Some TransLink Compass cards can now be tapped on BC Transit's Umo system
“The modernization of the BC Bus Pass validation process aims to create a universal rider experience, matching other BC Transit fixed-route fare products and aligns with BC Bus Pass holders that travel on TransLink services,” states BC Transit.
BC Transit operates bus public transit services across British Columbia outside of Metro Vancouver, while TransLink operates the services within Metro Vancouver.
Like other passengers, BC Bus Pass Compass card holders were already required to tap their card or other proof of payment onto TransLink’s fare gates and bus fare readers.
Heavily subsidized by the provincial government, the BC Bus Pass program provides tens of thousands of eligible low-income people and/or seniors with an annual unlimited-travel pass on all TransLink and BC Transit services, except for the West Coast Express commuter rail and HandyDART. They pay an annual fee of $45 each calendar year.
Those eligible for the pass include low-income people 60 years or older, with the individual receiving income assistance, the spouse of a person on disability assistance, and/or living on a First Nations reserve and getting assistance from the band office.
Other eligibility scenarios include those who are: receiving Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS); 65 years or older and would qualify for GIS but do not meet the Canadian 10-year residency rule; receiving the federal spousal allowance; and/or receiving the federal allowance for the survivor.
A previous report from the provincial government’s independent Seniors Advocate office noted that nearly 60,000 seniors received the BC Bus Pass in 2016. This figure has likely grown ever since.
The special red-coloured BC Bus Pass TransLink Compass Card. (Government of BC)
A Umo fare reader on a BC Transit bus. (BC Transit)
All BC Bus Pass smart cards have the same appearance and are modelled on the Compass card. The previous paper-based version, which relied on visual validation, was phased out in 2016 — the same year TransLink’s Compass system was fully launched — and replaced with the new Compass-based smart card.
While the BC Bus Pass Compass card can be used anywhere in the province, a U-Pass BC — the discounted public transit pass for post-secondary students — that is loaded onto a Compass card is only valid on TransLink services.
Some interoperability between Compass and Umo?
BC Transit unveiled its Compass equivalent — the Umo digital fare payment system — in 2022, and subsequently gradually rolled it out across the province. But Umo uses more advanced technology, featuring not only the Umo contactless smart card but also the Umo mobile app for reloading or buying a fare product. With the Umo app, passengers can board the bus by simply scanning the proof-of-payment QR code on their mobile device.
Perhaps more interestingly, the expanded tapping capability of the BC Bus Pass Compass card on BC Transit suggests a degree of interoperability between TransLink’s Compass system and BC Transit’s Umo system — likely aided by the fact that both are built by the same supplier.
Compass and Umo are both designed by San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems, with Compass using older technology created more than a decade ago and Umo using the company’s newer updated technology.
Compass uses technology that depends on storing data on the smart card itself, while Umo is built on an accounts-based processing technology that stores data centrally, such as in a data centre.
In the past, TransLink has noted that a major technological upgrade is needed to switch Compass into the accounts-based processing system to finally implement distance-travelled fares for SkyTrain and SeaBus (abolishing the three-zone fare system), consider providing more types of varying fares and even discounts, and consider implementing a Compass fare payment app. The existing system, dependent on storing data on the Compass-based smart card, cannot handle a more complicated fare table.
In 2022, TransLink noted that the existing Compass system is “near capacity and needs upgrades to be able to introduce new fare products and other features,” and that the necessary technological upgrade and the modernization and expansion of the aging fare gates and fare readers could cost $216 million. This project depends on funding and final approval.
BC Ferries is also in the process of considering adopting a digital fare payment system, including the use of fare gates at major ferry terminals.
Cubic also provides digital fare payment systems for public transit services in the San Francisco Bay Area (Clipper card), London Underground (Oyster card), Sydney/New South Wales (Opal card), Chicago (Ventra card), and New York City (OMNY card, replacing the MetroCard). This includes the use of smart cards and some similar fare gate hardware.
However, Cubic’s Umo is not unique to BC Transit. It has been adopted by dozens of public transit agencies across Canada and the United States, particularly small to mid-sized public transit systems.
Umo is designed to be flexible, lower-cost, and scalable for public transit authorities that cannot afford or do not need massive custom-built smart card systems like Compass, Clipper, Oyster, Opal, Ventra, and OMNY. Public transit authorities can launch Umo with mobile apps, reloadable cards, and account-based payments much faster.
By contrast, Compass is a bespoke, closed-loop system built by Cubic specifically for TransLink.
Map of public transit authorities in Canada and the U.S. that use Cubic’s Umo digital fare payment system. (Cubic Transportation Systems)
TransLink’s Compass Card (left) and BC Transit’s UMO Card). (Shawn.ccf/Shutterstock | BC Transit)
Online fare payment on the Umo smartphone app. (BC Transit)
Example of a QR code for the proof of fare payment on the Umo smartphone app. (BC Transit)
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