Ok, so I bus to work everytimes. Its 2 zones to get there and 1 zone to get back, except on weekends and holidays when its 1 zone back and forth. I buy a booklet of the 2 zone bus passes and they cost about 31.50, which is about 3.75 plus ten or something. 2 zones is 3.75 for me and 1 zone is 2.50. So each booklet is about that much times 10. But they do have those monthly passes, and for 2 zones it would be $110. I dont go to work everyday but im pretty close to it. Plus I know you can keep the monthly passes as a tax refund. So what would save me more money? Getting a monthly pass, or just keep being a booklet of 10 2 zone tickets?
Estimated monthly cost of your tickets, presuming you use 1zone tickets when you don't need two zones, is already 120$-130$ at least in my head. And that's not calculating not work related transit.
Get the pass for sure. Cheaper, less hassle, and more freedom because you don't have to worry about transfers running out.
I am glad I don't have to deal with zones. An 'adult' bus pass for me is $60.75 and is totally worth it, even though I only work three days a week at the moment.
BTW, any students at BCIT will be disappointed that their FastTrack stickers on their student cards won't work on those booklets of faresavers. They only work on monthly passes.
For every booklet of 2-zone passes, you need 1.5 1-zone booklets. So for a month, that's about 2 2-zone, and 3 1-zone at minimum, usually 3 and 3.
2 * 31.50 = $63.00
3 * 21 = $63.00
$126
3 * 31.50 = $94.50
4 * 21 = $84.00
$178.5
So anywhere from $126 - $178.50 a month in the most extreme case. A two zone monthly pass is $110. That's going to save you at least $20 a month, plus not worrying about the ticket running out in 1.5 hours. You get a month of unlimited two-zone access for $20 less, it's worth it.
For taxes, keep the month passes safe. You literally send the passes to Revenue Canada as proof of payment, and claim them on your taxes. I get 3 zone monthly passes for $151 a month, and get to claim about $300 a year because of it.
As a side note, the books of tickets also qualify for tax breaks if I remember correctly. I think they were just at the lower limit.