Vision Vancouver candidate for mayor Gregor Robertson was unavailable to comment Sunday on reports he has not paid a 14-month-old transit fine. Vision Vancouver candidate for mayor Gregor Robertson was unavailable to comment Sunday on reports he has not paid a 14-month-old transit fine. (CBC)

Vancouver mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson is being criticized for not paying a fine he got after trying to take a two-zone ride with a one-zone ticket on a SkyTrain ticket more than a year ago.

The former NDP MLA was caught by transit ticket inspectors in June 2007 with a $2.25 single-zone ticket after he boarded the train in Burnaby heading for Vancouver, a trip that requires the $3.25 two-zone fare.

The ticket inspectors reportedly issued Robertson a $173 fine.

The story appeared Sunday in a local newspaper, but Robertson refused to be interviewed by the CBC about it.

Instead, his Vision Vancouver running mate Raymond Louie told CBC News that Robertson is fighting the ticket on behalf of low-income earners who might not be able to pay such an expensive fine.

Louie said Robertson intends to fight the fine in court on Dec. 4, three weeks after the civic election on Nov. 15.

But Vancouver Coun. Suzanne Anton said that Robertson, who was a provincial MLA at the time the fine was issued and owns a successful fruit juice company, is not a low-income earner and he should pay the fine.

"If he wanted to help a low-income person with a high ticket, a $173 ticket, he pays his own ticket, then finds a low-income person that needs help and makes the case there," said Anton.

Robertson's refusal to pay his transit fine is simply a weak political manoeuvre, two weeks before voters head to the polls, said Anton, who is a councillor with the Non-Partisan Association, the main rival to Robertson's Vision Vancouver party.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said the fines are a deterrence.

"The message is very clear," said Corrigan. "The fine is to deter people from riding the system for free or not paying full fare."

A spokesperson with TransLink, which runs the SkyTrain system, told CBC News that Robertson's decision to fight the fine was clearly a political move and refused to offer further comment.