TransLink Compass card: a user’s guide

Where to buy cards

Compass Cards have been rolling out at ticket vending machines throughout the month of October and will be available at all stations and retailers by November 1, 2015. They can also be purchased online at compasscard.ca, by phone, or at the Compass service centre at Stadium-Chinatown Station.

Options

Compass cards themselves cost $6, a refundable deposit that can also be used if ever there isn’t enough money on the card to complete a trip. When passengers no longer need their card, they can return them for a refund of their deposit.

TransLink users can load their Compass Cards with single fares, day passes, monthly passes or “stored value.” The “stored value” option will function as a replacement of FareSaver tickets (fares will be deducted at the FareSaver rate). Children, youth and seniors can obtain concession cards, which are differentiated from the regular Compass by colour (regular is blue, concession is orange).

Infrequent riders who want to buy single trips or DayPasses can obtain a white ticket from the Compass machine.

Tap in and out (just in on buses)

As passengers tap in and out of the system (or just in on buses), their Compass cards will automatically assess whether the card contains sufficient funds for the longest possible trip. If the card does not contain sufficient funds, the card’s $6 refundable deposit can be used toward the trip, but will have to be replaced later.

Cost

The Compass Card will detect how many zones passengers have traveled through by them tapping in and out of fare gates at the beginning and end of their trip, respectively. A one-zone fare is $2.75, a two-zone fare is $4 and a three-zone fare from Vancouver to Surrey is $5.50.

Passengers only have to pay a one-zone fare when travelling anywhere by bus or by HandyDart. When using the SkyTrain and SeaBus, though, passengers will have to pay for any additional zones they travel through.

Paying cash

Although buses will still accept cash payment for rides, they will only accept full fare, and passengers cannot use bus tickets to transfer onto the SkyTrain or SeaBus.

Register your card

Cards can be registered with TransLink to obtain balance protection, so that the balance of a lost or stolen card can be transferred to a new card.

FareSaver ticket phase out

FareSaver paper tickets will remain in use on TransLink’s system until all of the fare gates on the system are operational, which is expected to happen early next year. At that point, FareSaver paper tickets will be phased out on all transit. Before then, FareSaver paper tickets can be converted onto Compass Cards.

Fare evasion

Although not all fare gates will be working over the next few months, Transit police, security and SkyTrain attendants will have scanners to verify that Compass Cards have tapped in. Passengers unable to prove that they have paid their fare face a fine of $173.