[LINK] Tcard 2.0?

Scott Howard scott at doc.net.au
Mon Jul 7 15:23:30 AEST 2008


On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 10:17 PM, Marghanita da Cruz <marghanita at ramin.com.au>
wrote:

> 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).
>>
>
> Why isn't it a good idea for Sydney?


Flat fares have been ruled out for Sydney several times over the past few
years due to there being such a huge variation in distances around Sydney.
Flat or time-based fares would mean that it would cost the same to go from
one end of George st to the other as it would cost to go from Palm Beach to
the CBD.

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.
>>
>
> Is this on buses as well as the metro?
>

In Singapore it's on both the buses and the MRT. The buses have multiple
readers near each door, and you swipe going in and again going out.  I can't
remember if Hong Kong works this way or if it's only on entry.

Interestingly both Singapore and Hong Kong have seen their EzLink
(Singapore) and Octopus (HK) cards become much more than just transport
cards - in both countries you can use them for payment in a number of shops,
vending machines, etc.  My EzLink card which I bought in 2002 still works
(and still has it's previous credit) every time I got back to Singapore,
even 6 years later!

  Scott



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