News & Discussion: Public Transport Contracts, Service & Policy

[ReallyBad]

Wow - the ticketing system is 20 years old - must be getting old...still remember it coming out and people complaining the tickets didn't have quotes of the day on them like the old punch tickets

[Cruise]

ok i just found out and im pissed off I rarely catch a train for starters (maybe once a week) but when i do im used to buying a ticket on the train, so really am i supposed to cary that much change? why dosent the machine take notes? seriously thats a lot of change!!!

[AtD]

Still cheaper then every other capital city.

Oh well, my off-peak multi-trip will go up from 68c/trip.

[Cruise]

what im actually trying to say is why doesnt the machine take notes? the price okay ill deal with it but the fact of caringing that much change is seriously uncomfortable and difficult.

[Tom]

what im actually trying to say is why doesnt the machine take notes? the price okay ill deal with it but the fact of caringing that much change is seriously uncomfortable and difficult.

The Stupid thing is that they also dont take 5c coins, always the last coins people have, i always get to $1.70 and well yer

[AtD]

Buy a multi-trip at the newsagent or Adelaide station. It's cheaper anyway.

[crawf]

Hmm $4.10 for a single trip. Don't you mean Daytrip

Now that I use public transport daily I've stopped buying singletrips.

[Froggy]

No he means single trip.

[AG]

Hmm $4.10 for a single trip. Don't you mean Daytrip

Now that I use public transport daily I've stopped buying singletrips.

He's referring to an Adult singletrip. Good thing I just bought at least 10 multitrips at current concession prices.

[Cruise]

No crawf i mean single trip. One ticket that gives you 2 hours use on all public transport

[jk1237]

ah dont know where to post this, but on Fri night when I was riding my bicyle home I was stopped at the lights infront of Hilton Hotel at Victoria Sq. I just about fell over in disbelief because an old Volvo bus (the typical silver STA bus) went past with either route number 260 or 266, heading west down Grote St. These buses were phased out probably 5 years ago and at first i thought it was a private charter but then it clicked that it had the route number, had 10-15 people on it and after checking, that route actually goes down that road. Now have we got that much of a problem with finding enough buses that we are using some of the old Volvos. Ive also noticed a few hand-me-down buses that I think come from either Brisbane or Perth. Whats going on and why did they just phase out those old (brown and yellow) articulated buses that once used to serve the outer south and north (I think they were Volvos aswell) when they knew they might have a shortage of buses. Anyone know?

[Adamo]

In Singapore they have EzyLink and in Hong Kong they have the Octopus. Hong Kong's Octopus Card is just about if not the most successful smart card in use on any transport network in any city in the world. The Octopus Card is a contactless card which stores money electronically and can be used beyond the public transport system. It is so successful that it is now an accepted form of currency in the shops as well and is also used for vending machines and as a security device in some buildings (such as 2IFC).

Yes I agree, our ticket system has been neglected for years, without any new proposals for change.

There really needs to be a change, because this old system has phased out of most cities in the world, and if we want be to more innovate and more productive I am sure we will be seeing a change with ticket system in the next year or so.

I lived in Singapore for 4 years before coming back to Adelaide, and they had there easy link card system from 2002. here is a link which you might find quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZ-Link

Just like in Hong Kong it can be also used for puchases. I quote "branches of McDonald's, food centres, supermarkets and libraries, and even soft drink purchases from vending machines. Some schools in Singapore have also started to adopt the EZ-Link card as a way to mark the attendance of students and to pay for food served within the school campus"

At my old school in Singapore we used to use our cards for canteen purchases it was quite convenient.

To use it basically you have the card in your wallet, and when you enter the bus or train you just tap your wallet against the sensor and it beeps with your remaining credit amount, so you don't even need to take the card out of your wallet. I think on most ocassion if you just had a small bag you could just lift your bag next to the sensor and it would still work.

Anyways I think it would save passenger loading time on transport, I mean not by a lot obviously but it would resolve those faulty ticket problems.

[SRW]

The Octopus Card is a contactless card which stores money electronically and can be used beyond the public transport system. It is so successful that it is now an accepted form of currency in the shops as well and is also used for vending machines and as a security device in some buildings (such as 2IFC).

Just like in Hong Kong it can be also used for puchases. I quote "branches of McDonald's, food centres, supermarkets and libraries, and even soft drink purchases from vending machines. Some schools in Singapore have also started to adopt the EZ-Link card as a way to mark the attendance of students and to pay for food served within the school campus"

I remember that when phonecards were introduced for public payphones, there followed soft drink vending machines in which they could be used. Like the phonecards, they didn't takeoff. However, the same sort of thing as implemented for a transport card would probably be much more successful.

[Bulldozer]

To use it basically you have the card in your wallet, and when you enter the bus or train you just tap your wallet against the sensor and it beeps with your remaining credit amount, so you don't even need to take the card out of your wallet. I think on most ocassion if you just had a small bag you could just lift your bag next to the sensor and it would still work.

Proximity cards are great! We have them for controlling access to the building I'm living in. The front door sucks because the sensor is about chest height so you can't give it a bump with your hip (card in wallet in hip pocket) to buzz yourself in. You can do that in the lifts though and I think I'm the person that spread the trick to everyone living here (we had proximity cards at the place I worked in Adelaide and everyone did the hip-bump when going into the office - really handy when you've got your hands full of coffee or whatever) The entrance to the garage has a sensor with greater range and it's where riding a motorbike pays off as I just pull up near the sensor panel and the roller door starts going up like magic

It'd be great if turnstiles at train stations had such sensors in them so you wouldn't have to bother taking your wallet out.

[Shuz]

Lol at the hip bump. Actually a very smart idea if you ask me, but for those oldies, it wouldnt do wonders for their already fragile hips.