NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – The head of TransLink admits the Compass Card has flaws, but believes the roll-out has been a success.

CEO Kevin Desmond is defending the system against complaints about access for the disabled and card hacking.

“Clearly, I went into this job with my eyes open. I was aware of the challenges Compass had. My job is to lead this very big, diverse agency with a multiplicity of issues — this being just one of them.”

There have been reports of disabled who can’t tap in being left waiting for an attendant at the gate. Desmond has heard those reports and says wants to learn more about how to help.

“We’re launching a survey of folks to get a better sense of how many folks have this challenge, what the nature of their need is — because there’s not going to be a one size fits all.”

Desmond says SkyTrain attendants will need time to work on staffing disability gates. He admits making the system accessible for the disabled has not happened fast enough.

When it comes to possible hacking of the system, Desmond says the system operator, Cubic, has never been hacked at any of the 20 installations worldwide.

“They would be monitoring very closely. And if anything like that did happen on any of their installations throughout the world, they would have a very, very strong interest in making sure they close those loopholes.”

He admits Compass paper tickets can be cloned, but the system can identify copied tickets and void them. Desmond says there have so far been 35 incidents of that happening.

He says 94 per cent of trips now use Compass, which is a sign of success — he notes about 70 per cent of trips are done with a similar card in Seattle.