Disclaimer: This story was written in November 2020. 

After noticing many of his customers, often tourists, were struggling to pay the correct fare when boarding his bus, Bus Operator Kelly Wamboldt decided to do something about it. 

“I was driving Route 236 Lonsdale Quay/Grouse Mountain and Route 246 Highland/Downtown, both busy tourist routes,” says Kelly, “and customers, usually visiting Vancouver for the first time, would come on the bus and want to pay, but they didn’t have coins – only bills and credit cards.  And oftentimes there was a language barrier, so we’d both struggle trying to understand each other. Some passengers had even bought a Compass Card but wanted to pay for multiple people with one card, which you can’t do.”  

Kelly thought having some sort of visual signage would help. 

“I thought it would be helpful to have the symbols of the credit cards we accept on the buses posted on bus stops, in both directions, at tourist locations,” says Kelly, who joined CMBC 22 years ago.  

“People know the Mastercard logo, for example, so by posting the picture at the bottom of the schedules, on the ID posts, it gives people a sense of comfort knowing they’re able to pay once the bus arrives. It’s a way to mitigate their anxiety and keep the buses moving, because that’s what it’s really about.” 

  
With help from TransLink’s Wayfinding team, Kelly’s idea was implemented in early 2020, and the Bus Operator was happy to see his idea came to fruition. 

“I’m now driving a different route every day” says Kelly, “but I saw the schedule had all the payment methods posted.” 

Grinning from ear to ear, Kelly knew what he had put forward would help our customers: “Quite simply, it was really nice to see my idea implemented.” 

Thank you to Kelly for his great idea and to TransLink’s Wayfinding team for their support.