Editing SkyTrain (Vancouver) (section)

=== Fares ===
{{further|TransLink (British Columbia)#Transit fares}}
[[File:Skytrain ticket machine.jpg|right|thumb|A ticket vending machine (right), next to an old faresaver validator (2006)]]
TransLink's SkyTrain service area is divided into three zones, with fares varying depending on how many zone boundaries are crossed during one trip (two- and three-zone passengers are charged the one zone rate after 6:30 pm rush hour, and on weekends and statutory holidays). Customers may purchase fares using cash, debit cards, or credit cards from self-serve ticket vending machines at the mezzanine level of each station. A variety of transit passes are available, such as the pre-paid FareSaver ticket, daily DayPass, monthly FareCard, annual EmployerPass, post-secondary student [[U-Pass BC|U-Pass]], and other specialized passes. [[Canadian National Institute for the Blind]] identification cards are accepted without the need to be read by the fare box. One-time fares are valid for 90 minutes on any mode of transportation with any number of transfers, including all SkyTrain lines and bus and [[SeaBus]] routes. Concession fares are available for secondary school students with a valid Go-Card and the elderly.<ref>{{cite web |title=Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Transit Tariff |date=January 1, 2005 |publisher=TransLink |url=http://translink.bc.ca/files/board_files/meet_agenda_min/2004/12_08_04/3.12_Attachment_2.pdf |access-date=June 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050513140830/http://www.translink.bc.ca/files/board_files/meet_agenda_min/2004/12_08_04/3.12_Attachment_2.pdf |archive-date=May 13, 2005}}</ref> Children under 12 have been able to ride the system for free since September 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 9, 2021|title=Children 12 and under will soon ride free on B.C. public transit|url=https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PREM0051-001564|access-date=January 3, 2022|website=BC Government News}}</ref>

Until April 2016, SkyTrain's fare system was a [[proof-of-payment]] system; there were no [[turnstile]]s at the entrances to train platforms. Instead, fares were typically enforced by random ticket inspections – usually by police or transit security but occasionally by SkyTrain attendants – through trains and stations. This was supplemented by controlled access – with the payment of a fare or proof of payment required to pass through a staffed gate – at special events where extremely high ridership was expected, such as immediately after [[BC Lions]] or [[Vancouver Canucks]] games.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 9, 2006 |title='Helping hands' part of SkyTrain scam |url=http://www.vancourier.com/issues06/082106/news/082106nn3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630232559/http://www.vancourier.com/issues06/082106/news/082106nn3.html |archive-date=June 30, 2007 |last=Thomas |first=Sandra |work=[[Vancouver Courier]] |access-date=February 24, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Buzzer |url=http://translink.bc.ca/files/buzzer/2007/Buzzer_Mar2.pdf |date=March 2, 2007 |access-date=March 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904033729/http://translink.bc.ca/files/buzzer/2007/Buzzer_Mar2.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2014}}</ref>

==== Fare gates ====
[[File:New Westminter fare gates.jpg|thumb|right|Fare gates at [[New Westminster station|New Westminster]] (2018)]]

{{See|Compass card (British Columbia)}}

Installing faregates to prevent [[fare evasion]] was considered as early as at the time of the system's opening, but was rejected multiple times because the expense of implementing, maintaining, and enforcing them would exceed the losses prevented.<ref name="province">{{cite news |work=The Province |publisher=CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc |url=http://www.canada.com/cityguides/vancouver/features/transportation/story.html?id=53003bd7-2626-4c4b-a9ce-c68076557682 |title=Riding without paying will cost $173 |date=March 20, 2005 |access-date=December 14, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929110710/http://www.canada.com/cityguides/vancouver/features/transportation/story.html?id=53003bd7-2626-4c4b-a9ce-c68076557682 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2005, TransLink estimated it was losing $4{{nbsp}}million (5 percent of revenue attributed to SkyTrain) annually to fare evasion on SkyTrain.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=TransLink |title=Canada Line Controlled Access, Safety & Security and Fare Evasion |date=December 1, 2005 |url=http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/PubDocs/bcdocs/379548/ControlledAccess.pdf |access-date=June 18, 2007 |page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202095336/http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/PubDocs/bcdocs/379548/ControlledAccess.pdf |archive-date=February 2, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |work=Richmond News |url=http://www.richmond-news.com/issues05/072205/news/072205nn5.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231722/http://www.richmond-news.com/issues05/072205/news/072205nn5.html |archive-date=September 26, 2007 |title=Beating boosts call for transit turnstiles |last=Bennett |first=Nelson |access-date=December 25, 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref name="PTP">{{cite web |url=http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/Transit_Plan/Provincial_Transit_Plan_LR.pdf |title=Provincial Transit Plan Brochure |access-date=January 17, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411125756/http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/Transit_Plan/Provincial_Transit_Plan_LR.pdf |archive-date=April 11, 2008}}</ref> According to Minister of Transportation [[Kevin Falcon]], the gated-ticket system was to be implemented by a private company by 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bc.ctvnews.ca/gates-and-smart-cards-on-the-way-at-skytrain-1.301652 |date=June 12, 2008 |work=CTV British Columbia |title=BGates and smart cards on the way at Skytrain |access-date=December 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124221208/http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080611/BC_skytrain_gated_080611/20080612/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome |archive-date=January 24, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> In April 2009, it was announced that the provincial and federal governments would spend $100{{nbsp}}million<ref>{{cite news |url=http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2009/04/faregates-and-smartcards-coming-to-skytrain-in-spring-2010 |date=April 9, 2009 |work=The Buzzer Blog |title=Faregates and Smartcards coming to SkyTrain in spring 2010 |access-date=August 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814064054/http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2009/04/faregates-and-smartcards-coming-to-skytrain-in-spring-2010 |archive-date=August 14, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/no-turnstiles-for-skytrains-until-2012-1.862286 |date=August 14, 2009 |work=CBC British Columbia |title=No turnstiles for SkyTrains until 2012 |access-date=September 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817232755/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/no-turnstiles-for-skytrains-until-2012-1.862286 |archive-date=August 17, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="vancouver sun">{{cite news |title=Card system struggles with another glitch |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |publisher=Postmedia Network Inc |url=https://vancouversun.com/TransLink+Compass+Card+system+struggles+with+another+glitch/10332972/story.html |date=October 29, 2014 |access-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208024750/http://www.vancouversun.com/TransLink+Compass+Card+system+struggles+with+another+glitch/10332972/story.html |archive-date=February 8, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/03/seabus-ridership-decline/ |title=SeaBus ridership hits all-time low after one-zone bus travel introduced |date=March 18, 2016 |access-date=October 20, 2017 |work=VancityBuzz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021112432/http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/03/seabus-ridership-decline/ |archive-date=October 21, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/translink-fare-gates-1.3686416 |title=TransLink to close accessible fare gates |date=July 25, 2016 |work=CBC News |access-date=October 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924183556/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/translink-fare-gates-1.3686416 |archive-date=September 24, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Airport surcharge ====
Travel on the Canada Line is free between the three [[Sea Island (British Columbia)|Sea Island]] stations near the Vancouver International Airport: [[Templeton station|Templeton]], [[Sea Island Centre station|Sea Island Centre]], and YVR–Airport.

Single-use Compass tickets purchased with cash at Compass vending machines in stations on Sea Island include a surcharge, the "YVR AddFare", of $5.00 on top of the normal fare. This charge is also added to trips initiated at Sea Island stations for travel east to Bridgeport station and beyond using Compass Card stored value or DayPasses. It is not applied to trips using monthly passes, nor to trips travelling to the airport using DayPasses or single-use Compass tickets which were purchased and activated off Sea Island.<ref name="YVR">{{cite web |title=Canada Line YVR AddFare |access-date=September 19, 2016 |website=TransLink.ca |url=http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Canada-Line-YVR-AddFare.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922111637/http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Canada-Line-YVR-AddFare.aspx |archive-date=September 22, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Canada Line YVR Add Fare Questions and Answers |date=January 11, 2010 |website=TransLink.ca |url=http://www.translink.ca/en/About-Us/Media/2010/January/The-Canada-Line-YVR-Add-Fare-Questions-and-Answers.aspx |access-date=May 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514015550/http://www.translink.ca/en/About-Us/Media/2010/January/The-Canada-Line-YVR-Add-Fare-Questions-and-Answers.aspx |archive-date=May 14, 2014}}</ref> The YVR AddFare came into effect on January 18, 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=Canada Line YVR AddFare coming Mon Jan 18 |date=January 7, 2009 |publisher=TransLink |work=The Buzzer Blog |url=http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2010/01/canada-line-yvr-addfare-coming-mon-jan-18-heres-how-it-works/ |access-date=January 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111012414/http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2010/01/canada-line-yvr-addfare-coming-mon-jan-18-heres-how-it-works/ |archive-date=January 11, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> The revenue collected from the AddFare goes back to TransLink.<ref name="YVR" />