Re: Concession Fares on CityRail

["Peter O'Halloran" <poh@isd.canberra.edu.au>]

David Bromage wrote:

> Haven't RoA cards been abolished? There was a bit of a fuss in Canberra
> recently as ANU and Uni of Canberra students were in danger of not being
> entitled to concessions in NSW.
>
> The ACT doesn't have any student concession card as such as ACTION buses
> will accept a student ID card.
>
> In the end, Countrylink agreed to accept some sort of endorsement (in the
> form of a sticker issued by the institution) on their student ID cards.
>
> STA sells (for about $15) a card which entitles ACT tertiary students to
> concessions on CityRail.

The ACT abolished student cards a couple of years ago, and ACTION buses changed
to accepting ID cards issued by the relevant institution. This was welcomed at
the time by most students as it reduced the number of cards that they had to
carry. The ACTION concession cards were free to students, but were an awkward
size that many people had problems with.

However, the RoA card is a very different story. CityRail approached a number of
the universities in Sydney suggesting that they change their ID cards so that
they could be fed through the automatic barriers before the ticket to automate
the process of confirming the ticket holder was entitled to a concession fare.
This did not eventuate, but CityRail did agree to phase out the card and accept
a hologram on an institution identity card instead. This was also welcomed by
students.

But rather than let these things work smoothly and easily, Countrylink initially
refused to accept the hologram on the ID card. Some political pressure was
applied by someone's local MP and this was changed. State Transit is also
supposed to accept the hologram on the ID card.

This system has been in place for close to six months now, although there are
still many bugs/staff problems to be ironed out. Many station staff still do not
understand the concept of the hologram/sticker on the ID card.


Peter O'Halloran
Canberra