TransLink CEO promises fixes for Compass 'hack,' accessibility issues

TransLink's new CEO Kevin Desmond held a press conference Thursday where he promised to address "growing pains" in the Compass Card system. April 14, 2016. (CTV)

The new CEO of TransLink is promising to address fare gate accessibility issues for people with disabilities and plug a security hole with Compass Cards that's been exploited for free rides.

In his press conference Thursday afternoon – his first as CEO, with only 17 days on the job – Kevin Desmond promised to rein in what he called "growing pains" in the new system, and highlighted early successes of the new card.

"The system works. People are using it," Desmond said. "We have issues and we commit to working through them."

When TransLink closed the fare gates last week as the final step in putting the long-delayed, over budget Compass system online, CTV News reported some people with disabilities found they could not access the train.

The temporary solution proposed by TransLink was that attendants would staff the gates when closed and help anyone who couldn't tap in. If the attendants weren't around, at least one gate would be left open.

But that's not a realistic solution, said Skytrain Union President Bill Magri. He said there are about a dozen stations with multiple entrances one staff member couldn't be expected to patrol – and even then, they could be called away in any number of emergencies.

"We can't be at all gates at all times," Magri said.

Desmond said he is consulting widely among transit agencies to find a better fix, which could involve improved technology. He said he's going to start a survey that would find out exactly the issues of the people with disabilities who can't tap, and try and create a solution for them.

"It's a fairly limited number of people and because of that we can find solutions to the issues that we have," he said.

Desmond also said the CTV News report that anyone could reprogram paper tickets with a cellphone and free apps did not amount to a "hack" of the Compass system. He said what was really happening was the paper cards were getting cloned. He said the system has counted just 35 cards being cloned since December – a loss of about $150.

On Friday, TransLink Vice-President of Compass Lloyd Bauer told CTV News that TransLink had known about the problem since the system was contemplated, and that it could be managed by spotting those cloned tickets on the central computers and disabling those tickets.

But today Desmond said he would explore a larger fix with Compass contractor Cubic Transportation Systems.

"Both Cubic and TransLink were aware of this. TransLink made a decision that we're going to go with a less secure card," he said.

"The solution, working with Cubic, would probably mean a different card which might be more expensive on card stock and require a programming change. We'd have to weigh the costs and beneftis of making the change."

He said he didn't know how much the fix would cost.

Bill Magri told CTV News that the system was the brainchild of then-Liberal transportation minister Kevin Falcon, and was pushed despite uncertainties that it would work with the existing bus and train system.

Problems with the tap-outs on buses resulted in TransLink removing the three-zone system and replacing it with a one zone system, without knowing what effect that would have on revenue.

He said the BC Liberal government should help TransLink find a way out of the mess.

"The Liberal government was a driving force here. It's time for them to step up with funding to the agency to modify the gates or provide extra staffing," he said.

Some 800,000 customers use a Compass Card on a regular basis. About 94 per cent of the journeys on TransLink's system are made with a paper or plastic Compass ticket, with about 1.3 million taps recorded every day.

Daily stored value sales are in the range of $350,000. About 91,000 people have signed up for Autoload, which automatically replenishes the card when it runs out.