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

Why CityRail should change to zone fares

posted Wednesday 25 February 2009

Over the years, Action for Public Transport and other parties have made many submissions to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal pleading for fares reform, and in particular zone fares in preference to distance-travelled fares. APT is disappointed that IPART continues to support a distance-based fares regime for CityRail. This account of a recent experience highlights the absurdity of the current CityRail fares policy.

An APT member was asked advice about what ticket to buy for a fairly simple rail journey. The traveller wanted to make an off-peak journey from Lidcombe through the CBD to Bondi Junction, stopping off at Town Hall station in the CBD on on the way back to Lidcombe - not a complicated or uncommon journey.

Your APT guru found five ticket options which used various combinations of single and off-peak return tickets. The cost of these options ranged from $9.60 to $11.80, plus the inconvenience of having to buy more than one ticket.

Further options such as a DayTripper ticket or a CityHopper ticket, which are possible solutions in other circumstances, were not suitable for this journey.

It must be remembered that CityRail does not allow breaks of journey when using a single rail ticket or when using either the forward or return portion of a return ticket.

Casual travellers cannot be expected to make calculations comparing five or more ticket options, or even to be aware of the options, before setting out on a journey. And if, in their confusion, they make a mistake they could be fined $200 for not having a valid ticket.

These mental contortions arise because the government adheres to the accountant's pay-for-distance-travelled principle, which is beloved of Treasury, and is protected, nurtured and endorsed by IPART.

The government's usual solution to this ticketing nightmare is the promise of a smart card which will calculate the fare for you. Of course, if the smart card ever arrives, our traveller above will be paying full price for each portion of the journey. And our traveller may not even have a smart card.

APT has used this real life example as the basis for another ad hoc submission to IPART. We have asked for a way of ticketing such a journey with a minimum of hassle for the traveller, and without adding another new ticket to the existing galaxy.

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