Re: Metcard handheld scanners

[cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au (Christopher_Martin GORDON)]

: >Pre-buying tickets is what you do.

: Just like you can do in Melbourne.

But we don't.  They haven't sold the system very well, as in Adelaide they
have sold the system of pre-buying well.

: >The Tram still had conductors.

: So? Rather than getting all your ticket checking stuff over and done with in
: a quick 4-second validation, you have  to wait around for a couple of
: minutes until some slow human finally gets around to you.

It doesn't worry me either way, but I think once the trams are run by
privet operators they will have someone doing a job similar to a conductor.

: >Less people to worry about, and no barriers to open/shut.

: Getting out of barriers is no problem, unless there are all these idiots
: around who refuse to validate and block up the nice smooth flow :-)

And bi-directoinal gates also stuff up the flow, just look at Flinders
Street during the day when the gates are bi-directoianl and peak hour
when they are in or out.  

: >Validation is slow and I am against it only because of the process and
: frequency
: >of the machine keeping you ticket and then trying to get a refund.

: Validation takes all of 4 seconds, and I don't believe that a very large
: percentage of tickets are "swallowed" by the machine. I know yours (and your
: Dad's?) was, but I think you should not extrapolate that to the population
: at large. I have only ever seen one ticket swallowed, and I am always
: watching to see how people react to the system.

I don't know how many ticket validations they are a week so I can't work
out a percentage.  But for raw figures at the time when I lost my ticket
it was to high for the system to be classed as even 'good'
: >To make Melbourne Better:

: >Need the system fully operational (including Metcard Xpress)

: Agreed!!!!! The sooner the "all other tickets" barriers are closed, the
: better.


: >Conductors on trams to sell tickets (small machine to print them is
: possible)

: Why? The only reason I can see is for nostalgia reasons on the Ws. If the
: drivers gave change on the other trams, I reckon there would be no reason to
: have conductors.

No, dirvers shouldn't give change they drive the tram.  A ticket machine
which has dailies and a machine that give $1 and $2 of notes (change machine
would do.

: >User friendly machine and easy to understand

: There are a few minor improvements they could make, but more to the station
: machines than the tram ones. A good zone map would be a good start on the
: trams.

I could think of quite a few changes I would make, actually I would start
again if I was designing or fixing a machine.

: >Process so if a machine goes wrong then refund is quick and simple.

: I wonder how it is now, after the initial peak has died down. Does anyone
: have any _recent_ experience?

I hear it still takes about 3-4 weeks.  The system of sending in a form...
etc is what I think needs changing.


: Regards,

: Mike Alexander
: (malex@bigfoot.co)



--
Chris Gordon
http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord