Tuesday November 4 2014
The
Leader
▲ Meet your Surrey & Delta candidates 9
▲ India’s role in the First World War 26
▶ BRODIE ROBERT PATERSON CHARGED IN SURREY SHOOTING OF CRAIG WIDDIFIELD
ARREST IN 2013 MURDER SARAH MASSAH
An arrest has been made in relation to the 2013 gangland shooting that killed Craig Widdifield in South Surrey. In a news conference with Surrey RCMP and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) Friday afternoon, it was announced that 20-yearold Brody Robert Paterson had been arrested, and charged with first-degree murder. Widdifield, 28, was gunned down in what police describe as a targeted shooting on April 24, 2013, in the 15700-block of Croydon Drive, at approximately 7 p.m. Multiple 911 calls were made after shots rang out. Widdifield’s body was found in
TransLink’s new target to roll out its troubled Compass card to the bulk of transit passengers is now the end of 2015. Though it’s expected the cards will work as planned on SkyTrain, there are fears of delays on buses due to slow card read times and errors. EVAN SEAL
COMPASS CARD DELAYED AGAIN ▶ TAP OUT REQUIREMENT MAY BE SUSPENDED ON BUS SYSTEM JEFF NAGEL
TransLink officials admit they could still be more than a year away from a full rollout of their troubled Compass card payment system, setting a new target of the end of 2015. And when the full launch comes,
▶ “This would be a temporary reprieve to get people used to using this card.” COLLEEN BRENNAN
TransLink may temporarily drop the requirement for passengers to tap out as they exit buses so they aren’t overcharged if they forget that step. “This would be a temporary reprieve to get people used to using this card,” said TransLink communications vice-president Colleen Brennan, insisting the transportation authority remains committed to the original vision of a tap-in tap-out system. The $194 million smart card and fare gates program was a directive of the provincial government to combat fare evasion and crime on SkyTrain.
But there’s still no indication of when the fare gates on SkyTrain – which were to have been operating by fall of 2013 – will be closed and begin holding back fare evaders who don’t pay. It’s expected Compass cards will work as planned on SkyTrain, but there are fears of long delays as passengers board and exit buses due to slow card read times and errors on the mobile readers. Passengers are supposed to tap in as they board and tap out again as they exit to record the actual number of zones travelled. If they fail to tap out, they’re charged the default fare for three zones even if they only travelled one zone. Brennan said no decision has been made to suspend the tap-out requirement and if that’s done
it would likely require a temporary change to a simplified fare structure that charges bus riders the same price no matter how far they go. More than three quarters of TransLink’s 215 bus routes only travel within one zone anyway and never cross a zone boundary. But Brennan was unable to say if TransLink has explored other alternatives, such as designing a different solution for the 52 bus routes that span two or three zones and making the default fare one zone for the rest. The multi-zone buses may also be susceptible to fare evasion if passengers tap out on a reader without actually exiting and then ride an extra zone or two.
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Craig Widdifield, 28, was shot in South Surrey in 2013.
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