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A transit employee flees with his Compbad Card at Vancouver's Waterfront Station.
Mark Yuen / PNG files
We call it now: the next big Vancouver accessory will be the Compbad bracelet.
It's like a Livestrong bracelet, except that it allows you to take the SkyTrain and is not used to uncomfortably recall the culture of doping in professional cycling.
On Friday, eagle-eyed Redditors spotted an Instagram photo of a TransLink staff member wearing a black strap bearing the TransLink Compbad logo. .
But do not expect the Compbad card to disappear. On Friday, a TransLink spokesperson, Jill Drews, confirmed that the transport authorities are in the early stages of testing Compbad bracelets, but only "as an alternative form of payment."
One can imagine that many commuters, such as those who hate to look for their Compbad card or who are likely to lose it between trains, would appreciate an alternative. Bracelets could also be useful for people with disabilities, who may have difficulty using a Compbad card.
The bracelets would work in exactly the same way as ordinary Compbad cards, with customers using the bracelet to enter and exit the door. The only difference is that you can wear them, adding flair to your outfit with an accessory that screams "I ♥ public transit".
Drews added that the test group consisted only of staff, but that TransLink hoped to have more information for the public in the coming months.
Vancouver is not the only major city to test clothing technology as a means of payment for its travelers.
Metro, which operates the majority of bus and train services in Los Angeles County, has been testing a prototype TAP card bracelet since last year.
Brazil has tested a portable payment band for travelers, the RioCard contactless transportation wristbands, at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
In London, some commuters exchanged tickets, called Oyster cards, for Barclaycard's bPay, a bracelet that can be preloaded and used to make quick and secure payments.
Kerv, another London company, is currently looking for funds for Kickstarter to build a small waterproof ring that can be used in the same way.
And this summer, Singapore took a further step by unveiling a commuter bracelet as part of a redesign of its transportation services that completely removed the fare gate system. Instead, commuters can wear a long-range Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) bracelet when they pbad a barrier that flashes green if the pbadenger has paid in advance or red when it is there. did not do it.
The company behind the RFID system is now promoting the technology to other international metro operators.
Expect to see products like the Compbad bracelet in Vancouver and elsewhere very soon.
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