An Idea for Translink Getting More Revenue

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by MIPS

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.

There's the Main Street Starbucks, too.

It doesn't have to be a permanent building, either. I'd bet there's plenty of food trucks/carts that'd like to set up shop outside a busy SkyTrain station.

[officedweller]

The vending machine idea is a good one - they'd need to be industrial strength to withstand vandalism.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The vending machine idea is a good one - they'd need to be industrial strength to withstand vandalism.

Those japanese ones are often bolted to the ground and wall due to seismic requirements. They also probably do not carry a lot of money at any time due to their physical size, the amount of product they can hold (they're refilled daily) and the incentive to use contactless payment methods.
As for security I can only assume there's a decent number of anti-theft devices designed into modern machines though it's gonna happen regardless.

There's the Main Street Starbucks, too.

That's built into the station, so it's exempt.

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Those japanese ones are often bolted to the ground and wall due to seismic requirements. They also probably do not carry a lot of money at any time due to their physical size, the amount of product they can hold (they're refilled daily) and the incentive to use contactless payment methods.
As for security I can only assume there's a decent number of anti-theft devices designed into modern machines though it's gonna happen regardless.


That's built into the station, so it's exempt.

There are vending machines at Royal Oak station. They're Pepsi machines IIRC, and are inside the fare paid area. But it's also immediately across from a corner-grocery store.

What would make sense, system-wide is to have both a washroom and vending machines at the "bus loop" area of the station. The train platform levels should only have cans (eg soda, coffee, energy drinks) that have the recycling bin immediately beside it to avoid people tossing the cans into the track.

And ultimately that's the problem with selling anything inside the fare-paid area. The garbage and lack of toilet facilities.

There's been... at least two times where I've been on a long Skytrain/Bus trip and there are NO places to go to the bathroom, anywhere. I ultimately had to run to the car dealership because the mini-mart at the Braid Skytrain station and the mini-mart at the bus stop I got off at wouldn't let me use theirs.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Kisai

There are vending machines at Royal Oak station. They're Pepsi machines IIRC, and are inside the fare paid area. But it's also immediately across from a corner-grocery store.

What would make sense, system-wide is to have both a washroom and vending machines at the "bus loop" area of the station. The train platform levels should only have cans (eg soda, coffee, energy drinks) that have the recycling bin immediately beside it to avoid people tossing the cans into the track.

And ultimately that's the problem with selling anything inside the fare-paid area. The garbage and lack of toilet facilities.

There's been... at least two times where I've been on a long Skytrain/Bus trip and there are NO places to go to the bathroom, anywhere. I ultimately had to run to the car dealership because the mini-mart at the Braid Skytrain station and the mini-mart at the bus stop I got off at wouldn't let me use theirs.

In places like Berlin it is quite common to come across high tech electronic pay washrooms that wash themselves down between use.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by Kisai

Considering how taxes and unreasonable overhead (why do we even have a MSP "card" and the associated bureaucracy with collecting that tax?) people don't like the idea of paying for things they don't get good value for. Like as an example, I don't like paying the MSP tax because "gee, I haven't been to a hospital in 20 years" so it feels like I've had zero value for that expense.

I have to ask: are you just generalizing some people's view or is that really how you view MSP?

[casper]

Originally Posted by Kisai

Considering how taxes and unreasonable overhead (why do we even have a MSP "card" and the associated bureaucracy with collecting that tax?) people don't like the idea of paying for things they don't get good value for.

Like as an example, I don't like paying the MSP tax because "gee, I haven't been to a hospital in 20 years" so it feels like I've had zero value for that expense. This is the same thing that happens with the U-pass. All the students are required to have it, but the amount of students that feel they get value for that is very likely not above 50%.
......

Wrong thread, but I agree completely the MSP system is a complete waste of effort and needs to go. BC is the only province in Canada that has such a system. It should be paid out of general tax revenue. The idea of setting up a separate agency to collect it not very good.

As an employer I hate dealing with the MSP people when onboarding a new employee. You don't know what the fees will be (obviously something the employee want to know). For privacy reasons they don't want to talk to employeers about a plan member. They don't want to talk to the plan member. My last interaction with them consisted of waiting 45 minutes on hold, entering a bunch of numbers to be told that they are not allowed to deal with my staff member issue because I phoned the member 1-800 number and not the plan administrator 1-800 number and it asked different automated questions to validate who I am. Since I entered through the wrong path there is nothing that can be done and I should hang up and call using the other number. Just resorted to sending them a fax. Fax communication works best with systems such as this.

There is good reason no other province in Canada has such a bureaucratic system for collecting such small sums of money.

The money that is saved by getting rid of all the premium collection wages could be spent on nurses. Far more effective.

[Kisai]

Klazu, My anger in that regard is directed at the bureaucracy involved. How much of that 75$/mo is paying a bunch of people who's only job is to collect it? You'd be given the impression that the BC Government wanted to privatize the entire medical system, and instead only got away with outsourcing collecting this, only to have privacy concerns about the US company that it was outsourced to, and not saving any money. http://bc.ctvnews.ca/outsourcing-hea...itor-1.1177007

Originally Posted by casper

Wrong thread, but I agree completely the MSP system is a complete waste of effort and needs to go. BC is the only province in Canada that has such a system. It should be paid out of general tax revenue. The idea of setting up a separate agency to collect it not very good.

As an employer I hate dealing with the MSP people when onboarding a new employee. You don't know what the fees will be (obviously something the employee want to know). For privacy reasons they don't want to talk to employeers about a plan member. They don't want to talk to the plan member. My last interaction with them consisted of waiting 45 minutes on hold, entering a bunch of numbers to be told that they are not allowed to deal with my staff member issue because I phoned the member 1-800 number and not the plan administrator 1-800 number and it asked different automated questions to validate who I am. Since I entered through the wrong path there is nothing that can be done and I should hang up and call using the other number. Just resorted to sending them a fax. Fax communication works best with systems such as this.

There is good reason no other province in Canada has such a bureaucratic system for collecting such small sums of money.

The money that is saved by getting rid of all the premium collection wages could be spent on nurses. Far more effective.

Exactly. Let's focus on need instead of "eligibility" busywork. People would not apply for things if they didn't need/want them. Since everyone needs medical services, apply it at the income tax level and get rid of the MSP bureaucracy. Like just to apply for a MSP discount requires knowing the tax information, so the logical place for the MSP is on the income taxes.

Now apply that idea to Transit services. All you should have to do, is ask for a transit card, and when you file your income taxes, the same information used to decide if a transit pass should be subsidized is the same information already used if you should have medical services subsidized based on income. Since the Compass card collects data on use, it could also be applied in reverse, where you get a tax slip (online) where the total amount and mode-share traveled is used to calculate how much you actually pay/write-off.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by casper

Wrong thread, but I agree completely the MSP system is a complete waste of effort and needs to go. BC is the only province in Canada that has such a system. It should be paid out of general tax revenue. The idea of setting up a separate agency to collect it not very good.

This is continuing with the off-topic, but MSP premiums go into general revenue. So they have an entire bureaucracy set up to collect a tax that could just be rolled into income tax, axing that bureaucracy and saving money in the process.

[fredinno]

I'm really just as concerned about the Metro Parks system. Any ideas?