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

See details of the change on the Sydney Buses web site: http://www.sydneybuses.info/news.php?id=773.

Allan Miles, a spokesman for Action for Public Transport (APT), said that while APT always welcomes further expansion of the prepay network, this particular model excludes all cash paying customers and is completely unacceptable. Mr Miles said that, according to the publicity brochure, a prepaid ticket will be required by all persons wishing to board buses at these stops between 7 am and 7 pm Monday to Friday.

Bus routes affected by this change are 143, 144, 200, 251, 255, 258, 261, 266, 533, 534, 536, 545 and 550, which travel to many northern and north-western suburbs. "There may be any number of reasons why a person does not have a valid prepaid ticket on arrival at the stop," Mr Miles said. "Residents of other areas will not know the rules, schoolchildren will lose their bus pass, and even people who use TravelTens and TravelPasses may forget that their ticket has expired." "The presence of retail ticket selling outlets, or even a ticket vending machine or a footpath ticket seller does not overcome the basic objection to cutting off a section of the community," Mr Miles said. "Is a mother with two kids and shopping expected to go to the newsagent to buy a ticket and then have to wait for the next bus?". Mr Miles said that other prepay initiatives have always retained an opening for cash paying customers, and so should this one. The former route 380 bus to Bondi Beach still runs in parallel with the prepay-only route 333.

"Instead of assisting legitimate cash paying customers," Mr Miles said, "the brochure threatens them with Revenue Protection Officers and on-the-spot fines." Mr Miles said that with the current complex ticketing system, retail outlets cannot be expected to know which ticket a customer needs for a particular journey. "Who will be to blame if the retail outlet sells the passenger the wrong ticket?" he asked.

Mr Miles said that, unlike other prepay routes such as the 333 and L38, drivers on these buses will still need to carry cash and tickets for people boarding at other stops along the way. "While cash fares should be discouraged", Mr Miles said, "they must not be banned unless a convenient alternative is provided. In this case none exists."

It is difficult to understand the brochure's claim that prepaid tickets will help improve on-time reliability when the bus is stationary at its commencing point, Mr Miles said. Mr Miles said that APT is unaware of any public consultation that took place before the change was introduced. "We hope that State Transit managers will observe the problems on Monday morning and make immediate changes to eliminate them," Mr Miles said.

Contact:	Allan Miles	9516-1906
	Kevin Eadie	9819-6052