Re: [NSW] CityRail Ticketing, Part II

["Al" <alpout@optusnet.com.au>]

"Chris Downs" <cvdowns@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
OPZx6.1330$MM.54996@ozemail.com.au">news:OPZx6.1330$MM.54996@ozemail.com.au...
> As I understood from the previous thread on Morriset ticket purchases you
can
> buy the DayTripper as long as it covered travel to and from the station of
> purchase.  That rules out Morriset as it's outside the suburban network, ie
> beyond Cowan.

What got me about buying it from Morisset was that we'd done that before, and
the excuse mumbled to us at the time was "It's against railway law to have two
valid tickets at once."  This excuse didn't hold much water to me, as the
Morisset-Cowan return covered one area, and the Daytripper the next bit, which
was the same trip continued.  What about the return trip, when we did get
Daytrippers at Hornsby (as well as Morisset-Hornsby return), and were
therefore covered by the Daytripper and the return as far Cowan on the way
back?


> You can buy a CityHopper at Morriset as it's an addition to the
Morisset-City
> return ticket, allowing travel from the station of purchase.

Then why not have the Daytripper as an addition for any station outside the
metro area into that area?

> This theory doesn't seem to apply for station to station travel extensions
> however.  I've bought a ticket at Springwood covering return Kingswood to
> Hurstville travel to extend travel on my Lawson-Kingswood weekly without
> dramas (I produced my valid weekly to prove I had paid my fare to
Kingswood).
>
> Presumably there is little perceived need to sell DayTrippers at Morriset.
> The universal advice I've received however from ticket sellers (and this
> should apply equally to your DayTripper problem Al) is that I should by my
> "extension" ticket at the 1st reasonable opportunity I get after I've gone
> beyond the limit of my other ticket.  I've had no trouble with barrier staff
> but have yet to encounter a ticket inspector - that's only a matter of time
> however as I'm doing this once a fortnight and usually buying my ticket on
> arrival at Hurstville as Hazelbrook's staff can't sell tickets, I can't buy
it
> the day before at Penrith and the TVM can't process this variation (shock,
> horror, disbelief!).

I reckon that for all the advertising they're putting up about Daytrippers
(including at stations along the Hunter lines), then it would make things
easier for people if they could sell them from any ticket office.  In all the
times that we've done the Hunter-Sydney thing, we've seen the same people on
the train down and back, presumably doing the same thing as us, and that's
just a coincidence that we've been in the same carriage at the same time.  So
I'd say it's a reasonable guess to say that, especially on weekends, there's
quite a few people travelling to Sydney and looking to get around down there.

I also sent off a letter about it to the Minister for Public Announcements, I
mean Transport, and actually got an acknowledgement about it, but I doubt
whether it will go any further than that.

There might also be little perceived need to sell Link tickets from up here,
but that didn't stop them announcing the Easter Show Link at Victoria St all
day today.

Just bring on the zone system like Melbourne, it would make travelling on
Cityrail a lot easier.  Actually, here's a radical thought, have multi-modal
tickets as well.  It might actually encourage people to use public transport.

Al