption-Pass-Replacement.aspx
Please note that the CRA states that they only require a copy of a transit pass for tax purposes.
Here is the link to that information:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/ddctns/lns360-390/364/whtnd-eng.html
What I great tactic so people will not ask for refund due to bureaucracy
Thanks, Adrienne.
I’d given up hope but you guys came through for us.
Kind of annoying for monthly pass holders. So we 1) have to copy our passes (so we can still use them for tax purposes) 2) go to Stadium to hand a pass over (or pay to mail it) and 3) we get Faresavers which are of no use to monthly pass holders. Ugh…
Is it frowned upon to resell these individual Faresavers?
Hi Jordan, I hear ya. This decision was made as it was the best way to make sure everyone got something and doing so without completely disrupting faresaver dealers. Perhaps not totally ideal for pass holders but the fare is still valid! You can pass them on to friends, family, visitors (I often have a pack of faresavers for people to visit) or however you see fit to use them.
I really do hope people take the time to claim the refund. I know it was a a bit of a cuckoo (bird pun not intended!) accident but we’re trying our best to make sure riders know that WE know it was a great inconvenience. So besides the fantastic staff on the day of, we’re doing what we can to help after the fact.
Fair enough. I suppose it could be worse. I’ll definitely have to take a day this month to get my tickets.
I’ve always wondered, but I’m not sure it’s possible: Faresavers always say “worth $2.75 towards fare”, etc. is it possible to use Faresavers as Add-Fares? I guess a 1-zone pass with a 3-zone Add-Fare, using a 1-zone Farezone is the only combination that really works.
Hi again Jordan!
Unfortunately you can’t use FareSavers as Add-Fare. But once Compass comes out to everyone, you can just have stored value on your card and if you travel 3 zones on a 1 zone monthly pass, the system will take the difference from the stored value making it MUCH easier. Thanks!
What do WCE 28 day pass users get?
Im fascinated by the cool tmac system on the bus. The bus i was on there was a guy causing a problem, he was constantly swearing in the back of the bus and the bus operator pushed some buttons or something and next thing the guy knew, a transit police officer boarded the bus at MAIN ST and 49th and took the guy off the bus.
And is that something that always happens?
i k now someone who hasnt got her 2 free two zone faresaver tickets in the mail yet. i mailed it along with mines and i got my two free one zone tickets back already.