Compass smart card can’t stop fraud: police
Officials look to other cities for new investigative techniques to minimize abuse and hacking
Transit police expect to see a jump in fraud cases involving transit passes once TransLink launches its new Compass smart- card system this fall.
The problem, seen in other jurisdictions with smart- card technology, is expected to be even bigger than the resale of fraudulent student U- Passes, which has cost TransLink up to $ 15 million per year, because more people will be using the Compass card.
“We don’t know yet what is going to take place, what problems they’re going to encounter … but the potential for it to be likely bigger than ( the U- Pass scandal) is there,” Transit police spokeswoman Anne Drennan said.
TransLink officials acknowledge they will never eliminate fraud in the transit system, noting research in other cities — such as London, Sydney and Los Angeles — has shown smart- card fraud is significant and, because it is similar to credit- card fraud, will exist regardless of security features.
A provincial audit of TransLink last year estimated fare evasion had risen 120 per cent to $ 14.5 million in 2011 from $ 6.6 million in 2001.
TransLink spokesman Derek Zabel maintains the Compass card has potential to reduce fare evasion, as it allows users to register both for the smart card and an “institutional” U- Pass, which means those cards can be cancelled if lost or stolen or shut down if inconsistent transactions are detected. Registering a card, however, isn’t mandatory.
The Compass cards will also be launched in conjunction with faregates at SkyTrain stations to ensure only paying
People are always going to try to find new ways to defraud the system and that’s going to be a challenge.
DEREK ZABEL
TRANSLINK SPOKESMAN
customers get on board.
TransLink expects to issue 600,000 to 800,000 Compass cards, but notes passengers can still buy daily tickets on SkyTrain, SeaBus or buses.
“People are always going to try to find new ways to defraud the system and that’s going to be a challenge,” Zabel said. “I’m sure you’ll still have people trying to fraudulently sell them, but we’re going to have the ability to shut cards down when before we didn’t.
“Will we ever eliminate it? Probably not, just like a major department store will never eliminate shoplifting.”
Drennan said Transit police are looking to other cities, such as Boston, for sophisticated investigative techniques and enhanced IT training to help officers deal with smart card- related fraud. The force has also picked up tips from an MIT report, which highlights how easy it is to hack into the smart- card system, she said.
“We’re aware there have been problems in other jurisdictions with hackers and that kind of thing,” Drennan said. “We’ve been talking to other departments where there has been a marked problem and talking with them about technology.”
Transit police already monitor four main social media sites, including Craigslist and Kijiji, to find any illegal mass sales of fare media, including U- Passes, and have prevented the circulation of an estimated $ 5 million worth of counterfeit passes in the past two years.
TransLink had threatened in 2011 to shut down its U- Pass program after seeing a proliferation of online resales of student and counterfeit passes.
Zabel maintains the new system will help prevent the resale of U- Passes, as students will instead be given an “institutional pass” registered individually and linked to their student ID. Transit users can also register a Compass card, if they wish, or buy passes on a daily or monthly basis.
Officials in both Seattle and San Diego maintain fare evasion has been reduced since they introduced their Orca and Compass smart cards respectively.
San Diego had faced similar problems to TransLink’s U- Pass scandal in terms of seeing a proliferation of counterfeit passes and resold passes before it introduced its Compass card.
“People were collecting used day passes and selling them again,” said spokesman Rob Schupp. “It was big business.”
But James Dreisbach- Towle, integrated information systems administrator, said the Compass card technology has made it difficult to counterfeit. The technology, which is the same used in TransLink’s Compass card, is “contactless,” which means it does not have the same magnetic stripe as a credit card and “is a little bit harder to hack.”
San Diego’s fare evasion, he added has gone from about three per cent of total revenue to just under one per cent.