How to Tackle and Minimise Fare Evasion on Public Transport?

jv hi fi on 12/08/2015 - 23:03
Last edited 13/08/2015 - 00:07

Hi everyone,

In light of TA's recent post, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/206771, which appears to have generated polarising opinions on the topic of 'free public transport', I wanted to have a discussion on fare evasion.

In Victoria, it is estimated 1 in every 10 people fare evade and it costs the Victorian State Government millions of dollars along with other consequences (such as underestimating patronage on services). Fare evasion is not only limited to Victoria or Australia, but is an issue world-wide. We all know our overstretched public transport systems needs more funding (for services, infrastructure, maintenance etc.) and fare evasion is considered stealing, so what can we do to reduce fare evasion?

I travel on public transport almost everyday and often people jump on without validating their ticket (yes, they may have a monthly or a pass that entitles free public transport, however this is not always the case). It is also disheartening to see some school children getting on the bus without validating their ticket. For whatever reason, whether it is lack of money for public transport, saving money (hope there are no OzBargainers doing this) or entitlement to free public transport, there is substantial freeloading occurring.

Authorised Officers are the main deterrent to fare evasion in Melbourne (along with train barriers and manned train stations), however, I feel their presence is almost non-existent on the public transport routes/services I take. Apparently, fare evasion fines don't even get put back into the public transport budget either. I feel that the lack of presence of Authorised Officers on some routes and services has led to some areas with rampant fare evasion as people don't expect to be caught.

So what are your suggestions on tackling this issue? Fare evasion will never be wiped out but it can be minimised a lot more. As I said before, this is probably a prevalent issue Australia-wide.

tldr; Fare evasion is a problem, what we can do to minimise it?

Travel

Comments

        • Davo1111 on 14/08/2015 - 11:40

          @OYC: a $20 million royal commission with results not implemented!

      • regenade on 13/08/2015 - 15:34

        @Scotty — The new Myki readers entry/exit installed in the CBD Station are from Vix as well, so we never know if Vix have got some sort of entry to the convoluted Myki system to fix up this whole mess.

        • Randxyz123 on 13/08/2015 - 16:17

          @regnade that is interesting maybe they have been contacted to try and fix the mess. It still is a massive mess.

      • Randxyz123 on 13/08/2015 - 16:18
        +1

        Because it was a private IT firm not a bunch of people contacted by the government

      • ef on 14/08/2015 - 12:49

        the most trains in sydney were made by the same company that made the HK subway trains, which is an Australian company. But the HK one seem to run better and seem to be in better condition.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UGL_Rail

    • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 15:46
      -2

      •Fare base on how far you travel. Someone travel for a few stops should logically pay less than someone traveling for 2 hours?!

      No. Logically those people living very close to the city and not commuting 2 hours to work should not pay less. Private transport? Sure, more distance = more money. Public? No, I think you've missed the point of public transport. Those able to afford living in the inner city, are logically (at least in every major Australian city), those who do not need publicly subsidised transport.

      TL;DR - People that have to commute 2 hours using public transport to/from work tend to be less well off - their fares should be subsidised. Rich inner city livers can catch a taxi, if they want value compared to outer suburban dwellers.

      • NancyCat on 13/08/2015 - 17:40
        +2

        Fare base on travel distance works has nothing to do with inner or outer suburbs. People living in outer suburbs travel short distance within their neighbourhood (think kids going to school, people work locally). Not everyone use public transport to come to the city.

        Also, not all people living in inner city are rich. People living in the inner city pay taxes just like people living in outer suburbs, why should inner city dwellers pay extra to access public transport? People pay less for the houses in outer suburbs, they pay a little more for public transport…I think that's fair.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 09:36
    +12

    I pay my fares, but I feel I get very little for my money. After living in central London and Tokyo I find PTV's services appalling and extremely expensive. It takes 24 bloody hours for an online top-up to be guaranteed to be on your card, which is ridiculous. Many times I have only remembered it's time to top up (I do the 33 day thing) late Sunday night, and sometimes it has NOT been on my card the following morning going to work.

    The train services are often delayed/cancelled/re-routed past the city loop on my line as PTV rather fudges the numbers and cut out stations instead of ACTUALLY provide on-time services. Their periodic points on the line where they measure punctuality is obviously not on the loop. I always am left wondering if my train will turn up or not.

    The ticketing inspectors and rules regarding fines is far too draconian. It's incredibly easy to forget to tap on, plus the feedback from the terminals isn't clear enough - very feint sounds couples with a screen near invisible under sunlight. The top up stations are insufficient (Premium stations such as Bentleigh have ONE, unmanned stations such as Patterson? ONE again). The readers on the machines barely work and usually fail to write to the card at the very end of the transaction. There should be a fare top up machine at the destination like they have in Japan, I'd certainly use that. Assuming someone who hasn't invalidated is an evader no questions asks is far too aggressive. Treat your customers well and they will treat you well!

    Services on PTV trains for most lines unless you are lucky to be at a junction station such as Caulfield are far too infreqent with waits of 10-15 mins between services quite usual even during peak hour IF you don't suffer a cancellation.

    So basically, I don't think the service warrants the excessive fees, there's clearly a lot of inefficiency in the system and our blundering governments and general corruption are to blame. I don't worry if I see someone else evading fares because, well, I can understand why they would! I don't believe fare evasion increases fares - the govt is going full steam with this Big Australia nonsense and most train services are cram packed beyond capacity. If they are beyond capacity, they should be making money with that number of commuters! Check out the Pakenham line, you're personal space will be invaded on a daily basis.

    • FatBlanket on 13/08/2015 - 15:41
      +14

      I drive everywhere in Australia. It's dangerous to cycle on the roads, the public transport is overpriced and the quality is embarrassing. We drive to the theatre and pay for parking because it's actually cheaper than two train tickets!

      It's revealing that our government spends freely on roads when not everyone owns a car, but invest very little into public transport which can be used by all.

      Whenever I come back from overseas I'm shocked at having to wait 15 minutes for a train, which is then cancelled, which turns it into a 30 minute wait. Then the train stops outside the CBD for 5-6 minutes with the usual "hi guyz I'm like sorry and everything but there's totally a train sitting in my spot so were just gonna sit here for a bit and like wait for them to move." UGHHH!

      • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 15:55
        +1

        15 minutes, then a delay? You're doing well! I live in Sydney. Try: 30 minutes between trains in peak hour, not including delays. Try: we don't even run your service on the weekend, catch 3 others instead.

    • swiggity swag on 13/08/2015 - 16:21

      Setup your card for auto top-up, then you don't have to wait 24 hours.

  • Hellfire on 13/08/2015 - 11:18
    +6

    The best way to reduce fare evasion is to just to make public transport free.

    Remove the cost of the ticketing system including the very costly cashless ticket software (Opal, Myki, etc) ticket/top-up machines & servicing, ticket inspectors, ticket sellers, transaction costs, accounting, enforcement, etc and you'll greatly reduce the costs of providing public transport.

    I remember reading something years ago that said the overall costs of providing free public transport wouldn't be a significant increase on what it currently costs. I couldn't find anything in a quick google search but it would be interesting to see how the economic argument stacks up.

    • scrimshaw on 13/08/2015 - 11:37
      +2

      For revenue raising, why not more advertising space?
      Why don't they put ads on turnstiles and trains? Ads exist on sides and backs of a Metro bus but not anywhere inside a train car. You see a lot of ads on Japanese transportation for E.g

    • Findo on 13/08/2015 - 16:25

      inb4 Greek problems

  • Odin on 13/08/2015 - 12:47
    +3

    Reduce the damn prices of tickets.

    Pricing of public transport tickets should be so low that it's almost inconsequential to the average worker. That way, you'd encourage more people using and people wouldn't bother fair evading.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 15:39
    +6

    It makes me vom when people go on about fare evasion and how we need more faux-police to make sure people pay, or they'll ruin it for us all! Are you kidding? What happened to security being there to provide commuters safety? Where are the officers after hours when they are needed? They're all allocated to peak hours, strictly to raise revenue. Just another example of the disgusting, capitalist world we all w@nk in.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 17:31

      No, no, I w@nk in far more fantastic works of my imagination :)

    • Bullion78 on 15/08/2015 - 00:46

      We have a winner! What this bloke says ^^ the problem with our society is that there is too much compliance to authority and not enough rebellion. Evade away. It feels good.

  • iWouldDie4u on 13/08/2015 - 15:42
    +7

    I spend between $60-$70 per week on public transport..

    So factor in I work say 50 weeks in the year x $60 = $3000.

    I only made 32k this year.. so nearly 10% of my yearly income is spent on Public Transport.

    Doesnt anyone else see the problem with this (apart from that I earn f-all)?

    Throw in some late trains/buses here and there and youre paying for a semi reliable service that just costs too much.

    I can see why people fair evade, I have done it on a couple of occasions but by mistake (when they introduced go cards and you just forgot all about it).

    Reduce the overall cost and people will not evade as much.

    I could spend the same amount on fuel to get me to and from work, with the convince of not having to wait for a specific time until my train/bus arrives.

    People say "well, what about wear and tear on your vehicle" yeah, that happens. But Public transport is dead money, it's not going towards anything bar me keeping my job.

    • FatBlanket on 13/08/2015 - 15:51
      +15

      Don't worry mate the pollies have your back. Just follow Joe Hockey's advice and get a high paying job. That should sort it.

      • airzone on 13/08/2015 - 17:12
        +5

        Then once he's not poor, he can drive a car

      • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2015 - 17:32
        +1

        Speaking of Joe Hockey, he's just come out explaining how tough the big end of town and high income earners have it tax-wise and is looking for cuts to tax for the wealthy.

        • arcticmonkey on 13/08/2015 - 22:09
          +2

          Hopefully people remember how disgusting the Liberals are come the next election.

          Whether it's claiming expensive helicopter rides or blaming poor people in Sydney for not being able to afford a house, they aren't looking after the everyday Australian.

        • Charity on 15/08/2015 - 21:52

          @arcticmonkey: they are both the same party just with different names.

    • smit0847 on 14/08/2015 - 13:31
      +2

      Can't you get an unlimited yearly pass for $1350?!

  • Diji1 on 13/08/2015 - 19:33
    +4

    Haven't you got something better to do with your time than worry about public transpor fare evaders "costing millions" of dollars?

    There are many other ways that the Australian Gov "loses millions" of dollars such as corporate tax evasion - why aren't you writing long-winded posts about that?

  • fruxo on 13/08/2015 - 19:48
    +6

    Fare evaders are not the problem. At $11 for me to take train or bus to work and back, it's too much. We are looking at getting a second car so we can both drive to work separately due to convenience and not saving neither time or money taking train. Which is crazy when you think about it. They need to significantly LOWER prices, which would have numerous benefits.

    Next time you are stuck in the mess called morning traffic, check how many people are in the cars. 95% has 1 single person, no wonder the traffic is all messed up.

    Here's a story too. Some time back, I had to take the bus to get to an appointment. I knew I had no money on the go card, so I went through the hassle of registering so I could charge online. After charging I'm told it will take 24 hours for the money to be available on my go card, what??

    Anyway, having no other option I walk to bus station and hope for the best. But no, no money on card and no way to fill up card at bus station or bus. I tried to just buy a ticket from bus driver with cash, but he refused angrily. Apparently you can only use go card on the bus.

    So I had to actually leave the bus and walk all the way to the nearest major stop. There I could finally recharge (again) using the machine and then get on another bus.

    Needless to say I'm not impressed.

    • hahaboy on 14/08/2015 - 23:18

      Definitely a messed up situation. They really need to fix the system before they can be concerned about fare evaders.

  • altomic on 13/08/2015 - 19:53
    +6

    how did/does MYKI cost $1,500,000,000 to get into place?

    it's not like there weren't already other tried and proven to be successful ticket systems.

    london, Japan, HK, etc.

    why didn't they take an existing system and copy it?

    morons. incompetence.

    3.3 times budget cost, 2 years late.

    It’s the most expensive system of its type in the world.

    • abh_gup on 13/08/2015 - 20:45
      +7

      …and it still doesn't work!

    • kryptoz on 14/08/2015 - 00:09
      +4

      It was $1.5Bn 'the most expensive smartcard contract in the world' to date, according to The Age. It was also subject to scrutiny by the Auditor-General, due to series of conflicts of interest, probity issues, backdating of reports and favouring of the eventual winning bidder Kamco.
      Later, it was revealed TTA boss Vivian Miners, (the highest paid bureaucrat, earning $550,000 a year) and his wife were shareholders in Kamco; the new Myki boss Garry Thwaites was married to the probity auditor for the original tender; any conflict of interest was denied by public transport minister Lynne Kosky, who oversaw the tender, along with Josie Thwaites.

      Serious Karma.

      • hahaboy on 14/08/2015 - 23:20
        +1

        karma didn't get them though? they are living it up after messing up the public transport system?

  • langitbiru on 13/08/2015 - 19:56
    +2

    Fare evasion is a problem, what we can do to minimise it?

    LoL… get the boss pay the staff a higher pay… then the staff can provide tickets for themselves or their kids…
    these days boss always give a low pay to people [even below standards], while they are making money, change new car every year, but never consider their staff…
    so, one of the main thing need to be blame is the boss….

    • arcticmonkey on 13/08/2015 - 22:34
      +3

      You tell them, Mahatma.

    • OYC on 14/08/2015 - 00:34
      +1

      ive got a headache after reading that…

  • rapoot6 on 13/08/2015 - 21:07
    +2

    They need to have appropriate zoning so that fares are calculated by distance rather than an arbitrary time.

    • silverrat23 on 15/08/2015 - 01:06

      Well, they did have 2 individual zoning fares (for Metro Trains in Victoria that is), but now they had combined the two zones into 1 starting 1/1/15. It's a yay for me, since I no longer have to drive 500m down to the next station to get a cheaper fare.

      I do agree that time-based pricing is ridiculous though. A 2-hour fare is pointless, since there's fairly little things that can be done for under 2 hours - including traveling time! Maybe enough time for a cup of coffee or 2 quick visits to whatever shop…

      …but, if you spent a minute over 2 hours, it means you're paying for a full, Daily fare instead! It makes life as an Ozbargainer even harder, keeping a close eye on the watch.

      • rapoot6 on 15/08/2015 - 01:41

        I live 3 stops outside the free tram zone and just do not see it fair to pay $3+ for a 5 minute trip so I just walk

  • markj on 14/08/2015 - 09:43

    The free tram area needs to be clearly announced on trams. I accidentally travelled 1 stop too far because I the train was so crowded and loud that I couldn't hear the announcement of the end of free tram zone and got booked.

    What I have heard though is most people pretend to be minors, give the transit officers their 'details' which are incorrect, and can never be fined.

    What I found most annoying about the $75 fine is that they only gave me a credit card receipt (like a generic one that doesn't mention the merchant) and didn't even ask who I was. They just fined me and left.

    • smit0847 on 14/08/2015 - 13:29

      The start and end of the free tram zone is announced clearly every single day on the trams I take.

    • hahaboy on 14/08/2015 - 23:22

      yes. a clear money grab scheme.

    • silverrat23 on 15/08/2015 - 01:08
      +1

      The free tram area needs to be clearly announced on trams.

      On the newer, low-rider ones, they have a pre-recorded message indicating whether it's leaving the Free Tram zone.
      On the old ones however (the ones where there's 3 steps behind each door), only the driver announces it - and that's only if they remember.

      • markj on 15/08/2015 - 03:10

        Exactly, and it was either I didn't hear it or it wasnt announced at all. Crowded old trains means you can't see out the window and you can't hear the message. In hindsight, I should have appealed but like what was said before they deter you with a potential $235 fee + court fee's for appeals

  • [Deactivated] on 14/08/2015 - 10:42

    It should costs less than a dollar to take the bus for one/two stops, not $2.3

  • Tarnos on 14/08/2015 - 11:02

    If you consider why fare evasion happens:
    1. It is too expensive
    2. It is inconvenient
    3. People going against the rules

    I think everyone would agree that everything has a value attached, and you can't get things for free. To improve the perceived value of the product they need to really improve the system. This includes making sure trains/buses/trams come on time, there are minimal disruptions etc. The general consensus is that things can be improved further.

    Improving convenience is another key thing. Machines take too long to load, reloads are difficult, you can't buy cards in some places, etc.

    Lastly, there is always going to be people who go against the rules, even for a thrill. Everyone who evades know they are evading and not doing it unconsciously. Putting more officers on there isn't really going to stop this behaviour, but it will reduce it further. Also setting up barriers you can't easily "jump over" helps as well.

  • smit0847 on 14/08/2015 - 13:28

    When you catch a tram everyday you very quickly learn when, where and if your ticket will be checked. On most peak hour trams (like the ones I catch every day) they are so packed that AOs couldnt even get onboard, let alone check tickets. I catch public transport 12-15 times per week (so 600-700 trips a year) and my ticket is checked maybe 3 times a year. I very rarely see them.
    There seems to be some secrecy/confusion about how much revenue is generated by having AOs checking tickets, against how much it actually costs to employ these staff and process the fines. If I was running Yarra trams I would immediately quadruple the number of AOs checking tickets - I assume the fines they raise pay for themselves. If not, give each AO a budget of one fine per hour they work. If they are paying for themselves they could have unlimited AOs checking many more tickets more often - passengers should be checked say once every ten trips, not once every 200 like I am. The more people are checked the more likely they are to touch on.
    This whole scare campaign about 'now you see them, now you don't' plain clothed AOs has always been a joke. I've seen one group of plain clothed officers in 7 years and I spotted them a mile away because they are all dressed similar and I could see the metal chains around their necks.

    • rapoot6 on 15/08/2015 - 05:16

      They have gotten surprisingly good at hiding under scarves and jackets. They have also moved to hiring more youngsters because they may be better able to bend in and also respond to a situation: I once saw 3 fare evaders just run away from a rather sizeable plain clothes officer!

  • Squidmcsproggen on 14/08/2015 - 14:57
    +1

    Tax everbody and then everone travels without having to pay on the day.
    if i paid a tax for public transport i would use it a lot more than i do

  • Roman Sandstorm on 14/08/2015 - 15:50
    +1

    I think there a couple of issues conspiring to undermine Australia'a public transport systems at a fundamental level.

    First, public transport is constitutionally the responsibility of state governments. This is due to a) shortsightedness in the original drafting of the Australian Constitution, and b) the non-existence of local government in said Constitution.

    This would not be a huge issue for this nation if it was easier to change and amend the Constitution, but alas, it is one of the most difficult to change on the planet.

    How does this affect trams or buses in Melbourne or Sydney?

    Well, our states have extreme budgetary constraints upon them. They are not allowed to raise revenue from taxation, so must go 'cap in hand' every year to the federal government for money. With education, health, and a myriad of other demands on state budgets, the priority for public transport reform slides down the list. (Especially considering most of those who make the decisions, ie, politicians, senior public servants, etc would not know public transport if it bit them where it hurts.)

    This leads me to my second fundamental…

    A consequence of this over recent decades has been that 'public' transport, provided as a service for the public generally, has had to become vastly more self-sufficient and self-funded than was the case in the past. Previously, rail and bus operations may have been run at a loss, and fares kept deliberately low as a public benefit to those who really need public transport. But privatisation, and the demand that 'everything pay for itself' mentality, which has permeated since the 80's, has resulted in the mess of a 'system' we now have today.

    The concept of public transport has changed: just as it is now a norm that university students should have to pay for their degrees, it is now expected that public transport pays its own way. And is not over-subsidised by the public purse.

    We're an expensive country. We have a high standard of living. We are not prepared to pay (out of public funds), and those public funds are barely available anyway (due to it being state controlled), to improve our systems, or to offer our systems at a reasonable cost for the not-so-well-off to benefit.

    The fact that many public systems are actually subsidised to a greater or lesser degree is both pleasant and surprising, and a testament to some goodwill, somewhere.

    I don't believe Australia's public transport systems in general are ever going to be profitable, or for that matter, break-even. The costs are just too high. And infrastructure which should have been put in place 50 years ago (underground, interstate dual electric, fast trains, etc) now is just impossibly costly to ever consider.

    If we want much better public transport, fares will go through the roof, but doing so will put them out of 'mass transit' reach, so there would never be enough users to make it profitable. Catch 22.

    I think all suburban public transport should be free; funded by federal/state government, provided as a service to the community, just as billion dollar submarines, fighter jets, and helicopter Uber services are currently provided to us all. But for this to happen there needs to be a major about-face in the Australian people's philosophical and psychological beliefs, an embracing of 1960's-like social democrat ideals.

    But we are so wedded to our user-pays, reverse-gearing, tax avoiding, profit-oriented ways, that such a volte face is about as likely as aliens landing on the lawns of Parliament House.

  • centrelink on 14/08/2015 - 20:18
    -1

    If we were allowed to kill people who evade, then it would be so much easier.

  • Sydneyswans on 14/08/2015 - 21:50

    So I'm in Sydney and here are some of the barriers I see to combating fare evasion, firstly some stations have no barriers to begin with so you can simply walk in and out no problem. Say for example a uni student going from Quakers Hill to Richmond, There are no barriers on most of the stations on the Richmond line.

    Secondly the number of people simply jumping the barriers is atrocious, today at midday on my way to work I saw someone jump the barrier at Blacktown station but they weren't on the main western line side, they were on the Richmond branch line side and staff are usually not stationed in this area of the station.

    Thirdly it is the lack of Opal top up machines and the time taken to top up an opal card online. Some nearby stations that I regularly visit do NOT have an opal top up machine, convenience store or servo in sight so if your balance is too low then chances are you will simply board the train anyway if you are running late. Remember they are still yet to introduce Opal machines that A) accept cash and b) dispense brand new Opal cards.

    The amount of people purchasing concession/senior/half fare tickets when not entitled to them is another problem unto its own… guilty as charged I will admit to it as well before they introduced the Opal card but that was only when I did not have the correct fare.

    Iron out these problems and then you won't have so many fare evaders.

  • nephilim on 14/08/2015 - 22:43

    You will find a large percent who skip buses and trains are persons with a disablity, humanrights.gov.au has a few articles on it. The figure used by state governments is normally aimed at causing outrage by people who don't know better.

  • tommy dee on 15/08/2015 - 01:58
    -1

    I fare evade so what, transport is expensive, and lucky I catch the tram as a method of transport, obviously if lived near a train station. I'd then touch on and touch off.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/08/2015 - 16:52

    Metro in Melb have made the public transport system better recently, I believe, by eliminating zone 3 thus saving those in outlying areas about $5 a day. This should have minimised fare evasion for those travellers. Personally I now pay for my travels much more often :-)

    But OTOH they shortened the 2-hour ticket to actual 2 hours from when you "touch on" your Myki card. Which means you have to be careful WHEN you actually touch on. If you touch on after arriving at the train station, and you wait another 30 minutes for the train, it means you only have another 1.5 hours to complete your journey to avoid the full daily fare. Before it was rounded up to the nearest hour to make up for waiting times. If you touched on at 2.05 you had until 5.00 to complete your journey, now you have until 4.05 to do it. This may have increased fare evasion as a backlash from the public.

    An important issue also is the reliability of the Myki readers, which have caused unjust fines. Many people arrived in the city, tried to touch off, only to find they could not. The inspectors would then pounce, and they would end up paying a fine, through no fault of their own, accused of not touching on intentionally.

    Recently there was a magistrates court judgement FOR the defendant who claimed that the reason he "did not touch on" was because the Myki reader was not working properly. Previously such cases went AGAINST the defendant.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/08/2015 - 17:01
    +1

    The best time in Melbourne for travellers was the late 90's when they had the "scratchie" tickets, similar to the instant lotto $2 scratchies. Supposedly you would simply scratch the month and date off when boarding the bus/train.

    Many people (guilty your honour) would hold the unscratched ticket in their pocket until the see the inspectors, then quitely scratch it out of the view of the inspector. Or, because they did not have the year printed on this, just keep the old ones until the following year!

    Oh, the good times….

    • NancyCat on 15/08/2015 - 18:16

      just keep the old ones until the following year!

      YES! I used to do the same with those tickets with punched holes (early 90s, before the scratchies!).
      Good old times in deed!

  • lolmao on 15/08/2015 - 23:46

    Authorised Officers are pretty much non existent at peak times except at the busiest stations. They'd catch a lot more people if they had Authorised Officers going to different stations at peak times.

  • This Guy on 16/08/2015 - 02:36

    Melbourne Authorised Officers created an awesome random convocation last time I was down there so I can't bad mouth them.

    I was coming back from Brunswick and I gave up my seat for an attractive lady my age which she refused. Authorised Officers got on and checked everybody’s tickets. We ended up in the middle of an Authorised Officers pow wow in the bendy part of the tram and got talking afterwards.

    I've never had anything close to that happen in Sydney (I've never even had a Sydney sider who isn't related to me acknowledge my existence).

    The only place I’ve been hit-on on my own time is Melbourne’s public transport system (that said I'm married so I don't really care).

  • Pootie Tang on 16/08/2015 - 16:43

    I buy a kids season ticket. $1.20 peak for two hours unlimited and 70c or so for off peak. If i see a inspector i bail. Once i scanned on to go to the cricket two guards inspected me. I said to them paying $5 for three stops and it was ridiculous. They agreed and didnt fine. Judge me as you will. I contribute but pay a lower fare

  • Zelic on 16/08/2015 - 17:35

    You're really rallying everyone together to help a private transport company who already make hundreds of millions…make more?

    There are so many more worse things happening out there right now, and you're writing a post on fare evasion. Good job mate!!! THUMBS UP

  • auna on 16/08/2015 - 19:48
    +1

    First, it needs to be worth paying for. It's ridiculously overpriced to the point that it's cheaper to get two people to share a Uber on some rides. And that's with the supposed 10% Opal discount.

    Second, the trains needs to be completely scrapped, and overhauled. Buy the Japan train technology - Singapore did. It's taking way too long to do it. When I was paying $4.20 a ticket one way to the city and having to stand up for like 50 minutes I felt like I should be compensated for not getting a seat. Let me pay for a guaranteed seat. It's ridiculous that you can't.

    For the current transport system I'd hate for it to be provided free by taxes. It's ridiculously bad, and it would condone cutting of staff or bus routes to save money.

    • scrimshaw on 19/08/2015 - 16:19

      A copypasta from a study done 3 years ago:

      http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/8548259/sydney-tr…

      Sydney fared better than Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg but was ranked below Mumbai, Moscow, Istanbul, Beijing and Shanghai, the "Cities of Opportunity" study said.

      Singapore was found to have the best rail system.

      Toronto was the only non-Asian city in the top five, which included Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

      Sydney had the most expensive rail fares, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

      Twenty-seven of the world's largest and most influential cities were measured on economic factors, quality of life, technology and cost of doing business, in the study which was released over the weekend.

      The study also found that Sydney was the world's second most expensive city, only beaten by Tokyo, and also took second place for demographics and liveability.

      Overall Sydney was rated as the world's 11th most influential city, the only Australian city on the list, and the most sustainable.

      • auna on 20/08/2015 - 03:17

        All I know for certain is I could pay for premium seats in Japan and it was amazing. No complaints whatsoever.

  • Wokka Flappa on 23/08/2015 - 12:44

    Those criminals in the Govt have enough of our money, and now they want MORE!

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