Re: Metcard Implementation

[ChrystaL <chrissie7@ppit.com.au>]

Dave McL wrote:

> 
> Well, the No 67 tram up Glenhuntly Road used to be my local until I left
> Melbourne for New Zealand, and of course on my last visit back last
> September I took another ride on it. There was still a seated conductor.
> 
> How has the changeover gone?
> 
> I still think it is absurd that you cannot buy an all-day ticket on the
> ATM trams. It must be a Kennett plot to drive passengers away.

So Dave...

you havent ACTUALLY been in melbourne to see the implementation.. havent
actually USED the system or anything.  So out of extreme curiousity..on
what knowledge did you write the following article?  You saw a non
operational machine while you were here and compared it to an operating
one in Europe... fascinating.

*text from previos posted news article*

The problem with the $300 million-plus Melbourne ATM system is that the 
state government tried to reinvent the wheel.

Perfectly good, well tried and well proven ticketing machines are in use 
on trams, buses and in railway stations all over Europe. Rather than buy 
one of the many excellent and flexible European systems, the Kennett 
Government decided to invent its own. 

The Kennett Government keeps claiming Melbourne has adopted the first 
multi-operator, multi-zone, multi-mode ATM system in the world. This 
is either a Big Lie of Goebbells proportion or the idiots repeating it 
have not visited a single medium-size city in Switzerland or Germany.

Having seen Mr Kennett's machines and been able to compare them to many 
designs I have seen in Europe, I assure you the Melbourne product is the 
worst I have seen anywhere. It is grotestquely expensive, technically 
backward, prone to massive technical faults and does not sell the
product (ie ticket) which Melbourne commuters expect. The fact some
European operators do not sell day tickets on their trams does not mean
Melbourne is incapable of selling the most common  ticket bought on its
trams. You can programme a machine to do anything, except in Melbourne,
it seems. 

Even at this late stage it would be better to scrap the entire Melbourne 
ATM system, send the bill to Jeff, and buy an off the shelf system from 
Switzerland, Germany or even Poland. 

Dave McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand