Come July 16, CTrain platforms across the city will have made room for the installation of ticket validating machines to crack down on Calgarians skipping scanning. 

In preparation for the new process, members of the city and Calgary Transit (CT) demonstrated how to use the My Fare ticket validating device on July 15 at Richmond’s Westbrook Station. 

The machines are identified by bright yellow plastic guards and are, in most cases, attached to the side of pre-existing payment tills.

Manager of Transit Service Design, Tess Abanto, said that 112 have been installed at platforms city-wide. 

While scanning e-tickets to use bus services has long been enforced, the requirement was not included on train platforms until an amendment to the Transit Bylaw was unanimously passed during a Community Development Committee meeting on May 8.

In 2020, the CT introduced electronic tickets, and has since recognized an uptick in users reusing one fare for multiple rides or refusing to pay for a ticket entirely. Abanto said that 46 per cent of adult and 50 per cent of youth customers were not properly paying for rides. 

“There is a potential that we are losing revenue by not doing that, so we have changed the classification,” she said. 

Now, Abanto said that CTrain riders will follow a similar system to that expected on buses: paying, activating, then validating their ticket before boarding. In an email statement, the city said that the machines will promote going paperless while working to limit the number of fare evaders

“It will encourage the appropriate use of electronic fares and reinforce the need to validate a ticket or pass every time a customer takes transit,” read the statement.

How will ticket validation be enforced?

During peak hours, Abanto said that only one-time tickets require validation, and that monthly or season pass holders are permitted to board without needing to break their stride. Chief of Public Vehicle Standards, Marcia Gonder, said that peace officers are responsible for enforcing ticket validation. 

Currently, roughly 40 to 50 officers are out in the city on any given day. Gonder said that even with the addition of this new systems, the number of officers patrolling platforms will not be increasing, but that they will be available to help with the transition if needed. 

“They will be providing education for the validators, but if they come across you and you need some information, they will definitely assist you with that,” she said. 

Gonder said that the added step in transit operations is “not a massive change” but that they understand that riders will need time to conform to the rejuvenated process. She stressed that the city will be focusing on informing users on the proper ways to ride. 

“We will be engaging with our discretion to understand how individuals are adapting to change,” said Gonder. 

Informally, Abanto said that CT will be gathering information on how well the devices are working and whether certain stations need more installed to combat periods of high volume. She said that this adjustment to operations will not be the first to come in the future. 

“We are going to also advance our fare payment system, and make more changes,” said Abanto.