Transit Police takes fare evasion seriously, but fare enforcement is just a small part of what we do. Our attention is focused on our four operational priorities: reducing sexual offences, reducing frontline workplace assaults, helping vulnerable people in crisis and building system resiliency. Keeping transit safe for everyone is always a primary concern.

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Absolutely. Transit Police officers are designated provincial constables with full policing powers throughout the province of British Columbia, both on and off duty, same as any municipal police officer. Our focus is on the transit system. Our duty is to enforce laws and to protect people and property.

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Today, about 70 per cent of our officers started their policing career with Transit Police as police recruits. When we first transitioned to a designated police service in 2005, we needed to quickly fill our ranks with trained and experienced police officers, so were looking to hire those with many years of experience. The majority of those initial officers have since retired after helping to set up our department for success.

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This is not realistic, as our officers respond to calls for service across all modes of transit spread across over 1800 km², from Bowen Island to White Rock to the West Coast Express station in Mission. This includes SkyTrain (55 Stations), West Coast Express (8 Stations), SeaBus (2 Terminals) and buses (200+ bus routes plus bus stops/exchanges). 

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Our salaries are comparable to those of other municipal police departments in Metro Vancouver.

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Transit Police officers patrol the transit system, respond to calls, and investigate crime the same as any other police agency. Our officers receive training at the Justice Institute of BC Police Academy. Similar to municipal police, Transit Police are overseen by a police board. Transit Police officer conduct, similar to municipal police, is overseen by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner and the Independent Investigations Office.

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Transit Security officers primarily patrol the bus system. In some circumstances they can make arrests and are able to serve fare infraction notices. Transit Security investigate incidents that are of a non-criminal nature.

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Police officers take notes when interacting with people. Just because an officer has their notebook out does not necessarily mean that they are issuing a fine. Our priority is to ensure that everyone is safe and that can include assessing a person’s ability to care for themselves, getting them in touch with resources like shelter or food banks, or investigating a crime they may have experienced or witnessed.

Having said that, everyone who is inside a Fare Paid Zone is at risk of receiving a $173 fine. The Transit Tariff does not discriminate based on age or life circumstances.

Read the Transit Tariff bylaws

We are provincial police officers trained at the Police Academy at the Justice Institute of BC. Provincial regulations require that police officers in British Columbia be armed. We frequently respond to violent offenders and weapons calls, and therefore need to be prepared at all times while on duty.

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The transit system is over 1,800 km². In order to provide the most effective service, our deployment is based on intelligence reports and crime statistics. That generally keeps us close to SkyTrain. However, Transit Police respond to incidents on all modes of transit, and we work in partnership with Transit Security who focus on keeping bus and SeaBus safe.

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While our focus is on the transit system, Transit Police officers are sworn to uphold the law no matter where they are in the Province. If they see someone driving dangerously, or any other offence occur, they are duty bound to take action, regardless of where they are.

We often participate in joint projects with our jurisdictional policing partners to keep our city safe for everyone. This can include roadblocks to take impaired drivers off the road to keep it safe for transit commuters, or participating in targeting prolific shoplifters operating near transit stations.

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No. Transit Police is a designated police service established under the Police Act and governed by a police board, not TransLink. We are funded out of the same budget as TransLink and work in partnership with transit employees, however we are accountable to the Metro Vancouver Transit Police Board.

While fare enforcement is not one of our four operational priorities, it is an area of responsibility that we take seriously. Our response to fare evasion is guided by intelligence reports and data as to the location of fare evasion “hot spots”.

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If a Transit Police officer went above and beyond for you, we would love to hear about it. Please share your story with us via our website, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Our officers are held to an extremely high standard of conduct. If you feel that standard wasn’t met, please let us know. Contact our Professional Standards Unit to file a complaint.