Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

State Transit and cash fares on buses

posted Tuesday 2 December 2003

As regular travellers on Sydney buses would know, bus journeys are made slower by people who pay cash to the driver, instead of using pre-paid tickets.

APT met with senior management of State Transit today to discuss this problem.

Matters raised included: statistics on the level of cash fares, acceptable or target levels, making cash fares less attractive, making pre-paid tickets more attractive, and awareness of the TravelTen product and its multi-person use. Other suggestions for reducing the time spent by the driver on fares and tickets were also covered.

State Transit agrees with APT that a lower ratio of cash fares is highly desirable and is seeking opportunities to move in this direction. Certain constraints and obstacles were mentioned. APT acknowledges these, but looks to State Transit to find ways around them.

The proposed SmartCard ticketing system is often held out as a panacea for all existing problems. However, APT would prefer that existing available options be implemented as soon as possible, without waiting for the SmartCard system.

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