Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

The Victorian Authorised Newsagents Association says the Transport Ticketing Authority is offering just 12c commission on a transaction for the new myki card. Under the existing Metcard arrangement newsagents receive a 5 per cent commission.

It was said that newsagents would lose money on the transactions if customers used debit or credit cards, which cost the retailers a fee every time they were processed.

The Transport Ticketing Authority says the deal being offered provides more than commission payments. Retailers who sell a new myki will get 50c, while processing a top-up on the smartcard will generate a 12c commission. As well, a service fee of $260 will be paid to the agents four times a year.

Regardless of the veracity of either parties' claims, the dispute highlights another problem waiting to erupt in the long-running drama of the Tcard, Sydney's proposed transport smartcard.

No information has been made public about commissions for selling new Tcards, for topping them up, or for other payments to agents.

State Transit halved the commission paid to ticket agents for TravelPasses and TravelTens from 5% to 2.5% commencing from 23rd March 2005. However, commissions of 5% are paid on Pensioner Excursion Tickets and pre-paid single tickets, which agents began selling in October 2006.

Of course, when all political, technical, legal, financial, administration and agency problems have been overcome, the final hurdle will be convincing the forgotten stakeholder, the public, to buy the blighted things.