Re: Metcard Implementation

[Michael Walker <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

Daniel Bowen wrote:
> 
> "Chris Brownbill" <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au> wrote:
> >What's Different about the Met?
> 

<snip info on routes and maps and etc>

> What I do find interesting is the chart included that shows what type of ticket
> is available where. Apart from the withdrawal of dailies from trams (how stupid
> is that?!?) I also notice that Group Get-a-bout and Family tickets (the former I
> believe is available on trams and at stations) will now ONLY be available from
> staffed (eg Premium) stations and by phone order. That should pretty well kill
> them off, don't you think?
> 
> Group Get-a-bout was introduced after the withdrawal of the benefit to Weekly
> and Monthly tickets allowing another adult and some kids (4?) to travel free
> with the ticket holder on weekends.
> 
This was PTC policy at the initial implementation of AT (Automatic
Ticketing) to encourage people to buy tickets off the system. Onelink
wanted to include it. Before we bag the PTC for shortsightedness, this
is standard policy for many systems as buying tickets off the system
means less queues on vehicles.
	Having said that, I would have thought the PTC would have changed their
mind on this as I would have thought they could give less commission on
tickets sold to the tram / train operator than a small business operator
or other business. After all, public transport operators generally like
to take the money up front and give a lesser service to customers than
go without a little now for happier and more frequent users of the
system later.