Calgary Transit closer to closing fare evasion with cellphone ticket validation at CTrain stations
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CTrain riders who buy tickets through the Calgary Transit app may soon have to scan their phone before boarding the LRT.
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In a bid to clamp down on fare evasion and a loophole that some riders are exploiting, Calgary Transit is planning to introduce validator technology on CTrain platforms later this year.
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A housekeeping amendment to the city's transit bylaw to enable the technology was brought to the community planning development committee on Thursday.
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'I think this is a good piece of housekeeping,' Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said before the vote.
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The amended bylaw would allow for the same ticket-scanning technology that has been used on Calgary's bus fleet since 2020 to be used on trains.
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A Calgary Transit official told the committee the ticket-scanners would help transit peace officers enforce fare compliance, while also helping track fare evasion more effectively.
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'This is truly more around an alignment of our fare system, so that it's aligned between our buses and our LRT, so for our customers, it's a consistent journey,' said Aaron Coon, manager of transit service support for Calgary Transit.
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The validators will also aim to clamp down on a loophole in which train users pre-purchase their ticket through the My Fare app, but do not activate the fare unless they see a peace officer come on board, according to Coon.
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The loophole exists because mobile tickets have a seven-day window before they need to be activated.
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'What our officers were seeing was individuals would buy the ticket, hold it in the queue and not activate it for seven days,' he said.
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It's impossible to know how much revenue Calgary Transit has lost as a result, according to Coon, but he noted roughly 46 per cent of single-use mobile tickets were not being activated before they expired.
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'This (technology) will inhibit that from happening.'
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The cost to install validator hardware, software upgrades and educate the public on the changes will be approximately $1.8 million, but Coon said the funding will come from Calgary Transit's existing capital budget.
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