Re: Tram Announcements: another Victorian election conspiracy theory

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

> 
> No, but on one else has got a better idea to get people to validate their
> tickets.  The CSE just make sure people have valid tickets.
> Sydney and Adelaide have conductors, are you saying that you should get
> rid of the person on your trams and relace them with a machine?

They ISSUE tickets.

> : > BTW the fair evasion on Melbourne's trains is around 8-10%.
> 
> : Was your use of "fair evasion" a typo, a Freudian slip or deliberate?
> 
> You know what I mean, back to the point what is the figure for Sydney?

Who knows? But it is certainly less where people have to use electronic
gates (and where the staff do not just let people through the
non-electronic gates indiscriminately) than where there is no form of
ticket checking. What else would you expect?

That is entirely consistent with the Melbourne situation where people
clearly - by your own admission - fail to pay fares if they can avoid
it. It is no doubt broadly consistent with experiences around the world,
which is why systems of ticket validation AND ENFORCEMENT have become so
widespread. Fare evasion was also widespread in Melbourne with
conductors, and people then had the added rationalisation that if they
failed to pay their fare, it was the conductor's fault for not doing his
job properly.

And let me put in a comment of support for David Johnson's suggestion
about changing the terminology to "ticket checkers" rather than
"validators", although that is unlikely to solve the underlying problem.

Eddie Oliver