[LINK] Tcard 2.0?

[Scott Howard]

On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 9:21 PM, Marghanita da Cruz <marghanita at ramin.com.au>
wrote:

> My understanding of the problem was the variable fares. The article is
> still
> talking about flag fall and km fee. This is impossible unless the ticket is
> scanned at entry and exit as is the case for train and ferry stations, but
> not
> buses. Ofcourse it causes delays at ferry and bus stations and isn't
> feasible on
> buses.
>

Every other country in the world that uses electronic fares has come up with
a solution for this problem.

For some the solution was the remove variable fares, which probably isn't a
good solution for Sydney (but will work fine in Newcastle, where they did
away with distance-based fares about 11 years ago).

Other systems simply make you swipe on entry as well as exit, and if you
don't swipe on exit then you're charged the maximum distance for that trip.
Singapore (and Hong Kong?) have been using this method for well over 10
years, and it works incredibly well.

Still others allow you to select the distance you intend to travel before
swiping your card on entry (in a similar way to how "sections" currently
work on Sydney buses).

Yes, this will require a behavior change from the consumer, but with a
change such at this that's inevitable.  It's certainly not an unworkable
problem - just look most anywhere else in the world!

  Scott.