Fix the fares and you'll fix the ticket

Leah Mason wrote:
> I would like to put together an alternative proposal to the pay per kilometre scheme that is the final resolution of the Tcard proposal.

A kilometre based system is absurd when you want to introduce an integrated ticketing system.

>It seems that every other major city in Australia is using a zone based scheme that has no references to mode - ie you travel in your zone by whatever >means is available.

Exactly. Not only in Australia, but in all other major cities I know of

>....what are the zones?

They should be functional, not necessarily based on distance. E.g. UNSW should be included in the city zone. Taking Frankfurt as an example, which is a much smaller place, but if I superimpose this onto Sydney it would be an area between St. Leonards/North Sydney and the Airport and the Inner West to the Eastern suburbs - Bondi Junction

> As a starting point there are two basis models for a zone based
> system - a concentric ring centred around the CBD

That's the system in Frankfurt. Zone 50 is Frankfurt City Council area (map attached), a huge area from the 1970s Local Government reform (amalgamation of councils). At that time, joining that privileged one fare only zone was a lolly to attract surrounding councils.

In this zone you can think of trips 30 kms long taking a tram, then S-Bahn followed by U-Bahn and paying 1 single one way ticket for Euro 2,20 = AU$3.70

Then you have concentric zones around it. You have to pay only for 1 zone if you stay in that zone. So for example if Parramatta is located in one of the ring zones and someone is commuting just to Parramatta within that zone, then you would pay just that zonal fare.

For every zone you enter you pay only once. So when you travel across the whole system and enter a zone again you don't have to pay again. Many tricky problems to sort out as cities may not necessarily have grown in a concentric ring structure. Especially in Sydney with its many bays and topographical features. Normally Councils will negotiate and lobby for zonal definitions which are advantageous to their constituents. They also have the local knowledge about how people travel in their area. So I think the involvement of Councils is very important.

This is the English language site of RMV = Rhine Main Traffic Authority
http://www.rmv.de/coremedia/generator/RMV/Service/Infos/NeuImRMVGebiet/i...

Download PDF file 850 kb here:
http://www.rmv.de/coremedia/generator/PDF/Sprachen/EN__Flyer__Travelling...

Regards
Matt

Sydney certainly has the most complex, yet primitive, ticketing of any Australian city. Journey break, free transfer or extension (within time/zone constraints) which are universally available elsewhere on all tickets can only be had in Sydney in specific and limited circumstances. However there is a weakness in universally applying a concentric zone system for Sydney where long cross-regional journeys are being encouraged.

The German system overcomes this by adopting a cellular structure which ultimately covers the whole country. For example the Tarifzone Dresden 10 is surrounded by six other zones to cover outer districts, rather than just one. I think that this approach would be needed for Sydney.

Peter

My suggestions for what they are worth:

(a) Divide the Greater Sydney Region into, say, 7, large zones (Upper Hunter; Lower Hunter; C Coast; Blue Mountains; Illawarra; Outer Sydney; Inner Sydney).

(b) Fix a simple fare structure - eg (illustrative only)

Period Day Pass Weekly Quarterly Annual

Within one zone $5 $25 $250 $750
+ per zone boundary $3 $15 $150 $450

This for example an annual pass covering the Blue Mountains, Outer and Inner Sydney would cost $1650

Concession holders (school students, pensioners and unemployed) get a 50% discount. This requires ID.

Fare revenue protection by roving inspectors on buses, trains and ferries. People caught with invalid ticket pay fine. Repeat offenders lose availability to buy weekly, quarterly or annual passes.

For regular travelers in their own territory, people would typically buy weekly, quarterly or annual passes. These would have photo ID, and could be cancelled if lost, with refund. The pass would show the dates applying, and the zones for which travel is covered.

For people making one-off trips in zones outside their normal travel, tey simply buy a one day top up. For example someone traveling from the Blue Mountains to Newcastle would simply buy a two bounday pass ($6) supplment to add to their annual pass.

In practice, all stations and buses, trains, ferries etc could be open (no gates). This would save millions in equipment maintenance. Ticket issue costs would also be very low. Very few people would need to buy a ticket from a bus driver for example. Camera technology could be used to calculate boardings and alightings for service planning purposes.

Tourists,could simply buy one, two or three day or weekly passes covering the zones they were interested in. International tourists could be given passes for free.

Newsagents and others could sell passes. Simple maps would be everwhere so the zones were easy to understand.

What do you think?

G.