Article: Transport card plans are off the rails

[ozbob]

From the Sydney Morning Herald click here!

Transport card plans are off the rails

Transport card plans are off the rails
Heath Aston
April 17, 2011

THE $1.2 billion project to introduce electronic ticketing on public transport is in disarray, with new Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian warning the timetable for its implementation has blown out by at least two years.

Labor's promise to deliver a contactless card similar to London's Oyster card by late next year is looking like little more than a ploy to prevent 15 years of failure on ticketing from becoming an election issue.

Last week Ms Berejiklian was given an initial briefing by transport bureaucrats that suggests Labor's timetable was ''grossly unrealistic''.

It is unlikely the international consortium in charge will begin a 12-month testing phase by 2014.

Ms Berejiklian wants a more detailed briefing within a fortnight.

''The Labor government's timetable was grossly unrealistic,'' she said. ''If you're starting from scratch you need 3½ years to develop a new system and six to 12 months for proper testing.''

Asked when testing may begin, she said: ''From what I know so far, at least another two years.''

The blowout will anger commuters in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong who have been promised an integrated ticket system for 15 years. Labor first pledged to have a contactless card in place for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

In 2007, the Tcard project was dumped, sparking a continuing $200 million court battle between the private company ERG and the government.

ERG blamed its failure on the timidity of Labor transport ministers who insisted on hundreds of different fares to appease groups such as pensioners who would lose discounts under a simplified structure.

Last year then transport minister David Campbell handed a new contract to Cubic Transportation Systems which heads a consortium that includes Downer EDI, the company heading the financially stricken Waratah trains project and Commonwealth Bank.

Cubic declined to comment on progress. Ms Berejiklian said she had not been briefed directly by the company but had been advised by bureaucrats that Labor had set a timeframe impossible to achieve.

The technology, used in Perth and Brisbane and modern cities worldwide, allows passengers to store value on a card and move between modes of transport at a swipe.

In London, more than 98 per cent of commuters use the Cubic-produced Oyster card to board buses. The card can also be used on trains. It has been credited with cutting boarding times fourfold over the past decade.

The project's woes are the first real blow to Premier Barry O'Farrell's pledge to give Sydney a world-class transport system.

It will add further pressure to the position of Labor-appointee Elizabeth Zealand, deputy director-general of Transport NSW's transport co-ordination group, overseeing the project.

The bus industry has been given no advice about whether the system will be a point-to-point payment system or zonal.

Sydney University transport professor Corinne Mulley said the new government should provide more integrated fares, allowing multi-modal travel, while integrated ticket technology was developed.

''The barriers to introducing integrated fares are less than introducing an integrated ticket,'' she said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/transport-card-plans-are-off-the-rails-20110416-1dilw.html#ixzz1Ji3sVwIP

[#Metro]

You don't need to have a smart card to have integrated fares (one price for all modes) and integrated ticketing (one ticket for all modes).
You can do that on paper. 

[ozbob]

One of the best moves made in SEQ was the introduction of the integrated paper ticketing, which provided a much easier path for the go card implementation.  NSW is trying to do it all at once.  Two phases, integrate the fares first then implement the smart card.

[somebody]

One of the best moves made in SEQ was the introduction of the integrated paper ticketing, which provided a much easier path for the go card implementation.  NSW is trying to do it all at once.  Two phases, integrate the fares first then implement the smart card.

Should have been done with MyZone, but they stuck with the bizarre notion of different prices for different modes.  Also while there are multi mode tickets, they are only available for either weekly or longer, or a ridiculously expensive daily ticket which must cover the entire network.