Re: [Melb] 27% of ticket machine out of order

["William Pearce" <ben_issacs@optusnet.com.au>]

    Fellow Travellers,
    What's the position regarding auto ticket m/cs in Sydney? Do they there
suffer the same problems to the same degree that Melb. does?  From some
comments on this site it seems that they do.

Regards,

Bill.

"david lindstrom" <d_lindstrom@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:XTPU6.58818$hV3.89651@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> Tickets failure damned
>
> By GABRIELLE COSTA
> and STATHI PAXINOS
> Monday 11 June 2001
>
> The State Government will press Melbourne's transport operators
> to urgently repair the city's crippled ticket system after a
> survey found that a quarter of automatic ticket machines at
> railway stations were out of order or faulty.
>
> Transport Minister Peter Batchelor yesterday expressed
> frustration, saying the government was helpless because it was
> up to the private operators of suburban trains, and the ticket
> system's owner, OneLink, to deliver a better service.
>
> A government-commissioned audit, revealed yesterday, found that
> 27 per cent of automatic ticket machines at railway stations
> were unable to issue a ticket, or malfunctioned in other ways.
> It also reported that machines were frequently vandalised and
> that repairs were slow.
>
> Just over 80 per cent of public transport tickets are sold
> through machines, with the rest sold at retailers such as
> newsagencies.
>
> Late yesterday the train operators indicated they would consider
> greater use of surveillance cameras at unstaffed stations - the
> scene of most of the vandalism - but ruled out guards or
> attendants.
>
> The audit found that the expectations of commuters were not
> being met and that the contract with OneLink put more emphasis
> on equipment standards and compliance than on service standards.
>
> "As the Transport Minister, I find that a damning evaluation,"
> Mr Batchelor said. "We need to have a ticketing system that
> meets the expectations of the public."
>
> He urged OneLink to immediately install an electronic system on
> the machines so that blocked coin slots could be brought to the
> company's attention and repaired quickly.
>
> "It's an issue that can't be resolved quickly," he said. "It
> might take 12months to work through the issues and know whether
> we've been successful or not.
>
> "This contract is in place until the year 2006. It can only be
> changed by agreement. The government is working with the
> operators, with Connex, with National Express and Yarra Trams, t
> o make sure that we can approach OneLink ... to deliver a better
> outcome."
>
> The report, by the Miller Consulting Group, found that ticket
> machines on trams and buses were more likely to be working
> correctly, about 88 per cent in both cases. System-wide, only 4
> per cent of validators were faulty.
>
> However, almost 19 per cent of machines at railway stations did
> not work, and a further 8.5 per cent issued tickets but had
> other major problems, including wrong change.
>
> Bob Annells, a spokesman for the Association of Transport
> Franchisees Victoria, which represents the private operators,
> said yesterday staff would not be employed to protect the
> machines.
>
> Mr Annells, who is also chairman of Connex, said manned security
> would require up to an extra three people for each railway
> station, and that was not feasible.
>
> But Mr Annells said increased camera surveillance could be
> viable, and technological options would be discussed. He said
> ticket machines were too susceptible to vandalism.
>
> But OneLink's general manager, Simon Vinson, said yesterday the
> machine specifications fulfilled the contract signed with the
> Kennett government.
>
> He said vandalism was out of the company's control. "What we
> need to see is a greater incidence of surveillance," he said.
> "We need to see more police involvement to see if we can
> actually catch these hoodlums before they actually make a
> strike."
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> David Lindstrom
> D_Lindstrom@bigpond.com
>