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- Install vending machines. Better would be tender it out to a vending machine operator. Selling junk food on train platform is pretty common in Europe.
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I'd love to see at least two of those japanese vending machines at each station. Their drinks are cheap (albeit sometimes quite small), the machines are very compact (perfect for the older and smaller stations) and extremely energy efficient. I'm amazed there is nobody yet besides PBG and the other big names who operate the scant number of machines sprinkled around. It sounds like if you imported a bunch of machines, secured wholesale agreements for the beverages and paid companies and property owners around stations and high traffic areas for a place to bolt down a machine and plug itin , plus a tax on a per-sale basis you could make a fairly decent business with cheap drinks.
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- Build up and lease out the space under skytrain guideways. In a place like Japan that would have retail or other uses under the overhead tracks.
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All the downtown and mid-town stations used to have at least a small convenience store. The rent was awful and business was poor. Outside of stations I seem to recall there was a regulation or something that didn't really allow for permanent structures underneath the guideways. White Spot at Lougheed however seems to be the exception.
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- Permit the translink compass card to be used for other things and charge the other vendors a couple of percent in a transaction fee. Some other uses include the water taxis, Willsons Transport, BC Ferries, etc,
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This I would strongly enjoy. COMPASS being useable as a payment in nearby shops and previously mentioned vending machines. The cards could be charged (and possibly taxed?) a lot more often and with a lot more money.
TransLink could also do for more advertising space. What little there is has either been contracted out or the rates aren't all that great.