Sydney's multimodal ticketing and lessons from Travelcard

Each city has its special difficulties when it comes to some aspect of public transport. For example, Brisbane has infrequent off-peak trains and Perth lacks a genuine daily ticket. Canberra has limited weekend services while Adelaide's diesel rail system is outdated (currently being electrified). Melbourne can design a sensible fare structure but has found each successive new ticketing system since 1990 heavy going.

Sydney's most obvious failing would have to be its unintegrated fares. Especially for a self-proclaimed 'world city' so dependent on tourism and international business. Most Australian state capitals introduced integrated fares 30 or so years ago. Sydney alone has lacked the political and organisational will to follow suit.

Furthermore it has institutionised fragmentation through a curious body called IPART. While its bailiwick covers a wide range of NSW government utilities and services and could well be useful in these areas, in transport it produces lengthy, earnest and probably unread reports that appear to entrench fragmented fares by treating each mode seperately.

What integrated tickets Sydney offers are either too cheap or too expensive and have limited appeal. The cheap options (eg the $2.50 Pensioner Excursion and Family Funday Sunday tickets) only work for a minority of passengers such as pensioners or families travelling together on a Sunday.

Meanwhile the $18.20 Day Tripper excludes private buses yet covers the outer reaches of the CityRail network. In the absence of other integrated fare daily tickets covering all modes within a smaller area, the Day Tripper is too overpriced to be a serious choice for either CBD-based tourists, locals visiting from the middle suburbs or regular commuters.

Hence if you're not a senior (or family travelling together on a Sunday), you'd often have to purchase separate tickets for seperate modes. And even if you stuck to the same mode, the lack of a time component (eg the 2-hour tickets used in Melbourne) incurred a penalty for transferring or otherwise interrupting the trip.

So although Sydney fares were reasonable value for the simple commuter trip involving one operator or mode, travel soon got expensive for the sort of diverse multimodal trips public transport must attract to gain modal share. In recent years Melbourne's transit patronage has boomed while Sydney's has lagged. Although it has existed for many years, Melbourne's multimodal fare system deserves at least some credit for this diverging performance.

A small proportion of the 193 different types of tickets currently used for travel on Sydney's public transport (according to the Tourism Task Force).

Hence it is pleasing that the liabilities of Sydney's ticketing mess has at last been officially recognised. The government's response, announced today, is the proposed Myzone fare system, intended to apply across Greater Sydney.

Myzone's key changes appear to:

* Simplify ticketing for each mode by amalgamating seperate section tickets into a smaller number of 'fare bands' (effectively larger sections)
* Apply the same rules to State Transit and private bus services
* Introduce a series of trimode tickets (applying for suburban train, bus and ferry, but not light rail, monorail, airport rail or Countrylink)

Unlike the established zone and time-based fare systems in Melbourne and Perth, Myzone remains based on section tickets without a time component. The justifications for this, which appear weak for interstate readers, is given here.

The claim that coencentric zonal-time based systems are biased towards CBD travel is not convincing. If anything they cheapen long-distance tangential trips not via the CBD, eg Frankston to Ringwood via Stud Road (in Melbourne) or Campbelltown to Blacktown (in Sydney).

Aiming to equalise fares to remove this anomaly would require a patchwork-style neighbourhood fare system, such as Melbourne tried during the 1980s. The experience here was that as most trips are either local or CBD-based any possible revenue gain was outweighed by the added complication of neighbourhood boundaries. As a result Melbourne had returned to a coencentric zoning by 1989 and will shortly be extending this model statewide.

There is no reasons given for time-based tickets (of less than a day) not being suitable. As mentioned previously, the time-based approach is superior for those who want a public transport system to be more than a single mode conveyances for city workers, school children and pensioners because of the added network versatility of free transfers.

Will the 'Mymulti' tickets win public acceptance compared to the 'Mytrain', 'Mybus' and 'Myferry' single mode tickets? The answer will depend on ticket range, pricing and availability.

Mymulti's ticket range is explained here. The emphasis is clearly on CBD commuters, as evidenced by the availability of weekly, quarterly and yearly tickets and the city-based distance rules applied. These distances apply in bands of (i) up to 10km, (ii) up to 35 km, and (iii) unrestricted. It's worth noting that these bands apply to Cityrail travel only and outer-suburban bus and ferry travellers can use any of the above tickets. Regular commuters who can afford periodical tickets are likely to gain substantially through this change.

What about the tourist or suburban resident visiting the city or even their local shopping centre? Unless they are a gunzel travelling trains, ferries and buses all day, Mymulti's $20.00 go-anywhere daily offers good versatility but poor overall value. In many cases paying single fares will remain cheaper so 'Mymulti' will be of limited use (unless they're staying near the city for three days and think far enough ahead to buy a $41 weekly).

Many tourists will not need the $20 daily's coverage. Instead the most pressing need is for a cheaper ticket allowing worry-free multimode travel within say 10km of the CBD. A widely available $8-10 multimode daily ticket would sew up most of the tourist and inner-suburban resident market.

Even if individual mode tickets remained cheaper, the sheer versatility of a well-priced daily would surely make it a winner. The equivalent (and highly successful) Melbourne Zone 1 Daily ticket costs $6.80. However the Sydney market could bear slighly more, especially given the inclusion of ferries, which tourists value. This ticket might just be the daily version of the 'MyMulti 1'.

Similar comments apply for the local visiting the city from a middle suburb. $20.00 for a daily fare is too high and does not encourage the use of multimode tickets. Instead a multimode daily ticket costing around $12 to 15 would do much better and not be dissimilar to Melbourne's Zone 1+2 daily ($10.60). This could be the daily version of the 'Mymulti 2'.

There is no doubt that today's changes are a positive step for fare integration in Sydney. But even allowing that the current multimode offerings may be transitional, having just one very expensive MyMulti daily ticket that covers too great an area is mistaken given that a good value set of daily tickets should form the foundation of a sound integrated fare system. Given that MyMulti weekly and quarterly tickets do come in a range of prices that would more closely reflect travel needs the failure to extend this principle to daily users appears an oversight that does not encourage the use of multimode tickets, and in the longer term, the phase out of single mode tickets.

Sydney would do well to look at the success, nearly 30 years ago, of Melbourne's Travelcard. This started in 1981 as a simple daily ticket available in all zone combinations (6 required for a 3 zone system). And just like Sydney in 2010 it was offered alongside single-mode tickets for trains, trams and buses.

Melbourne's Travelcard experience showed that if you're going to do multimode ticketing, some good value and widely available daily tickets are the best products to start with. Longer term tickets can come later and will be demanded if the daily product is good enough.

Why should a multimode daily come first? Firstly it's operationally simple. It can be introduced alongside single mode tickets, whether these be single-use or 2-hour, section or zonal. Secondly passengers understand it. Thirdly it's a popular ticket type. Dailies require low commitment from the passenger (most people know they'll need it for the trip home) and if priced well can provide good value.

What about its pricing? Multimode tickets should be priced attractive relative to single-mode tickets. They can be more, but not that much more. This is so that single mode tickets can be absorbed into the multimode equivalent after one or two annual fare rises. To properly balance revenue and value for the customer, it is probably optimum to provide a selection of daily tickets appropriate for the zones of travel. Melbourne has done this but Perth and Sydney have not. However the number of ticket combinations rises exponentially, so the number of zones needs to be kept down (even 4 or 5 may be difficult).

Multimode ticket availability also has to be good and at least that of single mode tickets. Daily (and shorter term) tickets need to be available from bus drivers, but MyZone tickets appear not to be available through this means.

Once multimode dailies are widely used, weeklies and monthlies would be the next priority (replacing single mode periodicals). This would encourage more regular commuters to use multimode ticketing. A 5xDaily product (on the single card) could provide a crude bulk purchase but flexible use option.

Further progress would require integration at the sub-daily level (whether section, single-trip or 2-hour zonal tickets). Fares for cash single-mode tickets would be adjusted over 2-3 years until they became no cheaper than multimodes, so then a phase-out would raise no controversy.

The other benefit would that the range of tickets would be less but those that remain would become more versatile and permit more flexible travel (including free transfers). Once sections vs zones are sorted out it would then be possible to consider time-based tickets and a genuine 10x2 hour-type product (preferably with automatic daily conversion).

With such a unified fare system, a Smart Card ticketing may be practical, although by then the main reforms for the customer will have already been achieved, in making multimode travel easier and ticketing easier to understand. Sydney wasted a lot of money on a Smart Card system (the abandoned 'T-Card' project) without getting the fare system right first.

The changes announced today for Sydney are a welcome though still inadequate step towards the sort of fare integration that passengers in other Australian cities have enjoyed for many years.

System Review: Hobart Metro - Part 2

Hobart's bus routes and services were discussed in Part 1. This time we look at the Greencard smartcard ticketing system, which has recently started in Hobart after earlier commencement in regional cities. This is particuarly topical for Melbourne as we are introducing our own smartcard ticketing, due to start later this year.

I ordered a Greencard through the Metro website last month. Like Perth (but unlike Victoria which currently has a seperate website for myki), smartcard ticketing is an integral part of the main operator or transport agency website.

This went smoothly except for the question which asked the customer to nominate a default trip, which is the travel they most regularly make. As a visitor, I had no regular travel patterns so couldn't easily answer that question. I can't remember whether I ended up leaving that section blank or nominated the shortest trip as a default. Greencard's FAQ states that passengers making other than the default trip must tell the bus driver before touching on so he can adjust the fare accordingly.

The requirement to nominate a default trip (and advise the driver if different) is the single biggest difference between Hobart's Greencard and other systems such as Perth's SmartRider and Victoria's Myki. The latter two are genuine smartcard systems that require the passenger to tag off so that they can automatically calculate the fare. Instead of being a genuine smartcard, Greencard is more like an 'electronic purse' that relies on passengers to tell the driver if their fare will vary from the default. However this means that unlike SmartRider or Myki, Greencard passengers do not need to tag off at the end of each trip. One wonders about the potential for fraud - ie passengers making longer trips boarding with a Greencard set up for a shorter fare and not telling the driver.

Greencard arrived in the post a couple of weeks later. Its covering letter explained how to add credit (on the bus, at agents or online - allow 2 days for the latter) and create an online account (similar to registering a SmartRider or Myki). It also stated that the nominated default trip had been programmed. The card was free but had no credit loaded.

On arrival in Hobart the first job was to top up the card. I did this at the Metro Shop inside the GPO. Unlike Melbourne's Myki, with a $1 minimum top-up, Greencard requires $5 minimum. Happily this was not too much more than the off-peak daily fare ((4.50) as I didn't need use for more than a day. As stressed to me at the shop, those staying longer can top up with a larger amount for an extra 25% credit (eg $20 buys $25 worth of credit).

The first boarding was not successful. Although the driver could see I had $5.00 on the card (added about five minutes before), the fare could not be deducted so he waved me on. This had been his third case whe he'd seen this happen.

This brings us to another difference between Greencard and SmartRider/Myki. Buses in Perth and Melbourne have multiple touch points near both front and rear doors. With Greencard buses only have a single touch point on the driver's console (see below).

The consequence of this is that boarding passengers must form a single file past the driver, and those with a ticket must queue behind cash passengers. The result is slower boarding than with other systems, that as a minimum have a validator or reader on the right of the front door, and often readers elsewhere in the bus as well.

Greencard operated successfully on all subsequent bus trips. I saw the remaining balance on the validator's display fall as my fare changed from a single to a daily.

How many passengers use Greencard? My guess is that a quarter or less used it. However all my travel was during off-peak times, where most passengers were youth or pensioners. Greencard penetration may well be higher during peak school and work commute times.

How is Greencard promoted? Some buses carry all-over Greencard advertising, as pictured. There is also prominent mention on the Metro website and the Metro shop has a brochure explaining Greencard.

To conclude, Greencard is as bare-bones as a contactless RFID-based ticketing system can get. The manual 'tell driver' method of fare calculation means that it is not a genuine automated smartcard. The lack of card readers away from the driver is another short-cut that cannot deliver the full reduction in bus boarding times that automated ticketing can bring. However my experience is that Greencard (mostly) works, and it may be adequate for a small city's bus network.

A look at Myki: currently under test in Melbourne

This video shows a station ticket machine being used to add value to a card, check the remaining balance and examine trip history. Also shown is validation on board a tram and the differences between touching on, touching off and an attempt to use an expired ticket.

Already installed on regional city buses, Myki will undego pilot testing before it becomes available to Melbourne train, tram and bus commuters. Until then Myki tickets are not valid for use in Melbourne and passengers require a valid Metcard to travel.

Also note that what you see here is a system under test and changes may be made by the time Myki is released for public use in Melbourne (expected to be later this year).

Further information: www.myki.com.au & Victorian Public Transport Ticketing

Smartcard ticketing on Youtube

A selection of instructional videos about smartcard ticketing in Australia from various sources.

WA Transperth SmartRider - Part 1

WA Transperth SmartRider - Part 2

Qld Translink Go Card introduction

Qld Translink Go Card use on train

Qld Translink Go Card topping up

Vic Myki preview

Cheap fares in Australian capitals

A good post from Lifehacker compares discount public transport ticketing options between Australian cities.

And for those flying there's also a post on cheap airport to city transfers.

Myki rollout pictures

The following pictures were taken at Broadmeadows Station. These show newly-installed Myki equipment alongide the existing Metcard equipment.

Buying a ticket

Validating

Checking balance

Myki - coins, cards and notes

One of the great benefits of Metcard machines was that they still accept 5 cent pieces long after other vending machines ditched them. You couldn't put too many in at a time (as the machine would time out and/or exceed a limit) but it was a useful disposal mechanism for the pesky little echidna, which by itself is worthless for anything except for a single resistor from Dick Smith.

Will Myki machines accept 5 cent pieces? This picture from The Age has outlines for all coins except 5 cents, so the answer is probably not.

Myki ticket vending machine

Will the reduced acceptance pose problems for passengers with the wrong change? IF it does it will only be for a little while since the days of the five cent piece appear numbered.

At the other end of the scale are the largest notes. The sticker on the machine pictures shows it accepts $5, 10, 20 & 50 notes. So no $100 notes. But going on the picture above, credit cards will also be accepted; currently it is EFTPOS only.

The big question is how much change the new machines will dispense as the machine pictured appeared not to have a notice. The larger Metcard machines have a $10 maximum change limit, making $20 notes unusable for the bulk of tickets (which cost under $10). While the limit lowers emptying and maintenance costs, it reduces ease of compliance and gives fare evaders another excuse to try on authorised officers.

New ticketing equipment delivered

First Geelong, now Melbourne: The new ticketing solution is spreading, with news that high-tech fare payment, validation and passenger counting equipment has been seen on a trial Melbourne tram.

The friendly driver of the test vehicle permitted the following sneak preview shots to be taken.

Ticket stock. On biodegradeable stock harvested from the windfall branches of sustainably managed plantations. Different colours and designs will apply for fare zones and full and concession tickets.

Ticket Validator. This is a handheld punching device used to stamp tickets. A ticket with a hole in it means it has been validated, a ticket without a hole means it hasn't been validated. Electrically powered self-punching versions are currently being developed for prepaid bus stops such as Doncaster Park & Ride and along Route 401.

Counting device. Used for passenger loading surveys, this hand-held self-powered device features a lifetime count memory function.

Ticket Sales Device and Validator Enabler. A self-powered speech recognition and response device that sells tickets and ensures they are correctly validated. There'll be one on every tram. They are hard to find, but there's one pictured here. The bad news is that all his tickets expire noon today, so passengers will need to resort to other means of purchase and validation after then.

Myki in action

Some pictures from a trip to test Myki in Geelong.

Below is a cardboard short term ticket that bus passengers who buy a ticket from the driver will get. It is available in two hour or daily formats. To sell a ticket drivers accept the passenger's money, place a ticket on the driver's console 'platform', enter the type of ticket required via a touch screen and give the passenger their ticket and change.

Like a Metcard bought on board a tram it is pre-validated and passengers do not need to tag off. If they do, the reader displays a cryptic 'Forced tag-off' message. In the literature it is not described as a myki, even though it's based on the same RF-ID based technology. The intention here is to confine the myki brand to the preferred product (ie a pre-purchased card, preferably registered).

Both paper tickets and Metcards have their zone of travel, expiry date and passenger status (full/concession) stamped on it. This means that except where validators fail to print these tickets can be visually checked for validity. Printing also provides reassurance for the passenger, allows them to check their validity off the system and helps them keep their purse or wallet tidy by knowing which tickets should be discarded. Short-term myki ticket have no distinguishing printing at all. Hence passengers must discard used tickets immediately as valid and invalid tickets are indistinguishable from one another once away from a bus, tram or station.

The majority of passenger observed were using this form of ticket.

Below is the full Myki. Users can store one or both types of credit simultaneously; Myki pass (like the existing monthlies but with more flexibility as to period) and Myki money, which is more suitable for those with less regular travel patterns.

The ticket can be topped up online, by linking to a bank account, over the phone or, in the future, at a railway station. You can also top up when boarding the bus, but this only applies to the Myki money portion of the balance.

Bus boarding can be different with Myki. With regular tickets passengers boarded at the front of the bus, passing the driver. Depending on circumstances they alight at either the front and/or rear door.

Geelong buses on Saturday are well-used, with some routes carrying fully seated loads. Late running can occur due to boarding and alighting times. This can be sped if passengers form two lines, with those who just need to scan on to the right and those who need to see the driver (either buy a short-term ticket or add value) to the left. This does not always occur (some passengers on the left may block the right) but more will get used to this as the system matures. Also some drivers will open the rear door and permit passengers to board through both doors, as shown below.

The key thing Myki users need to remember is the requirement to touch on at the start of your journey and touch off at the end of your trip. It is this requirement that allows Myki to handle multiple zones and automatically calculate the 'best fare'.

Validating by quickly passing the card across the reader will not work. Instead the card needs to be held steady near it for a short time. Success in touching on and off can almost be guaranteed by obeying what I will call the 1x1 rule. The 1x1 rule is that you must hold the card no further than one centimetre away from the reader for one second. Further and shorter may work but might not. Tagging on and off will display the fare deducted and the card balance remaining.

Can you keep your card in your wallet and scan, as commonly done in Perth? It didn't work with me, but I saw another passenger do it. So the answer is maybe but it is not recommended.

As noted before, the non-printing Myki system eliminates visual inspection of tickets; something that had been so important with paper and Metcard tickets. The substitute given is users logging in and checking their transaction details over the internet.

They do this by setting up their card for web access. The set up process requires answering a few questions such as your name and date of birth (provided it's after 1910). Assuming you're not a centenarian, you get a username and password to log in.

Logging in gives access to your Myki's transaction activity, though unlike Perth's SmartRider, not its route and travel history. An example is below. You can see that the card started with $5.00. Just because I could an extra $2.50 was loaded while on the bus.

Tagging on deducted $1.80, which is the minimum two hour fare for a local trip. This is in 'Myki money'. The entry for $1.40 initially seems odd as there is no fare for this amount. However it makes sense when it is realised that this is the difference between a daily fare ($3.20) and a two-hour fare ($1.80). Later trips reach the fare cap, which is the daily fare. Hence they change to 'Myki pass' and no further amounts are deducted.

There are several quirks about the information provided about the user's travels online. The first is that the 'scan on zone' and 'scan off zone' columns were empty. The second is that, unlike Transperth's SmartRider, the route of the service travelled on is not recorded. Thirdly the information recorded changes a day after you check it.

This is shown by comparing the transaction record below (inspected 22 March 2009) with the one above (inspected 21 March, 2009). The difference is that the activity after the fare cap came into effect is deleted from the later record. The reason for this is unknown.

The trips taken were very simple. They all took place on one day in one fare zone. The fare cap worked as intended. However there were no 'odd' trips across zone boundaries. These would be interesting to test, particularly where zones travelled do not follow on (due to getting a car lift across a zone boundary). An example might be Geelong - Queenscliff, (car lift) Queenscliff - Marshall, Marshall - Geelong, 3 hour gap, Geelong - Corio etc. The correct fare would effectively be a Zone 4 daily plus whatever extension amount is necessary for the single trip to Queenscliff (Zone 5).

Further information can be obtained from the Myki shop at 129 Ryrie Street. This can be a slightly hard to spot since signage from the shop's legacy as a payday lender is still visible. This also explains the austere counter and the high security screens, but the staff do come out from behind it to coach customers on proper Myki use. While not ideal this should not be held against Myki; Geelong's main street has so many lenders that it would be hard to find a small shop that hasn't been occupied by one at some stage.

Brochures available included:

* Myki is now part of your local bus network (the main brochure)
* Myki is here (general where to buy)
* Students and Myki (for students)
* With Myki your concession comes too (must still carry you concession card to be eligible - just like Metcard)
* Myki registration form
* Myki refund and reimbursement form
* Application for replacement myki

Mail order Myki

It came in a plain DL-sized envelope without name nor logo. The old-style lickable flap was sparingly taped rather than moistened shut. It wasn't a bill, but a Myki Starter Pack, which came quickly after the order was placed.

The pictures show the contents of the package. For $5 you get:

* A welcome letter (with 'fine-print' terms of use on the back)
* A receipt for the credit card sale
* A strip of paper with terms of use (same as on the letter)
* "A pocket full of myki" - card-sized 16-page manual
* The card itself, loaded with $5.00 of 'myki money'

The card is much like a credit card. The main physical differences are as follows:

* There is no magnetic strip - proximity-based RF ID technology is used instead
* Your name does not appear on the card
* Information giving a web address, contact number and issue conditions
* A card number shown but as painted rather than raised type.

The instruction book covers topics such as topping up, scanning on and off, and registration. Like with a Metcard you'll need to carry a concession card if claiming concession fares. The book ends with frequently asked questions dealing with loss or theft, personal information and contact details.

Sydney versus Melbourne

A trip to Sydney last weekend allowed me to compare public transport and land use between it and Melbourne. Sydney does better than us in some things and worse than us in others. Below are the top fourteen differences found between the two cities' transport.

Seven things Sydney does well

1. Co-locating major shopping centres near railway stations

Major examples visited include Blacktown, Chatswood, Hornsby, Macarthur, Macquarie Centre and Parramatta. These centres are either incorporated in the station complex (Blacktown, Parramatta) or accessible via a short, wide mall (Chatswood, Hornsby).

Melbourne's best example of a station integrated shopping centre is Box Hill. Greensborough, Frankston, Ringwood (Eastland) and Sydenham (Watergardens) are adjacent to but are less integrated with the station. More common though are our larger centres, such as Chadstone, Craigieburn Town Centre (proposed), Cranbourne, Forest Hill Chase, Northland, Southland and Werribee Plaza which are all away from stations.

2. Density of residential and commercial development around some suburban stations

Much higher suburban densities apply in Sydney than Melbourne, with multi-storey buildings seen at stations 20km or more from the CBD. Parramatta is a key example, having evolved as a second CBD, being handier to the western suburbs than Sydney CBD.

The pictures show development around Chatswood and Milsons Point respectively.

It is worth mentioning though that some centres are highly unbalanced and contain high density residential but not shopping or offices of a commensurate standard. An example is Epping, which should have better shops for its housing density. In this case the development of the car-based Macquarie Centre (now linked by rail) might have affected Epping's viability.

3. Wide operating spans

A plus for Sydney, with the difference most apparent on Sunday mornings for trains. This is because Sydney operates a passenger-friendly uniform weekend timetable, with no variations between Saturday and Sunday timetables. The effect of this is that first trains have arrived in the Sydney CBD by 6am versus after 8am for Melbourne.

The other main examples of good spans are (i) All-night NightRide buses that operates all nights of the week, mirroring the suburban train network, (ii) 24 hour service on some busy State Transit routes and (iii) 24 hour service on the Light Rail.

Countering this are spans for some outer suburban bus routes, which can be more restrictive than Melbourne since we introduced 7 days/9pm service to many of ours.

4. Wayfinding signage, maps and bus route directories at stations

This is done effectively, as shown in the examples below (Blacktown and Macquarie University Stations).

5. Maps in printed timetables

These are of high quality, at least in STA printed timetables. Metrolink bus stops have similar maps.

6. Physical interchange between train and bus

Often you don't even need to cross roads, and, as this example from Lindfield shows, there is sometimes even direct access from the platform.

7. A more versatile and legible City Loop

Trains operate in both directions and there is no midday reversal or different weekend operating patterns. This makes it better for within-CBD trips than ours; a major advantage for them given their lack of our tram grid network.

Seven things Sydney does less well

1. Fares and ticketing

A lack of integrated fares and confusing ticket types was the most important failing observed during the trip. While it maintains a bureaucracy to write 200-page reports about the most trivial of fare rises, the NSW Government lacks the will and ability to fix a problem that other cities like Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne solved more than 25 years ago. Apart from inconveniencing passengers, the absence of a proper city-wide fare system has also led to the abandonment of the partially-installed 'T-card' smart card project (Card reader at Lindfield Station below).

If you transfer between train and bus you will likely need to pay another fare. If you need to break your journey you'll also pay as tickets are good for a single ride and not a time period, as in Melbourne. Certain railway stations, being privately built, attract special surcharges that range from the merely annoying to the rather steep.

Sydney does not have a fare system as such. Rather there are multiple systems for train, airport train, State Transit bus, private bus, T-way, light rail, ferry, monorail etc. There are many different ticket types but each one doesn't do very much. It probably doesn't matter if you make the same trip each way and do not change modes or break your journey, but otherwise travel can be very expensive indeed. Tourists get even more confused, and have to work out the best deal from the pile of fares brochures pictured below.

In contrast, because of its integrated fare system, Melbourne provides all its fare information in a single simple brochure and the best choice for tourists (Daily ticket, usually Zone 1 only) is (a) clear, (b) versatile, (c) widely obtainable, and (d) good value for money.

2. Base frequency of trains

Off-peak Cityrail services commonly operate every 30 minutes (though exceptions exist). Because most major stations get trains on two or more lines, this generally means they receive four trains per hour. However many of the smaller stations on one line or bypassed by expresses only get two trains per hour.

This service level is similar to Adelaide or Brisbane (weekday off-peaks), somewhat inferior to most of Melbourne 3 or 4 trains per hour, and greatly inferior to Perth (4 trains per hour). The capital (and labour) intensive Cityrail network cannot be automatically be associated with a 'turn up and go' frequent service (like a European subway, or even Perth trains during the day) and passengers are more reliant on timetables and journey planning than they should be.

While the flip side of infrequency can be faster service at major stations due to off-peak express running, my own view is that this is only justified once service frequencies are already high (eg 10 - 15 minutes). If this cannot be achieved then my preference is for the Melbourne pattern, ie few off-peak expresses but giving all stations a somewhat higher base frequency.

3. Frequency and spans of some bus services (particularly private)

To be fair limited frequency and span is not unique to Sydney and can be found in suburbs of any Australian city. Also noted was a marked difference between the service on the Parramatta - Liverpool T-Way (wide span and reasonable frequencies) to the lesser offerings available on the T-Way to Rouse Hill. The example below is better than many, but still includes some non-clockface running that may not consistently connect with trains.

4. Information at many bus stops, especially a lack of maps

Even some heavily patronised State Transit stops (eg Sydney Airport) have extremely rudimentary information. Sometimes the only information provided is route number, final destination and times, with details of intermediate stops and maps missing. This contrasts with the maps contained in printed timetables which were praised above.

5. Lack of differentiation of premium and regular bus routes

Again not unique to Sydney, with Adelaide (Go-Zones) and Brisbane (BUZ) showing the way forward. And to be fair it should be pointed out that more Sydney Bus routes offer high service than usual in other cities, so the State Transit name might already be associated with good hours and frequency (much like trams are in Melbourne).

The new Route 10 'Metrobus' service between Kingsford Smith and Leichardt (via the CBD) was particularly puzzling. It is marketed as a frequent premium service for which a timetable is not required (and is not provided at stops or in leaflet form). Service frequency is 10 minutes peak, 15 minutes off-peak and 20 minutes weekend. Buses are air-conditioned and low-floor and all stops have route maps.

This could almost qualify as a premium service except for two things. Firstly the 9pm finishing time is earlier than all the 'regular' routes around Leichardt, which combine to provide a very high quality service until midnight or later. Secondly the 20 minute weekend service frequency does not really qualify as 'turn up and go' and unless services are very frequent a full timetable should have been provided. As it is the combined timetables at stops include all routes except 10. There is also a consistency issue; other regular State Transit routes offer more frequent service but these (correctly) still have printed timetables.

6. Legibilty of bus network in the CBD

Admittedly this suffers when compared to Melbourne trams, which together with their frequent service and the grid street layout, provide the 'gold standard' unlikely to be equalled elsewhere.

Central Sydney is less planned and has a larger number of distinct bus routes versus Melbourne's fewer, and apparently straighter trams. There dominant feature appears to be a 'spine' up George Street with a number of interchanges around the city (eg Railway Square & Circular Quay). Some overall 'network' information at stops would be nice, although to relieve crowding it might be thought better if people making short CBD trips walked instead.

7. Vandalised trains

No pictures will be published, but there was more evidence of external tagging (and even murals) than in Melbourne. Train insides were also dirtier and likely to be graffitied. The ability to see out of train windows is limited, though scratching is less than in Perth. Limited visibility within double-decks, with their split-level design and poor communication between carriages (compared to our Siemens) might increase vandalism opportunities and lower perceived safety. On the credit side though, Melbourne is the nation's capital for lineside graffiti, and Sydney was cleaner in this regard.

Other observations

Noticed in Sydney was much higher (over?)staffing on the rail system. For example most stations were staffed and there were more in each station. Trains still have guards. Transit officers were sometimes seen at stations but never on trains travelled on. Neither were tickets checked.

DDA access in Sydney has yet to catch up to Melbourne, where all but one stations are accessible. However where access was provided this was commonly through lifts (which has staffing implications). Also, unlike Melbourne, many suburban stations have been rebuilt and modernised. This indicates that like Perth, Sydney prefers to knock things down, whereas Melbourne will mostly retain. Similar observations apply to the CBD, where Melbourne retained more of its built heritage than Sydney, and espedially Perth, where any building over 40 years old is a rarity.

The other consequence of this cultural difference is whereas Melbourne will leave a rail based shopping strip alone to lose status and gracefully decline (as shoppers flock to the greenfields car-based mall two kilometres away), Sydney is more inclined to demolish an existing rail-based strip and build a Westfield right there. The Melbourne approach works where there is a robust strip shopping tradition and to preserve heritage, but risks building 'two cities' and entrenching car-dependence as the mismatch between the location of major nodes and the rail system widens. In contrast, Sydney's 'knock down and co-locate' recipe, though it lacks the 'character' of our successful strips like Chapel Street, Puckle Street or Glenferrie Road, represents better transport/land use planning and is preferred in outer areas where existing shopping strips are weak, in decline and can't be saved.

While the same buckled signal cable housings seen in Melbourne was also seen in Sydney, the track in Sydney was of better quality, due to their higher use of concrete sleepers. The times when track work is done is no mystery either, with many line occupations on weekends. My first train trip in Melbourne after returning felt like flying with mild turbulence. Thanks to their long-standing program to eliminate them, level crossings are rare in Sydney but remain widespread in Melbourne.

The trip was a success and many things were seen that are not described above. Thanks to Scott & Damo for their ideas and guidance before and during it.

Buying a myki

With ticketing such a hot topic here (a Melbourne favourite, despite bigger shortcomings elsewhere, such as Sydney's non-integration and Perth's lack of proper periodicals) it was time to grab a myki for Geelong trips now and travel elsewhere later.

Also the current offer, which waives the $10/$7 card fee, was too good to pass up.

From experience with Transperth's SmartRider, I knew there was a choice between 'anonymous' and 'registered' cards (with your personal details). I initially wanted the latter, to give an opportunity to test the registration process later if needed (I don't know if there's a process to 'deregister', 'anonymise' or 'transfer' a registered myki).

You can order by phone if it's more convenient and you're not near the myki Shop in Ryrie Street. Once through the menu you get to talk to a real person to take your order.

It was here I learned something. If ordering by phone note that registered mykis only are available. For an anonymous myki (eg you might be buying for a friend, or just don't want to register) you need to visit 129 Ryrie Street, or maybe a 'myki mate' on the bus.

Pictures and a description of the info pack will be included here when it arrives.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for 2009 to all readers and contributors.

Public transport was never far from the news with three major themes dominating the headlines in 2008. Major themes for the year were trains, ticketing and transport plans.

A patronage boom tested the limits of a fragile train system with longer trains and revised timetables providing some relief in 2008. Other ideas to 'ease the crush' included free 'early bird' travel, a short-lived bicycle ban and plans to remove seats from carriages to increase standing room.

Ticketing items mainly dealt with the myki smartcard system, which first saw public use in Geelong. Marketing to promote 'bulk purchase' and 'weekend saver' travel continued, while more people got free Sunday travel through the broadened 'Sunday Pass'. Restrictions for seniors and periodical ticket holders were proposed but withdrawn before the effectivness date. Hence, unlike 2008's taxi driver protest, we were spared the sight of topless seniors in the streets.

Discussion about transport planning was largely in the context of Sir Rod Eddington's East-West Needs Assessment, which recommended road and rail tunnels linking east and west. The peak capacity of the rail network was a major point of contention with operators, academics, activists and gunzels debating the extent to which existing infrastructure can reliably accommodate the pathways needed for extra services. The Government responded with the Victorian Transport Plan. This multi-billion dollar long-term plan took up many Eddington recommendations but the major projects will require federal government funding.

To the above 'big three' should be added several topics of local or regional importance during 2008. In the inner suburbs rising traffic is reducing the efficiency and deliverable frequency of tram services year by year. Extended 'Clearways' have sought to provide relief, but not without opposition from local traders.

Further out, buses were the focus, with one major new SmartBus route introduced, continued 'minimum standards' upgrades to local routes and a boosted NightRider network with a doubled service frequency. Local bus service reviews continued with their consultations, meetings and submissions. The earlier reviews had their reports published and some of their less radical recommendations implemented during 2008. December 25, 2008 was the first Christmas ever where the number of local bus routes running exceded 150; a far cry from (maybe) 20 or 30 a few years ago.

Outside Melbourne regional buses received attention with revised timetables in some major centres. Less populous regions also got new or augmented community-style buses run by a local operator under DoT's 'Transport Connections' Program. These generally run a few times a week but provide access to the nearest major centre for country residents.

What's in line for 2009? (Advertisement)

With a three-car consist comprising one 'M' unit and two 'T' units, this flexible all-terrain vehicle is the future for passenger transport in 2009. Styled like the latest European trains it has straight polished metal sides. It also featurs round portholes to convey a luxury liner-style travel experience. Hence it should satisfy those who ask for cross-bay commuter ferries.

Just photographed at a secret depot in Western Victoria, an earlier model featured in a recent Connex advertisement. Enhancements now include fast army-style rear-door loading and quality-assured braking (see rego plate). No sticky overheads are required as the unit is self-powered. Also available in 3'6", 4'8 1/2" & 5'3" flanged wheel models, this vehicle is a must for the quality government or private operator.

I'll refrain from making any serious predictions for public transport in 2009 as it's much easier to be wrong than right. Besides there's no money in it in the slim chance the forecasts prove true. But if you wish to have a go at guessing what the year will bring, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

How to get concession public transport and not be poor

Concession public transport is only for low-income people, such as age pensioners, disability pensioners, students and the unemployed. Right? Wrong!

This post will examine two cases where one can be quite well off (a millionaire household, even) yet get concession or cheaper public transport. It raises some welfare policy issues of who gets what, whether the greatest benefits go to the most needy, or if it's more about votes.

Chapter Six of the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual explains who gets concession and free travel.

While many groups get free or concession travel, in this post we will talk about only two; low income earners and seniors.

Low income earners

This group of passengers do not need to be on any welfare benefit, but they do need a Low Income Health Care Card, issued by Centrelink.

Maximum qulifying weekly incomes for various household types are shown here, but for our purposes an amount of $23192 for singles and $38636 will suffice. Income can go up a bit and you will not lose the card, but you won't be able to renew it unless it is below the qualifying amount mentioned above.

The income limits above are not particularly high. There would be many people working part-time (and even some full-timers) who could qualify. Since commuting is a major added expense when one goes to work, the effect of this benefit as it applies to public transport is to assist the 'working poor' and provide an incentive to get off welfare.

If income rises further (eg extra hours at work) a poverty trap effect is created as the concession entitlement cuts out and the passenger must pay full fare. This difference is about $23 per week, assuming Zone 1+2 travel. This is not unique to public transport, and also applies to any heavily targeted welfare benefit with a steep taper rate. The alternative in this case is lessening the benefit withdrawal taper rate, but the problem with this is that welfare becomes both dearer for the taxpayer and less targeted at the needy.

I see nothing wrong with low income working people getting concession travel on public transport, and indeed there are social benefits, especially if it improves work incentives.

However it gets interesting if the cardholder is not working, for instance living off investment income.

Since the Centrelink low income health care card has no assets test, only an income test, you can have quite a lot of assets and still qualify for one (and thus concession travel). How much? Well it depends on the deeming rates.

Working back from the income limits above the result is up to $386533 of assets for singles and up to $643933 for couples. This is a rough (conservative) calculation based on a 6% deeming rate; where 4% applies for part of the capital the figures will be higher.

On their own these are quite respectable asset levels to be deriving government benefits (or concessions). But that's not all. Since the family home is exempt we can add that as well. Assuming ownership of an average home (worth $400000), you can be worth nearly $800 000 as a single or over $1.2 million as a couple and still get transport concession benefits!. Or to put it in another way, you can be a millionare couple who owns their own home and gets $38000 pa and still get concession tickets since Centrelink deems you 'low income'!

Seniors Card

Sick of slumming it on just $38k pa so you can get concession fares? Well you've got a treat coming as soon as you turn 60! Provided you watch your working hours (because I doubt others will), getting a Seniors card is your key to a wonderland of benefits unavailable to working people.

Younger Centrelink clients report various letters, compliance checks and audits to verify you're still entitled to benefits (which is as it should be to maintain the welfare system's integrity). But if you've got a seniors card, about the only mail you'll get are free country travel vouchers. Plus you can rely on the local rag to convey news of seniors festivals (more free travel!) and other goodies.

Admittedly the above has been a bit flippant but the reason will become apparent later. But beforehand, let's distinguish between seniors and (age) pensioners. All age pensioners are seniors, but not all seniors are age pensioners. The single age pension at around $280 per week (single) isn't exactly a life of caviar. However at least they do get various Centrelink benefits, and the assets and income tests ensure there is a sound needs basis for them.

Seniors Card is a quite different animal in no way related to various needs-based Centrelink pension and health care cards.

Over 60? Victorian resident? Well that's two out of three criteria met. The other one is a rather curious work hours test. If you're delivering junk mail around the streets part-time you're in. If you've got your own surgery so can control your work hours to 34 per week you're in. Ditto if you're a BHP board member. But if you're a PAYE earner working 38 hours per week you fail. Eligibility boils down to the control you have over your time, and self-funded investors or business proprieters have more of that than full-time (and taxpaying) employees. Plus, unlike Centrelink cards, no assets or means tests apply.

Since its criteria is so rubbery, you'd think that Seniors Card would attract less generous conditions than than the concession fares enjoyed by holders of Centrelink cards (which have needs-based eligibilty requirements). Again you'd be wrong, at least for Melbourne.

Compare the daily ticket fares between a Zone 1+2 concession daily ($5.30) and the Seniors Daily ($3.30). The non-means tested Seniors Daily is nearly 40% cheaper than the means-tested regular concession tickets. This indicates that if the Seniors Daily ticket has a sound reason for existence it cannot be on fairness, equity or welfare grounds.

However my journey to find a rationale for the sub-concession Seniors Daily did not return empty-handed. This came about because a lot of senior travel is 'discretionary' or 'impulse'. And elasticity for impulse, recreational and other concession fare trips is higher than (say) another person's journey to work.

On all modes interpeak weekday service frequencies are higher than during the weekend or at night. Working people are working and youth are at school during this time. So that leaves the unemployed and seniors as the main potential interpeak passenger base. While services may not be crowded, interpeak patronage is still important to a successful public transport system.

And as the buses are already running, it seems to be in everyone's interests to stack them with sub-concession passengers rather than have them empty. The same seniors who so powefully resist a ticketing change can also resist a bus service cut, so it may be that it is in the interests of operators and public transport generally that seniors form a political constituency for a route's survival.

Since public transport relies on public funding it is inherently political and susceptible to government decisions with regard to services and service levels. A bus route full of seniors is less likely to be withdrawn than one that runs empty, so from the point of view of self-preservation it seems better to carry seniors cheaply, even if the equity is terrible vis a vis concession passengers.

This leads us to a conflict; the policy rationale for the Seniors Daily ticket is poor, but it has great value in getting 'bums on seats', especially during the interpeak period. Outright abolition of the Seniors Daily (while the best on equity grounds) could cost patronage and, given recent events, is politically impossible. Another option could be to maintain the Seniors Daily but confine its use to off-peak travel. This might shift a small amount of discretionary peak senior travel to the off-peaks, so slightly relieving congestion and increasing overall patronage and revenue. Plus equity is slighly improved vis a vis concession passengers as the latter's relative penalty is less ($3.30 vs $4.75 instead of $3.30 vs $5.30). Politically, event this may not be worth the trouble, despite its policy soundness.

Conclusion

I have illustrated two ways in which wealthy households can get concession (or cheaper) public transport.

The first is through the Centrelink low income health care card. Though some millionaire households (living on interest or rents) also qualify overall it is generally in the public interest that such cards continue to be good for concession travel because the main benficiaries would be the 'working poor'.

The second is through the Seniors Card, which can sometimes offer cheaper travel than available to concession holders. The Seniors Card (and thus the allied Seniors Daily ticket) has slack eligibility criteria, fails all equity tests and appears to be more about buying votes. The Seniors Daily however successfully promotes off-peak use and the retention of this ticket for off-peak travel would slighly improve equity while still promoting patronage.

Using a Metcard ticket vending machine

A short video explaining how to use the Metcard ticket vending machines found at Melbourne railway stations. Versions of the smaller coin-only machine pictured are also used on trams.

Metcard machines will be with us until Myki smartcards start in about two years.

Route 401's first day

Today was the start of services on bus route 401, a limited stop service operating between North Melbourne Station and Melbourne University. The route is designed to relieve pressure on the City Loop by allowing passengers to get a direct bus to Royal Melbourne Hospital/Melbourne University instead of going via Melbourne Central and changing to a tram.

Services run Monday to Friday between 7am and 7:30pm. 401's frequent service (three minutes peak and six minutes off-peak) is unheard of for a Melbourne bus route. In addition it is a prepay-only route, meaning that passengers need to have a ticket beforehand and can't buy one from the driver.

Signage was provided at North Melbourne to market the new route. Staff were also posted at major stops to hand out leaflets and assist passengers.

Healthy patronage has been reported by others who were present earlier in the day. As would be expected there's a one-way bias, with afternoon services from North Melbourne being very quiet (1-3 people) and somewhat more usage (5 - 15) on trips towards North Melbourne.

Journey time between North Melbourne and Grattan Street is approximately 10 minutes. When the bus reached Lincoln Square North, another 10 minutes was required to go round the block to Grattan Street due to near-gridlock in Swanston Street. In the afternoons at least this choke-point is the main impediment to obtaining greater efficiencies.

Below are some photos taken during the pm peak.

Transperth SmartRider: A user review

The last part of this Transperth special will test the SmartRider smartcard ticketing. This is very relevant for Melbourne as we will be getting a similar system called Myki.

Comments here relate to standard (full-fare) SmartRiders; different arrangements apply to concession SmartRiders issued to students and seniors. These notes are my impressions gained from three days of travel throughout the Transperth network. Background information and a user guide can be found on the Transperth website SmartRider section.

Obtaining SmartRider

SmartRider can be got from a Transperth InfoCentre (these are located in Perth CBD or retail sales outlet. With 40 suburban outlets, the SmartRider sales network is smaller than the old Multirider network which comprised most delis and newsagents. SmartRiders last indefinitely so passengers would need to make only one special trip to obtain one.

The minimum outlay for a standard SmartRider is $20. This comprises the $10 card cost and a minimum $10 of travel credits. The $10 card cost isn't completely 'dead money' however since it allows you to go into negative balance.

Tagging on and tagging off

Passenger obligations are stated on the Transperth website. Very simply you tag on at the beginning of your trip and tag off at the end if you pass a SmartCard reader. There are some minor exceptions and variations, generally dealing with train/bus transfers and interchanges where both the station and bus interchange are in the same fare-paid area.

You can walk through somewhere like Perth Station if you have a SmartRider - if you don't linger for too long you will not be charged a fare. Previously Perth Station was 'open' and anyone could enter and leave without a ticket.

There are trips where you don't tag off at the distant location. An example might be travelling to a suburban interchange (such as Warwick) for transport study purposes. You don't leave the fare paid area so don't tag off there. 20 minutes later you return back to Perth and tag off there. In this case I was charged a $1.50 default fare on return and there is no way of the system knowing how far I went.

In one case I tagged on/off too many times when transferring from a bus to a train. The result was that the barriers at Perth wouldn't open on my exit. This was cured by an attendant (which are at all barriers) tagging on so I could tag off.

Boarding and alighting

Bus boarding is fairly quick assuming two queues at the door. The left queue is for people who need service from the driver (purchasing paper tickets, topping up, enquiries). The right queue provides fast entry for those who just need to scan a SmartRider.

I didn't test this, but given that people adding value also need to go over to the reader to tag on, this might slow boarding.

Passengers were generally used to tagging off. However it was not possible to assess how many didn't tag off but should have. A possible risk is that people who misplace their wallet during the trip (eg put it in their bag) may delay the bus while the driver waits for them to tag off.

Ticket inspections

I was asked for my ticket once when using SmartRider (towards the end of a night train trip to Fremantle). Transit officers carry small card readers that scan tickets. These operate quickly and are probably faster than visually checking paper tickets and then asking about zones or concession entitlements. Inspectors don't need to physically see a SmartRider and are quite willing to scan through wallets, etc.

Adding value

The biggest discounts (25%) apply if you choose to have your SmartRider automatically topped up ('autoloaded') from your bank account. Adding value manually is meant to give a 15% discount on most cash fares - we'll discuss this in detail later.

Fourteen locations (twelve stations and two bus terminals) have 'add-value' machines. Payment is by EFTPOS only at twelve of these locations, with Perth and Fremantle also having machines that take notes.

Compared to Melbourne (where nearly all of its 200+ stations have ticket vending machines that take coins, selected notes and EFTPOS) this is a very small network with limited payment options. The assumption appears to be that most passengers will opt for autoload, internet/telephone payment or add value elsewhere.

Perth's less extensive rail system and generally better bus/train co-ordination means that a higher proportion of Perth train passengers arrive at the station by bus than in Melbourne. This and the limited station facilities makes the ability to add value on buses very important.

Bus drivers accept notes for the purpose of adding value and will add the full value of the note presented (ie no change given). This was my preferred method of adding value. It worked well.

The passenger puts their card on the driver's ticket machine and gives the driver a note. The card is then topped up and the driver gives the passenger a receipt (which is not a ticket).

The trap in this is that unlike buying a ticket on a Melbourne tram (which is pre-validated) topping up on a bus does not also tag on for you. Hence after topping-up you must still tag on. Failure to do so may result in you being charged a higher default (penalty) fare.

No use was made of adding value by telephone or internet. However having to register with BPay appears to be an unnecessary complication and makes use less convenient than dealing directly, as Metlink does with its phone and internet Metcard sales. The other disadvantage of BPay is that payment is not immediate and may take up to five working days to come through.

Registering SmartRider

Passengers buying Standard SmartRiders can elect to register their card. The benefits of this are twofold; (i) if you lose your card you can prevent others from using it and (ii) review your travel and fares charged online (more later).

Registering can be done online, by phone or by filling out a form and dropping it into a SmartRider outlet. This form requires your name, home address and a SmartRider password. The password is limited to a few choices such as your town of birth or a favourite colour, presumably so that you can be prompted if you forget it.

I lodged a paper registration form last Saturday but in hindsight this wasn't necessary as I registered online yesterday.

Viewing your travel patterns on the web

A major attraction of SmartRider is being able to view your travel patterns (and fares charged) on the web. To take advantage of this feature you need to:

* Register your SmartRider
* Register with TravelEasy on the Transperth website

Registering SmartRider has been discussed previously. Registering for TravelEasy requires you to provide a user name and password. There is a warning that the TravelEasy password is different to your SmartRider password but I used the same password for both with no ill effects.

Needing two passwords is a burden that contributes to user attrition and disengagement (especially if users are returning to a service after not using it for a while). It would be desirable if Transperth was able to combine these passwords and have only one for all its relationships with a customer.

A quirk was the address information required when registering for TravelEasy.

Strangely they only want your street name, not your house number and street name. This information requested is incomplete so they aren't going to need it to write to you; maybe it's a form of cross-checking against your full address provided when you registered for SmartRider.

When it comes to entering your suburb you can choose from a drop-down menu. This lists all Perth suburbs with an 'other' at the top of the list. This is good in that they made provision for country and interstate passengers. However selecting 'other' does not provide a space to type in your suburb, so again it can't be that important.

The first thing I tried was to enter my (Melbourne) street in the street field and selected 'other' in the suburb list. This didn't work and I couldn't register. I then exited and tried my (Melbourne) street in a Perth suburb (I picked Alexander Heights - the first on the list). Despite the fictional address it worked and I could successfully view my SmartRider records.

As a user-interface this is very buggy and raises more questions than answers. Why request only partial information such as addresses missing house numbers? Why allow an 'other' selection but neither provide a window to enter the data? Why allow an 'other' selection but not allow it to work? Why force the user to enter wrong data to make it work?

However once these foibles have been got around the SmartRider travel record display was very good and one can print or save the data.

Travel data

Shown below is a data extract for travel on September 3, 2007.

To make it clearer, the trips made were as follows:

* Victoria Park - Perth
* Perth - Rockingham
* Rockingham - Safety Bay (actually the same bus as the above but tagged off and on anyway)
* Safety Bay - Rockingham
* Rockingham - Rockingham Beach
* Rockingham - Fremantle
* Fremantle - McIver
* McIver - Carlisle
* East Victoria Park - Victoria Park

The formatting you'll see below isn't as good as on the Transperth website. The salient details are date, time, route number, location, zones and remaining balance. Data is presented in reverse order.

Sep 3 2007 5:49PM 000026 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 177T 1 11730 ALBANY b Mcmillan 0 NORMAL Stored Value 6.83

Sep 3 2007 5:47PM 000025 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER BUS 177T 1 11727 ALBANY b Kent 6.83

Sep 3 2007 5:47PM 000024 Synthetic TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 177T 1 11727 ALBANY b Kent 0 DEFAULT Stored Value 6.83

Sep 3 2007 5:00PM 000023 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER RAIL 1 2782 Carlisle 6.83

Sep 3 2007 4:45PM 000022 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value RAIL 0 2777 McIver 0 NORMAL Stored Value 6.83

Sep 3 2007 4:44PM 000021 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER RAIL 0 2777 McIver 6.83

Sep 3 2007 4:44PM 000020 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value RAIL 0 2777 McIver -1.53 NORMAL Stored Value 6.83

Sep 3 2007 4:11PM 000019 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER RAIL 2 2773 Fremantle 8.36

Sep 3 2007 4:08PM 000018 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 126T 3 10431 FREMANTLE S4 -3.57 NORMAL Stored Value 8.36

Sep 3 2007 3:25PM 000017 Normal TAG ON INITIAL BUS 126T 5 16788 ROCKINGHAM S6 11.93

Sep 3 2007 12:18PM 000016 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 113F 6 17217 KENT b Patterson 0 NORMAL Stored Value 11.93

Sep 3 2007 12:03PM 000015 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER BUS 113F 6 16784 ROCKINGHAM S2 11.93

Sep 3 2007 11:24AM 000014 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 117T 6 16792 ROCKINGHAM S10 -2.20 DEFAULT Stored Value 11.93

Sep 3 2007 11:24AM 000013 Synthetic TAG ON INITIAL BUS 117T 6 21406 GR OCN a Tryall 14.13

Sep 3 2007 11:14AM 000012 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 117T 6 17346 SFTY BY b Vista 0 NORMAL Stored Value 14.13

Sep 3 2007 10:41AM 000011 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER BUS 117F 6 21358 CHARTH a Coral 14.13

Sep 3 2007 10:33AM 000010 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 117F 6 16792 ROCKINGHAM S10 -4.00 NORMAL Stored Value 14.13

Sep 3 2007 9:46AM 000009 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER BUS 866F 1 12228 BUSPORT A7 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:55AM 000008 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value RAIL 0 2776 Perth 0 NORMAL Stored Value 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:51AM 000007 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER RAIL 0 2776 Perth 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:50AM 000006 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value RAIL 0 2776 Perth 0 NORMAL Stored Value 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:49AM 000005 Normal TAG ON TRANSFER RAIL 0 2776 Perth 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:38AM 000004 Normal TAG OFF - Stored Value BUS 211T 0 10087 ST GEORGES SM -1.87 NORMAL Stored Value 18.13

Sep 3 2007 8:20AM 000003 Normal TAG ON INITIAL BUS 211T 1 10067 SHEPPER a Axon 20.00

Fare calculation

"SmartRider is designed to always calculate the lowest fare applicable" Transperth SmartRider Guide, page 21.

The day started with $20.00 balance and ended with $6.83 balance, or a SmartRider fare of $13.17.

This compares with a cash fare of only $10.30. I calculate this on the basis of a $2.20 zone 1 ticket for the pre-9am travel then an $8.10 daily for the rest of the day.

My estimation is that the cap should have been reached during the Perth - Fremantle trip. This trip should have attracted a lower charge, with subsequent trips charged at $0.00.

Had everything worked properly, the correct total SmartRider fare would have been only $9.97. This is calculated by adding the daily fare of $8.10 to the pre-9am $1.87 fare (see Transperth fare table). This is a difference of more than 30% on the actual fare charged and leads one to doubt to quote above.

The proof of the pudding: Does SmartRider guarantee the best fare?

The short answer, based on my brief experience, is no!

While SmartRider may be acceptable for people making two regular trips a day, complex travel can confuse the operation of the fare cap. And the amounts concerned are not trivial, with the difference over 30% in the example above.

Passengers travelling a lot in a day are safer buying an $8.10 cash daily so there can be no chance of overcharging. This is even if they start before 9am and need to purchase an extra ticket for any early trips.

More testing will need to be done to confirm whether this is a one-off or a regular ocurrence with SmartRider; usage on the other two days approached but did not exceed the daily fare cap so was not a fair test.