‘Design flaw’ in Compass upgrade could multiply some fares by 4 times

A TransLink sign warning riders to tap their Compass Cards and not their whole wallet is seen in this image from March 2018. One potential pitfall of upgrading TransLink’s fare card system to accept multiple payment options such as credit cards and mobile phones could be multiple charges for some riders. The possibility some riders could be billed more than four times the price of a one-zone fare for a one-zone trip is one reason the transit authority is urging riders to tap their card, not their wallet,’ so there’s no chance a confused Compass card reader could bill the wrong card. But an activist who watched a fare card system in Chicago designed by the same contractor allegedly overbill many riders says it shouldn’t be up to passengers to avoid surprise extra charges. “Charging people twice for the same ride – that’s a design flaw,” said Chicago freedom of information activist Jason Prechtel, pointing to a class-action lawsuit against that city’s Ventra card that was sparked by some riders claiming they had been double-billed. “I was writing about this stuff in 2013 and 2014 and to read about this in 2018 – it boggles my mind. To a certain extent, I had assumed that because of the negative publicity they had learned their lesson in some of these issues,” he said. Right now, it’s just Compass Cards that are charged when riders tap them against Compass readers. On the SkyTrain, a rider can tap on with one reader and tap off on another, with the system calculating the correct fare. A discounted one-zone trip is $2.20. Now, TransLink is upgrading the capability of the Compass readers so they can accept payment from credit cards and mobile phones. The idea is to make the system more accessible to tourists or infreTuent riders. That change could introduce complications when paying for a trip by putting multiple payment options near the scanner like a wallet, which TransLink says is weighted to read a Compass Card but may read a contactless credit card instead.