Dear Editor:
Metro Vancouver's zone boundary system, which distributes Vancouver and the UBC area into Zone 1 and nine municipalities into Zone 2 (mainly North Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond), is unbalanced and broken.
The geographical location of Zone 2 creates issues for commuters trying to travel within boundaries without crossing into Zone 1. For example, commuters must pass through Vancouver when travelling from North Vancouver to Burnaby or Richmond.
Also, we cannot rely on commuters to consistently upgrade fares when briefly crossing boundaries because TransLink largely operates on an honour system. There are many who do not pay for fares at all due to the lack of enforcement.
To fix this issue, TransLink should abolish the entire zone boundary system in Metro Vancouver. A one-zone system would ameliorate the problem of those who do not pay for additional zones, thus solving part of the honour system, and eliminate the difficulties of negotiating boundaries.
A one-zone system is more reasonable than partitioning Zone 2 into smaller zones, and cheaper when upgrading fares.
An alternative would be a new SkyTrain line for those travelling and remaining within Zone 2, but this would cost millions of taxpayer dollars.
Would you rather continue with a faulty zone system when additional expenses could be unnecessary, or consolidate Metro Vancouver?
Karen Ng, by email
