page_title: SkyTrain (Vancouver)
section_title: Fare gates
hierarchical_section_title: SkyTrain (Vancouver) / Operations / Fares / Fare gates
caption_attribution_description: English: Platform level fare gates at New Westminster station in New Westminster, British Columbia.
context_page_description: SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, serving Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and surrounding municipalities. SkyTrain has 79.6 km of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks running on underground and elevated guideways, allowing SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability. The name "SkyTrain" was coined for the system during Expo 86 because the first line principally runs on elevated guideway outside of Downtown Vancouver, providing panoramic views of the metropolitan area. SkyTrain uses the world's second-longest cable-supported transit-only bridge, known as SkyBridge, to cross the Fraser River.
  With the opening of the Evergreen Extension on December 2, 2016, SkyTrain became the longest rapid transit system in Canada and the longest fully automated driverless system in the world. The total lengths of the automated lines of the Singapore MRT and Kuala Lumpur Rapid KL have since surpassed those of SkyTrain.
  SkyTrain currently has 53 stations serving three lines: Expo, Millennium, and Canada Line.
context_section_description: Installing faregates to prevent fare evasion was considered as early as at the time of the system's opening, but was rejected because the expense of implementing, maintaining, and enforcing them would exceed the losses prevented. In 2005, TransLink estimated it was losing $4 million (5% of revenue attributed to SkyTrain) annually to fare evasion on SkyTrain. While the Canada Line stations, along with those on the Millennium Line, were designed to allow for future fare gates, the Canada Line opened in 2009 without them, despite stated intentions to include them. Expo Line stations have since been redesigned and retrofitted to accommodate the new fare gate system.
  The 2008 Provincial Transit Plan outlined several SkyTrain system upgrades, including replacement of the proof-of-payment system with a gated-ticket system. According to Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon, the gated-ticket system was to be implemented by a private company by 2010. In April 2009, it was announced that the provincial and federal governments would spend $100 million to put the gates in place by the end of 2010. However, in August 2009, a TransLink spokesman said the gates would not be installed before 2012, and that a smart card system would be implemented at the same time.
  It was announced on August 14, 2013, that bus-issued transfers (magnetic strip paper cards) would continue to be issued for cash fares paid on buses, but that these transfers would not work at SkyTrain or SeaBus station fare gates, which require a Compass Card or a 90-minute paper Compass ticket to operate. This means that a bus rider paying cash is required to pay a second fare to transfer to SkyTrain or SeaBus. Those transit users paying cash but beginning their trips at a SkyTrain or SeaBus station are not subject to this second fare because they are issued Compass tickets which are accepted as valid transfers on TransLink buses.
  Construction of SkyTrain fare gates was completed in May 2014, but they remained open until April 2016 owing to multiple system problems. While open for the nearly two-year period, holders of paper-based monthly passes, bus-issued transfers, and FareSaver tickets continued to pass through the gates into the stations' fare-paid zones unimpeded, although they were subject to having their fare inspected by transit security or transit police once inside the fare-paid zone. Starting in April 2016, they were initially fully closed only during peak hours, with one gate remaining open during off-peak times for people with accessibility issues who could not reach their Compass Cards to the fare gates to tap in or out. Full implementation of the fare gates was also delayed by problems with Compass Cards when riders were tapping out as they exited buses. The tapping-out process on buses was too slow and did not always record the tap which—because the system initially deducted a three-zone fare until a tap-out was recorded and a refund was issued to those having only travelled one or two zones—often resulted in customers being charged for travelling through three zones when in fact they had only travelled through one or two. This was a serious setback for TransLink as the entire system was supposed to be operational by 2013. A solution was finally implemented where the requirement to tap out of buses was removed and all bus travel was considered as within a single zone, creating significant savings for those travelling multiple zones using buses only and in some cases changing transit usage patterns. The last fare gates left open for users with accessibility issues were closed on July 25, 2016, and the system has been in full operation since.
caption: Fare gates at New Westminster
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