Transit users in Metro Vancouver have to be the most honest in the world if a recent South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink) audit on fare evasion is accurate.
The study by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that only 2.5 per cent of people who use SkyTrain, buses and Westcoast Express don't pay for their ticket.
According to Translink, less people are cheating the system than was the case five years ago.
But B.C.'s Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon was dumbfounded by Translink's findings
"They are talking about 98 per cent compliance rate, there is no other place in the world with that kind of compliance rate on an open system,'' he said.
At SkyTrain, Translink says fare evasion has nearly been cut in half.
Only five per cent of Skytrain riders don't buy a ticket, and that is with an open system, no turnstiles, and stations with no ticket wicket transit staff.
Compare that to the City of London Before turnstiles were installed, fare evasion on that system was 20 per cent
"For us to believe we have some sort of nirvana defies credibility,'' said Falcon
The audit also found that only one in 100 evaders are actually caught.
Even Kevin Falcon is left alone by transit staff. "I haven't had it checked in the last two years that I've been riding SkyTrain,'' he said
But Translink spokesman Drew Snider says this doesn't mean the transportation authority is planning to drop fares. "Umm I don't know if that's going to happen,'' he said. "That's a policy question, I wouldn't be able to answer that.''
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
