[LINK] Tcard 2.0?

[Marghanita da Cruz]

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

Just because flat fares haven't been adopted in Sydney doesn't make it a bad idea.

For a moment, consider if they eliminated the exit check points at busy railway 
stations and ferry terminals. In fact, in my experience they often do in Sydney 
at peak hours.

Next, if you have a feeder system, then fares would need to be paid for 
segments. At peak hour, it may be a single fare on an express service. But this 
provides other benefits.

> 
>         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.
> 

Well the Istanbul system worked well over a much greater distance than Singapore 
or Hongkong.

And London Buses seem to have a flat fare.
<http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/buses.htm>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202