Allan Miles is Secretary of the consumer group Action for Public Transport (NSW).
| 8 June 2009 |
Introduction
Users of Sydney's public transport are provided with a vast array of tickets and fares, depending on the journey, the mode, length and time of travel, number of journeys, duration of the ticket and who owns the bus.
A recent attempt to provide an integrated ticket for all transport using a smartcard (known as Tcard) ended in disaster and the courts are still handling the aftermath. The complexity and number of different tickets were partly to blame. With a simpler fare structure, we might be using the Tcard now.
This article examines the tickets current when the Tcard project was cancelled in January 2008, the rise and fall of the Tcard, changes to tickets since the cancellation and the start of the second smart card project. It also presents a passengers' manifesto for a modern fares and ticketing system.
The reader should distinguish where necessary between tickets and fares. Tickets can be single or multiple trips (fixed number or unlimited), single route or zone coverage, limited time or no expiry, on paper, magnetic stripe or smartcard, or using other new electronic wizardry, tokens, or no ticket at all. Fares can be distance based, zone based or flat, premium, full fare, discount, concession or free. The failed Tcard would have provided integrated tickets, but not integrated fares.
Public Transport in Sydney
Sydney's public transport is provided by trains, buses, ferries, one short tram line and a monorail. This article excludes taxis, tourist services and the many special bus services. The state government runs all the trains, most of the ferries and about half of the buses. Private companies run the rest of the buses and ferries. The tram and monorail are run independently by a private company.
Annual patronage for 2007-08 was: trains (CityRail) 296 million trips, State Transit Authority (STA) buses 206 million, private buses 65 million, the government's Sydney Ferries Corporation (SFC) 14 million, private ferries 0.5 million, monorail 4 million and light rail 3.5 million - a total of nearly 590 million. These figures are for the Greater Sydney Area, including Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains. An additional 63 million trips were made by students accessing the School Student Transport Scheme.
There are a myriad of non-contract route bus services in Sydney, using mini-buses owned by clubs, councils or community groups. Most have subsidised fares, but generally tickets are not issued.
Current Tickets - General
The following pages show the multitude and complexities of the tickets available. This variety helps regular users to choose an appropriate ticket, but it bewilders visitors, and was a factor in the demise of the first smartcard project.
The complete CityRail Passenger Fares and Coaching Rates Handbook fills 113 pages. Some of the more obscure tickets or conditions are omitted in this article, either through ignorance or for simplicity. They should not be forgotten, however, as they multiply the hurdles on the road to an integrated ticket. Computer people say that about 90% of the transactions in any system are handled by 10% of the code. The non-standard items, though small in number, require most of the work.
The price of the ticket (the fare) is not given in this article, unless relevant to the discussion. Readers can find ticket prices from the various operators websites or from http://www.131500.com.au/faresandpasses/. Nearly all the following tickets come in adult and concession (half-fare) versions. Any exceptions are noted.
Unless otherwise stated, all periodical tickets can commence on any day of the week or month and remain valid until the relevant number of days has expired. Weekly tickets commenced after 1500 on any day are valid for the remainder of that day and for the next seven days.
Only tickets current when Tcard was cancelled are given in the first part of this article. Later changes are mentioned separately.
Rail Only
Tickets for use only on trains include singles, returns, off-peak returns, 7-day RailPasses, and FlexiPasses for any number of days from 28 to 366. A CityHopper ticket combines return travel from any station to the CBD and unlimited trips within the CBD for one day. The second portion of a return ticket is valid until 0400 the next day.
Off-peak means a ticket after 0900 weekdays and any time on weekends or public holidays. Off-peak return tickets are discounted by 30% from the full fare. Off-peak single tickets are not available.
All rail-only tickets are point-to-point only. Break of journey is allowed anywhere along the route except for holders of single and return tickets. Travel is also allowed on alternative direct routes between the two limits of the ticket, but meandering is frowned upon.
Prices for multi-trip tickets are ultimately based on the single fare, where the price per kilometre decreases rapidly with distance. A single ticket for five km costs $3.20, but 50 km costs only about twice that, 80 km costs three times, 130 km costs four times, 145 km costs five times, 160 km costs six times, and 300 km costs approximately seven times $3.20.
Discounts on weekly tickets, compared to ten singles, increase with the distance covered, from about 20% for short distances to 55% for very long ones. Weekly or longer term tickets can be used an unlimited number of times. Discounts also increase with the term of a periodical ticket, from 2.5% for a month to about 23% for a year. To compare two extremes, five km on a single ticket costs $3.20, but 38,000 km on a long distance yearly (10 trips a week for 48 weeks) only costs $2,300, about one-tenth of the price per kilometre.
Weekly tickets are not discounted for public holidays. This can create queues at ticket sales points if people buy daily tickets instead.
The cost savings by using periodical tickets do not all fall the passenger's way. The operator also benefits from savings in paper, printing and labour, as well as from holding the customers money for up to a year before providing the service.
CityRail has 307 stations, but only 44 of the busier ones have ticket validating machines. Passengers using the others have unchecked access, but most would pass through a gated station at one end of their trip.
The Airport Line
The four privately-owned stations on the airport line do things differently. First, they charge a station access fee (Gate Pass) on top of the rail fare. At the two airport terminal stations this fee is exorbitant (for two or more people a taxi is cheaper), but is more modest at the two suburban stations. The fee can be paid as part of the total ticket price, or, if the passenger already has a valid rail ticket for that line, a separate Gate Pass ticket is sold. The additional Gate Pass fee is not publicised on either the AirportLink or CityRail web sites, only the total ticket price. Passengers with a rail ticket and a Gate Pass need only insert the Gate Pass in the turnstile.
AirportLink ticketing has several other unusual features. Multi-use Gate Pass fees are very heavily discounted. A return Gate Pass fee (same day) is only 37% more than a single use one, and an unlimited weekly Gate Pass fee is only 45% more than a single; obviously kept low to allow airport workers to use the train.
AirportLink station barriers return an expired ticket to the exiting passenger, whereas machines at all other stations swallow it. This allows business travellers to keep evidence for claiming expenditure from an employer or on income tax returns.
Businesses can purchase books of 10 to 100 single tickets for travel between the city and the airport at a discount of 10%. Group travel tickets for adults are also available for travel from the airport, but not to it.
Bus Only - State Transit Buses
Tickets for STA buses (government owned and operated) include singles, TravelTens and BusTrippers. A single ticket means just that. Break of journey is not permitted on single tickets or TravelTens. Transfers are not allowed except at a few designated points between a few specified routes and sometimes only in pre-dawn darkness.
An exception is STA buses in Newcastle, where fares are charged by time rather than by distance, and transfers or returns are allowed within the stated time.
Sydney TravelTens come in five prices for the different fare bands. Passengers holding a short distance ticket can dip it more than once to make up the fare for a longer distance trip.
A TravelTen (or TimeTen in Newcastle) gives ten journeys for the price of eight, or 20% discount. TravelTen and TimeTen tickets are valid until the last ride is taken. Users boast in newspaper columns of unfinished tickets started years ago.
Most multi-ride tickets can only be used by the holder. For instance, two people wishing to use a TravelPass or a DayTripper on a bus will need to have one ticket each. However, one TravelTen ticket may be used by a group of people boarding a bus together, as long as it is dipped once for each person.
STA does not offer a weekly bus ticket by that name, although the restricted use 2Zone TravelPass is a bus-only weekly by default rather than by design. The useful and relatively cheap BusTripper allows unlimited rides for one day on STA buses, but it is poorly publicized and difficult to buy.
Bus Only - Private Buses
Privately owned buses run chiefly in the outer suburbs or outer metropolitan areas with some express trips to the CBD. In years past the different companies offered a variety of ticket and fare options. Many of these ceased with the advent of the contract system and buyouts of smaller companies.
In recent years most companies have offered only a single ride ticket, waiting on the promised Tcard to provide multi-trip tickets. Their customers fared poorly compared with STA passengers who had many discount and pre-pay options. However a search of the companies web sites shows a large range of weeklies, ten-trips, all day tickets, stored-value cards, transfers, family tickets, etc.
Single fares on all bus routes, government and private, are the same. Routes are divided into sections, with a maximum of 29 sections on the 43 km Palm Beach route. Sections must average 1.6 km in length over the entire length of a route, but may vary from 1.3-1.9 kms. For fare calculation, these sections are grouped into five bands (1-2, 3-5, 6-9, 10-15, and 16+). Bus fares do not vary between peak and off-peak times.
Tickets issued by one private company cannot be used on the buses of another company or on STA buses.
PrePay Bus Tickets
State Transit is rapidly advancing its prepay ticket project. Many rail and ferry tickets are also prepaid (as against payment at place of boarding) but this does not affect the speed of the train or ferry. Travel on the driver-only buses, however, is greatly assisted if most boarding passengers already have a ticket.
Prepaid bus tickets such as TravelTens, TravelPasses, Pensioner Excursions, BusTrippers, DayTrippers, etc have been around for many years. Prepaid single tickets were added in March 2006 and sold at vending machines at the busy Wynyard bus terminal. Passengers were encouraged to buy them to reduce bus loading times in the evening peak. They were, in effect a one-trip TravelTen, with the first nine trips blocked. When the first prepay-only route, the 333 from the city to Bondi Beach, began in October 2006, prepay single tickets became more widely available. Bondi Junction Interchange has had ticket vending machines for some years.
State Transit now has a wide range of prepay-only routes, prepay-only stops, and prepay-only precincts. This has required a large increase in the number of agents selling the tickets, and the volume and variety of tickets that they hold. Breakdowns in the ordering and supply chain can leave passengers frustrated.
Ferry Only
Sydney Ferries Corporation (SFC) issues single tickets and FerryTens, similar to bus TravelTens. Prices vary with the distance. Until its demise in December 2008 the Manly JetCat ferry had its own premium fare tickets. This was one of the few services which did not have a concession fare.
Only Circular Quay and Manly wharves have ticket validating machines. Nearly all ferry trips begin or end at one or other of these wharves; passengers who both board and leave at other wharves can buy tickets from the ferry crew.
The private ferries in Sydney Harbour, Parramatta and Lane Cove Rivers, Palm Beach and elsewhere all provide single tickets. Some operators also have tickets for ten-trip, all day or three day travel.
Tickets issued by one private company cannot be used on the ferries of another company or on SFC ferries.
Accepting Single-Mode Tickets on other Modes
Sometimes, because of an emergency or industrial action, trains, buses or ferries are cancelled or seriously delayed. At such times, it is common for tickets for the cancelled service to be honoured for travel on one of the alternative modes still operating in the same direction.
The usual situation is for train tickets to be honoured on government buses, but recently during some CBD blackouts, when buses were stuck in traffic, bus tickets were honoured on trains. Bad weather or industrial problems often result in ferry tickets being accepted on buses. When this occurs, there is no way for the machines on the alternative mode to recognise the proffered ticket, so these are just waved at the staff.
Multi-Mode Tickets
Of course, many commuters and most visitors use more than one mode of travel, and they are well catered for; at least, those people using only government services are.
The most popular tickets are the TravelPasses. These come in a range of colours and flavours, covering the suburban area in roughly concentric zones from the CBD. There are nine TravelPasses with one valid for buses only, three for buses and ferries and five for buses, ferries and trains.
A TravelPass valid for one rail, bus or ferry route is valid on any other rail, bus or ferry route in that same zone. But only on government buses and ferries. A passenger using a TravelPass can exit Hurstville station and board a route 499 bus, but not a route 948 at the adjacent bus stop. But the ticket can be used to travel by train to Turramurra, 37 km away across the harbour.
TravelPasses come only in weekly, quarterly and yearly versions. A quarterly costs 11 times a weekly, and a yearly costs 40 times a weekly. Concession fares are available for weekly TravelPasses, but not for quarterly and yearly ones.
The BusPlus 7 Day ticket combines CityRail travel with private bus services from certain CityRail stations to surrounding suburbs. BusPlus tickets are available at eleven stations in the western, south-western and Central Coast areas. The price of the ticket is merely the sum of the two separate rail and bus weeklies. There is no additional discount. While convenient, BusPlus tickets offer nowhere near the flexibility of the TravelPass, and up to eighty stations remain with no integrated tickets for regular commuters at all.
The DayTripper ticket offers travel for one day on all government rail, bus and ferry services in the Sydney metropolitan area. At $17.00 it is good value and convenient for tourists, most of whom would take a ferry ride, but far too expensive for a local person doing a days business around town.
A Pensioner Excursion Ticket (PET) is one of the best and most convenient deals available. For only $2.50 an eligible person can use trains on the whole CityRail network and all buses and nearly all ferries in the greater Sydney area stretching from Newcastle to Nowra, Goulburn and the Blue Mountains.
CityRail stations sell Link tickets combining a rail fare with a bus, tram or ferry fare to a few tourist destinations. There is no price advantage, just the convenience of the single ticket.
Top-Ups
Ticket holders can top up their RailPass, or rail-issued TravelPass in CityRail's ticket vending machines (TVMs). This can be done at any time. The machine calculates the unexpired value of the ticket, deducts this from the price of a new ticket and requests payment of the difference. In this way customers can change the expiry date of their ticket from, say, Monday to Thursday. TravelPasses sold by newsagents cannot be topped up in this way.
Combined event-and-fare tickets
For some major events, such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show, football matches and concerts, the entry ticket to the venue includes the public transport fare. Indeed, for the Royal Easter Show, there is no separate entry ticket for patrons. All tickets include the bus or train fare.
Light Rail and Monorail
The light rail, from Central to Lilyfield, has one and two zone single tickets, day passes and weeklies. The Annual Gold Card offers a discount of 20% off the weekly ticket price.
Passengers on the monorail, which travels above the CBD and Darling Harbour, can buy tokens for single rides or a stored value Metrocard where rides are greatly discounted. Even more discount is available if users become members and top up their card on notified days. The rides on the card are valid for 12 months, and each card can hold unlimited rides, although the operator recommends that no more than 25 rides be put on each card in case the card is lost or damaged.
Both services are run by the same company, and other tickets combining single and multiple rides on both routes, and discount vouchers for shops and venues are available. The fares are not subject to government control.
Apart from the CityRail Light Rail Link ticket, there is no joint ticketing between monorail or light rail travel and the tickets of any other operator.
NightRide Buses
Between midnight and dawn, when most trains are not running, CityRail provides a network of NightRide buses under contract from various operators. Ten routes serve most railway stations (and some non-stations) on all lines in the suburban area except the Bondi Junction and Carlingford lines. All valid rail tickets except singles are accepted on the buses and the drivers issue special single journey tickets as required. Three different fares cover all trips, and are based on the number of sections, 1-3, 4-6, and 7 or more sections. These fares do not match any other rail or bus fares, but are based on bus sections with no published information available as to the number of sections between each station.
Other Tickets
A great variety of other tickets are available, including gold passes for politicians, and free passes for some war veterans and sight-impaired people.
The Macarthur Pass is a rail weekly available only to students at the Macarthur (Campbelltown) Campus of the University of Western Sydney. It allows travel Monday to Friday between the point of origin and Macarthur station, and all-lines travel on weekends.
A Family Fare is available for adults travelling with children. Only the adult and one child need to pay. The other children do not need a ticket. No child under four needs a ticket.
Bicycle owners travelling by CityRail services 0600 and 0900 or between 1530 and 1930 on weekdays must purchase a child ticket for the bicycle as well as having their own ticket. Bicycles are not mentioned by SFC and can not be carried on buses.
Transfer of Tickets between Users
Most tickets purchased for use by one user are not transferable. That is, they cannot be used by another person. Rail and TravelPass season tickets show the holders name. Exceptions are those multi-ride tickets where a trip is deducted for each person boarding. These tickets include TravelTens, FerryTens, and smart cards for the monorail and the Manly Fast Ferry. When two or more people board together, the ticket can be handed from the first person to the next and so on, but each person must register a trip.
Expiry Time
Most government issued tickets expire at 0400 on the day after the expiry date. However, tickets by other operators can expire at different hours such as midnight or 0500.
Deposits on Tickets
Except for a few stored value cards used by some operators, no ticket in use requires a deposit to be paid on top of the fare. That is, every cent a passenger pays is spent on travel.
Role of IPART
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW (IPART) reviews prices charged by monopolies, such as providers of public transport and utilities. IPART determines maximum prices for scheduled bus, train and ferry fares. Providers may not charge more than these amounts, but may charge less, and a few large private bus companies do charge less then the maximum allowed. IPART is constrained by the relevant Act, which sets out criteria to be considered, and by the directives of the NSW Premier. Reviews include concession fares but IPART does not determine who can receive concessions. The subject of who is eligible for concessions, and where and when, could fill another whole article.
For public transport, the process begins when the Premier requests IPART to review fares for trains, buses or ferries. Reviews are usually conducted annually, but may be deferred depending on circumstances. As well as fares, the types of tickets are also examined. The process is adversarial, beginning with submissions by the transport authorities, by providers, sometimes by Treasury, and recently by politicians. Community groups then make counter submissions, and after further discussions with stakeholders, IPART makes its determination.
The published IPART determinations give good descriptions of patronage, fares, ticket types, usage and the reasons for the decisions. See the web site at http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/.
The author has participated in IPART's fare reviews for many years and maintains contact at other times. IPART is ever ready to listen and respond to proposals, but is inflexible in its preference for distance based fares over zone fares, which would have implications for revenue. However, IPART continues to protect the popular zoned TravelPass tickets, while setting itself the pointless task of calculating what discounts they offer, lest they be too generous.
In recent years IPART has been responsible for setting a uniform discount rate of 20% on weekly tickets across all bus services, higher than the governments preferred rate. This, it claims with some justification, is setting the fares system up for electronic tickets.
Tcard Project
The clutter of fares and tickets mentioned so far would alert the reader to the Herculean task of putting them all onto one smartcard. Similarly, the large number of operators involved might be unable to agree on a simplified fare regime suitable for a card.
An integrated transport ticket was first planned for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but that was very wishful thinking. An April 2005 communication said The Tcard project is a public transport initiative of the NSW Government being developed by the NSW Transport Administration Corporation (TAC). Using smart card technology, Tcard will provide a single ticketing system for Government and private bus, train and ferry services in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area. Tcard will also provide new ways of purchasing public transport tickets and managing concession travel.
The Tcard, we were told, would pay your fare on any transport, including taxis, as well as be accepted for small retail purchases. As the project continued through the decade, problems beset it from all sides. Transport forums were told that Tcard could do all sorts of things with fares, but what it would actually do, nobody had yet decided. And nobody ever did.
Card holders would need to tag-on and tag-off; not a big problem with trains and ferries, but the tag-off from buses might have been a potential disaster. Fares would be calculated by distance travelled, almost down to the last metre. Zone-fare tickets such as TravelPasses were threatened. Passengers making multi-segment journeys would pay the flagfall plus distance travelled for each segment. Discounts for frequent users were never determined.
A low card take-up by the public was always likely, though never admitted. It is difficult to see how a passenger who won't buy a TravelTen now "because I don't use the bus very often" will be persuaded to part with $5 or $10 deposit, plus the initial upload, for a little used smartcard. Some form of cash payment system would always be required, regardless of the take-up rate.
On the infrastructure side, posts to hold the card readers were installed at many railway stations but never used. Machines were installed on some buses from Kingsgrove Depot and a trial conducted. Valid cards were issued to selected passengers and used to pay fares. However, bus drivers complained that the Tcard technology caused the other ticket machines to freeze, and the trial was aborted.
It was also intended that Tcard would be used to solve a number of problems with school bus passes and private buses were fitted with Tcard readers for school students before the general Tcard trial even began. Punchbowl Bus Company was included in the Tcard trial and later had to be supplied with new current ticketing equipment. Many private bus operators have worn-out ticketing equipment because they waited for Tcard rather then purchase new equipment and some are now in a near crisis state with their ticketing.
The ultimate users, the passengers, were never asked to participate in the project design. At meetings they were simply told what was happening, and invited to ask questions. Some of the major stakeholders were said to be less than enthusiastic about the project. Traditional inter-agency rivalries always bubbled close to the surface.
The multiplicity of fares and tickets was a serious headache for which no-one had a remedy. A simplified fare system would mean winners and losers amongst passengers, and no politician wanted losers in his or her electorate. And Treasury wanted none of it, because it would have implications for revenue.
In 2006 the Public Transport Ticketing Corporation (PTTC) was set up to replace the TAC in the implementation of the Tcard. Like the TAC it has no say in the types of fares and tickets offered, but just follows orders.
The basic concept of a smartcard is good. It would have provided an integrated ticket and speedy entry. However, Sydney's Tcard had no high level supremo or champion to fight for it, to knock heads together, or to clear a path through the jungle.
Ticket Initiatives since Tcard
The most significant result and perhaps the only benefit of the demise of the Tcard was the introduction of weekly bus tickets for private bus passengers. Community groups had long been calling for equity between government bus passengers and those of private buses who mostly had to pay single fares for each trip, expensive and time consuming for passengers and operators alike. These requests were put on hold because Tcard would fill the void.
In December 2007, when the Tcard was obviously in terminal decline, IPART urged the Ministry of Transport to provide a multi-trip discounted ticket for private bus passengers. What was not possible before suddenly became possible, and the first weekly tickets were available in October 2008. These allow travel between the two points designated on the ticket, and so are rather restrictive, but useful for regular commuters. They are priced at a 20 percent discount from ten single trips, although they can in fact be used for unlimited rides between the dates and places specified.
The JetCat service to Manly ended in December 2008. After a gap of six weeks with no high-speed ferry, a private company began running the Manly Fast Ferry in February 2009. The company offers single tickets and a ten-trip Smart Card ticket with a discount of 18% on single trips. Like its JetCat predecessor, the Manly Fast Ferry does not allow concession fares. There is a $5 once only, refundable deposit on the card, and holders can continue to reload ten-journey packs. These tickets cannot be used on trips run by Sydney Ferries Corporation.
The remainder of the governments ferry services could possibly be privatised soon, bringing another range of tickets. There would also be implications for the TravelPasses, all but one of which include travel on government ferries.
In May 2008, a 14-Day RailPass was introduced at twice the price of a 7-Day RailPass. This was an attempt to reduce the Monday morning ticket queues. Some stations had been issuing frustrated customers with an "authority to travel - pay at destination" form.
In August 2008, CityRail began a trial to encourage patrons of overcrowded peak hour trains to move to shoulder-peak services. CityRail offered a 50% fare discount to passengers on some western suburbs lines travelling before 0715 or after 0915 to the City and departing the City outside the evening peak of 1600 to 1830. After a ten week trial the project was terminated due to poor response. Tickets had to be bought daily, and there were problems if a passenger was unexpectedly delayed into the evening peak. The trial was useful, however, in testing passenger elasticity in response to changes in fares.
The Prepay-only Metrobus route 10 which started in October 2008 uses standard tickets and fares.
In December 2008, seemingly at the Premier's request, a new free Sydney CBD shuttle bus began as route 555. This is by far the best of the many CBD shuttles that have come and gone, free or otherwise. It runs frequently seven days a week between peak hours, except on Thursday when it finishes at 2100. Patronage is good and it has helped speed up the suburban buses by taking away many short-trippers. Free shuttle or circle services also operate in the Parramatta and Wollongong CBDs.
From December 2008 a Family Funday Sunday ticket for $2.50 per person was introduced to enable a family to enjoy a day out with unlimited travel on CityRail, State Transit buses, participating private bus operators and SFC ferry services. A family must include at least one adult and one eligible child. For a limited time, the ticket also included free entry into a range of participating venues. The ticket is popular, particularly for ferry trips, and as a result, is said to be eroding the direct revenue of Sydney Ferries Corporation.
In March 2009 the Companion Card was launched in NSW. This allows free travel and access to other venues and services to a carer of a severely and permanently disabled person.
The New Smart Card Project
In January 2008 a spokesman for the transport minister said that the fare issue would be considered by an expert panel that will look at how the state moves forward with implementing an integrated, cashless public transport ticketing system. The panel will comprise representatives from the Public Transport Ticketing Corporation, which led the failed Tcard project, as well as the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, Treasury and a yet to be named independent advisor. Note that the panel of experts includes no fare paying passengers.
The Public Transport Ticketing Corporation (PTTC) is a New South Wales statutory corporation whose principal objectives are:
According to the EOI paper (section 6.2), the objectives of the electronic ticketing system are:
Section 6.3 sets out the customer objectives:
Section 6.6 describes the electronic ticketing system concept. It is too long to reproduce here, and much of it is predictable. However, the following points should set more alarm bells ringing:
These concepts, and others, are as currently envisaged by the PTTC, but are not intended to be prescriptive. Alternative concepts that provide enhanced outcomes are invited. It would seem, then, that the card will do anything asked of it, but that no-one has made any decision. The failed Tcard had a similar problem. However, the caveat offers hope of a new dawn.
The new card appears not to have been branded as yet and the name Tcard seems to have been dropped.
A Passengers' Manifesto
The desirable outcomes of a new ticket system can be listed as:
The Metros
Over the past year, new metros have appeared on and disappeared from government planning maps with alarming frequency. A Metro will not be running beneath your street anytime soon, but when it does, it will most likely have a different fare structure and ticketing mechanism from any in use today.
A Central Transport Authority
From 1972 to 1980, transport in Sydney was under the control of the Public Transport Commission (PTC). In the 30 years since then, rail, road and rudder have been through various marriages, divorces and even internal dismemberment, always, of course, in the name of greater efficiency. The fiefdoms of the various transport barons have been barriers to a unified fares system. Indeed, what little transmodal ticketing we have today survives in spite of, rather than because of the independent agencies.
A central body has again been proposed to control the planning, organizing, integration and monitoring of all transport. But it needs to have power, and one way to achieve that is to control the purse strings. The Olympic Roads and Transport Authority (ORTA) was invested with many of these powers during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and is generally credited with being a success.
The Ministry of Transport (MoT) today controls the various bus operators in the Greater Sydney area through the contract system. In its simplest form, the MoT determines the frequency and location of bus routes in each contract area. The operator sends all the fare revenue to the MoT, and the MoT pays the operator the agreed price for running the services.
A similar arrangement could be considered at a higher level, where all the fare revenue from trains, buses, ferries, metros, etc would go to a central body, which, in return, would pay the operators the agreed contract price for running the services. This would end the wrangling between the train, bus and ferry operators over the division of revenue from combined tickets. In about 1996 it was seriously proposed that the combined TravelPasses be split into separate ones for buses and trains, such was the anguish over how the cake was divided.
A central body would have the leverage to impose a unified fare regime. It would also be able to adopt a single marketing name for itself, its services and its tickets. While other Australian cities have catchy names for their transport, names which are in common parlance, Sydney just has 131500.
Conclusion
After 150 years of distance-based fare systems, it is time the transport authorities responded to the changed travel habits of passengers. While the commute from the suburbs to the city centre is still important, much travel is through the city to the other side, and much more is cross suburban.
State Transit has recognised through-CBD travel with its new MetroBus routes, which provide a single flagfall journey and fare for passengers who formerly had to change buses. Such travel has always been possible within the rail network. TravelPasses offer unlimited multi-stop multi-mode travel within certain zones, but only on government transport.
The daily commute can be more than just two simple home to work and home again trips. People have second jobs, go to classes after work, and stop on the way home to go shopping or pick up the kids. These trips require flexibility in tickets and fares.
In any new ticketing system, technology must serve the passengers' needs. Passengers' travel options must not be constrained by the limitations or rules of a ticket machine.