so you've just arrived in Vancouver and you need to figure out how to get around
the city by public transit determine whether you will be using transit a lot
or only occasionally if you're only using it a few times you can just buy
single paper fares as you go by cash or credit card or just tap the card readers
with your credit card or mobile wallet and it will charge you automatically if
you're going to be using transit more often you might want to get a reloadable
compass card blue cards are for adults Orange concession cards are for those
from ages 5 to 13 or those over 65 you can get these cards at any skytrain sea
bus or West Coast Express station as well as some London drugstores load the
cards of the machines using cash debit or credit card you can also load them
online using Visa or MasterCard you can load them with however much you'd like
and be charged fares automatically as you go single fares are cheaper when you
use the compass card versus buying a paper fare you can also load the card
with the day pass which allows unlimited travel for the day across all zones or a
Monthly Pass which allows unlimited travel for that month based on how many
zones you need note that if you ever travel across more zones than what your
Monthly Pass includes you will be charged an AddFare on the additional
zone so if you already have some stored value on your card it will cover the
cost a single fare or ticket is valid for 90 minutes of unlimited travel or
transfers starting the moment you tap in when you travel by bus it is all one
zone with all other modes of travel note how many zones you're traveling
across after 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays
everywhere becomes one zone so now that you have your card or ticket
how do you use it on buses just tap in with your card or ticket no need to tap
out since it's all one zone note that if you pay by cash on the bus
you will get a bus transfer which you can use to transfer to any other bus
within the 90-minute period but if you transfer to skytrain or Seabus you need
to upgrade to a compass ticket or a card to tap in on sky trains and the Seabus
you must tap in and out at the gates for it to calculate the zones you've
traveled the readers will turn green with a check mark and beep so you know
that it has gone through apart from the regular buses there are also B-Line
buses which are Express bus lines they don't make as many stops as the regular
buses that may be running between the same two points next we have the sky
trains we have three main lines the Expo Line Millennium Line and Canada Line
when traveling away from downtown on the Expo Line pay attention to the
destination of the train if you are traveling beyond Columbia station where
the trains will split off in different directions the same applies if you are
traveling away from downtown on the Canada line beyond Bridgeport station
where the trains also split off in different directions then we have the Seabus
this travels between Vancouver and North Vancouver departing every 15
minutes it leaves from Waterfront station and arrives at Lonsdale Quay
which connects you to buses on the North Shore lastly we have the West Coast
Express this train travels between Waterfront station and Mission City most
tourists will not need to use this you're almost all set a few more things to know
the new tap to pay function allows you to tap in and out gates with your credit
card or mobile wallet so make sure you tap the card you want charged and not
just a wallet with multiple cards in it if you would like to return your compass
card for a refund at the end of your trip you can either go to the office at
Stadium-- Chinatown station or the West Coast Express office at Waterfront
station don't forget you can use Google Maps to figure out which routes to take
have fun in Vancouver!