Re: Sydney Public Transport Directory.

[McFergus@my-dejanews.com]

In article <914250189.147590@woody.hotkey.net.au>,
  "Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au> wrote:
> >I don't know if there were every serious plans about placing all the modes
> of
> >transport under the one 'PTA' banner, but the integrated ticketing plan was
> >postponed due to the complexity and logistics of the project. IMHO the
> >decision to delay was a sensible one, as there are many traps and pitfalls
> in
> >designing a system that would be able to adequately serve Sydney's rather
> >fragmented transport network, and if such a project were rushed in order to
> >meet a deadline (e.g. Olympics) we could well be lumbered with a rotton
> >system for decades.
> >
> Sorry?
> Melbourne has had a perfectly good multi-modal ticketing system since 1983
> (trials started before this in the Moorabbin neighbourhood). I would have
> thought our system was no more complicated than Sydney's.


The problem with Sydney's transport system is that there are a large number
of operators, many of whom are private, operating different modes of
transport with widely varying levels of subsidy, and widely varying fare
structures. At one end of the spectrum is the highly subsidised CityRail and
State Transit who enjoy high levels of government subsidy, at the other end
is SLR, the monorail and the private ferries who recieve no operating
subsidy, and somewhere in the middle is the private bus operators who receive
subsidy but at a lower level than the government operators. AFAIA private bus
operators do not receive their subsidy directly, but via payments for the
carriage of school children.

CityRail and State Transit, with their lower commercial imperatives, have
been able to integrate their ticketing to some degree, resulting in such
products as the TravelPass and CityHopper. Whilst these are excellent
examples of integrated ticketing, there is no equivalent for people who live
in the western suburbs and need a ticket centered around Parramatta (private
bus territory), for example. Because the private operators are running a
business, they want to have their fair cut, and as a result the limited
'integrated' ticketing that is available between the private and public
operators is no more than a combination of the normal fares for both
operators combined onto the one ticket. Whilst this may save a passenger the
time it would take to purchase the second ticket, it still penalises the
passenger for changing modes, which a truly integrated ticketing system
doesn't.

I'm not sure exactly how Melbourne's competitive tendering system works, but
as the operators are included in the integrated ticketing system, I suspect
that they are much less dependant on farebox revenue than are Sydney's. To
convince Sydney's operators that they would be better off in such a system
would be a near impossible task, unless the government provided them with
suitable cash incentives. Sadly, none of this bodes well for the future of
integrated ticketing in Sydney, which I suspect is more likely to be a
stored-value cash replacement than a proper integrated system like
Melbourne's.


Rob

Sydney (Australia)

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/       Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own