I spent my reading week in Vancouver: land of sushi, mountains, killer weed, and incredibly effective environmental measures. After walking around the city, it was hardly a surprise when BC’s Premier Gordon Campbell, frontrunner on green policy, announced a carbon tax in the province last week. The city is well-served by their transit system—buses run on time, traffic is less of an issue, and people generally seem happy to ride public transit; a change from the blank stares, grunts, and arguments you’ll find on the TTC.

Vancouver may have the upcoming Olympics to boost funding, but that’s no excuse for the TTC’s slow, boring, and inefficient past. We could learn a thing or two from our western cousins. Giambrone, here’s a few tips:

Pay more to get farther

In Toronto, it costs the same outrageous fare to travel two city blocks as it does to travel from Etobicoke to Scarborough. TransLink, Vancouver’s transit system, makes more sense: until 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, the city is divided into three zones. If you want to travel within one zone, it costs a lower fare. If you move between two or three zones, it costs more. People who travel farther along the system—using more gas and other resources—have to cough up extra cash. It’s only common sense.

Time-based transfers

Does anyone actually understand how the TTC’s transfer system works? We get a half-shredded piece of newsprint, and we can only transfer at specific, designated points. Half the time, the driver doesn’t even look at your transfer, and the other half, you get hassled. In Vancouver (alongside other more enlightened transit districts, such as Ottawa), transfers have a time limit. You have unlimited access to transit for the hour and a half after you pay your fare. Imagine getting on the streetcar, hopping off at your favourite coffee shop to grab a quick drink, and then getting back on, towards your final destination. These kinds of transfers would not only make getting around less restrictive, they’d encourage more exploration and spread cash around the city.

Let’s go sailing

Fully integrated with Vancouver’s transit system is the SeaBus, a ferry that takes you across the Burrard Inlet between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver—at a high speed and with no added cost. Our own ferry system is slow and expensive, dividing the islands from most of the city. Why not integrate it with the TTC?

Rule through fear

Forget turnstiles and change-booths— Vancouver’s SkyTrain lets you simply walk on. However, once you’ve made it to the station or on the train, you’re in a “fare paid zone” and must produce a proof of payment (which you can buy from spiffy futuristic machines) if the transit cops ask you for it. Otherwise, you face a fine. Imagine how much faster it would be to get on the subway if you didn’t have to line up to get change. This helps employee morale too: would you rather be trapped in a suffocating glass change-box, or play badass traffic cop, busting people who don’t respect the honour system?

Electric busses

Streetcars may be an eco-friendlier alternative to buses, but don’t you wish they could dodge that slow car in the middle lane? Picture the hybrid baby of a bus and a streetcar, and you’ve got Vancouver’s trolley buses—made with Back to the Future-like hooks that can connect to overhanging wires for power, but also move to get to places faster.

Embrace the web

Who hates the TTC’s horrid website? It’s outdated, unintuitive, and should have been replaced years ago. Not only does TransLink have a sexy streamlined website, complete with its own trip planner, it’s also integrated with Google Transit, which lets you plot a multi-stop transit route, itinerary and all, on Google Maps, the greatest thing since Google was created.

Federal funding

The Government of Canada logo is everywhere on Translink, and it shows. We’re Canada’s largest city, couldn’t we use a bit of cash from Ottawa to implement some improvements to the aging TTC?

U-Pass

All students at UBC and Simon Fraser receive a U-Pass: a spiffy card that gives them unlimited transit access for the school year. Like the proposed TTC U-Pass, Vancouver students pay a mandatory fee on top of their tuition. However, what UBC students shell out figures at about $20 a month, a third of the cost of the TTC’s current proposal. The pass has increased transit use among students by 63 per cent since implemented, and also lets students explore the city, spreading cash way beyond the student ghetto.

Wallet-sized day passes

The TransLink day pass is the size of a credit card, and to validate it for the day, you just scan it on a bus or at a station. Seriously, who thought it was the good idea to base our day pass on scratch-and-win lottery tickets?