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FREE CityRail Train Travel - Monday 9th August - [Sydney ONLY]

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Surprised that no-one has posted this yet.

For all Sydneysiders, free train travel tomorrow!

The unions have notified RailCorp there will be a 24 hour ban on ticket selling, fare collection and fare enforcement across the CityRail network on Monday 9 August.

As a result, customers are being advised that using a valid ticket will not be enforced on CityRail services on Monday, however bus and ferry services still require a ticket.

CityRail staff will keep the barrier gates open at all stations during the day except at busy stations where they may be used to regulate crowd flow onto platforms in the afternoon peak.

Does not affect COUNTRYLINK services, sorry.

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  • Darn! If only I didn't need four bus rides daily!

    • what you need, is a free car post.

  • fantastic!

  • -1

    Police also check tickets on Sydney trains. Although, one would imagine you'd have a reasonable excuse if couldn't access a maned ticket booth.

    • -1

      The linked page is CityRail announcing that tickets will not be checked (at all) because of the industrial action, and that:

      customers are being advised that using a valid ticket will not be enforced on CityRail services on Monday

      I've never seen or heard of police doing ticket enforcement on the CityRail network. Are you sure you're not confusing them with RailCorp's Transit Officers?

      • +4

        There are such things as Transit Police, which are officers of NSW Police and wear blue Police uniforms.

        Then there are the Transit Officers, which are employed by CityRail and wear grey uniforms.

        Both patrol trains. Both check tickets.

        • +1

          in my experience none of them check tickets… they just walk past the carriages telling people to take their feet off the seats

      • +1

        I've been asked multiple times to show my ticket by a uniformed police officer (when walking through the station), guess I look a bit sus, though when I asked if that is the case they said no, just a standard procedure and that they are asking everybody (50 other people walked past in front and behind me and weren't asked).

        Once a guy even seemed offended at my tongue in cheek remark regarding police checking the train tickets eheh, though sometimes they line up around exists and stand there with some cute lab sniffer dogs, apparently they do it at some stations more then others…

        • Strange. I don't take trains anywhere near as often as I used to (buses cover my usual route into the city) but I've quite literally never seen a police officer checking tickets. Guess it's just one of those funny things.

          Either way, given that CityRail have announced that tickets will not be checked it's perfectly safe to assume that the police will not be checking tickets tomorrow either.

  • So let me get this straight, FREEBIES?

    Excellent!

  • Just keep an eye out for rail shutdowns during the next fortnight if the dispute with unions isnt resolved.
    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-act/free-rail-takiā€¦

  • Ohh cool.. very nice. Never knew about it.

    Ok but, if the ticket machines will be closed at busy stations, eg. Central, we'll still need a valid ticket to get out? That's not free travel then =(

    • My reading of the announcement is that the barriers will be open unless there's a full platform, and even then you shouldn't have any trouble getting out. They're probably expecting slightly more passengers than normal.

  • +1

    trains suck, but it gets my vote anyways

  • Does anyone know if it includes the airport line? My understanding for the ridiculous ticket price was that the stations are run by the airport and not railcorp. Even if thats right I'm guessing they would still go along with it anyway as blocking the huge numbers of ticketless people at the barriers would be a nightmare for them!

    • Doubt it. You'd still have to pay the 'access fee' which is charged by Sydney Airport and not CityRail.

      • This morning Mascot was letting people through the gate without requiring a ticket. Can't answer for any of the other Airport line stations though, but expect the same.

  • yay except im not taking the train.

    great for those who a) love trains, b) need to buy a weekly (move it to Tuesday) c) hello, bluemountains train!

  • I buy me weeklies on Friday :(

  • +1

    According to SMH

    "The first fare-free day will be on Monday August 9, with a second planned for Monday August 16."
    —http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-rail-strike-may-harm-labor-at-poll-20100805-11god.html

    Awesome

  • NSW Police check tickets on trains, platforms and barriers also on occassions have drug sniffer dogs with them. Railcorp transit officers wear blue uniform now, no more grey. NSW police shouldnt be checking tickets on this day. Airport line stations should be differnt ring 131500 confirm.
    Dont forget August 18 no trains for 24 hours.

    • Really? I saw three of them on Saturday night and they were in the same grey uniform (albeit with a bright orange vest on)

  • +3

    bought a weekly already - shit.

    • Maybe you could go for joy rides outside your ticket zone? Sorry, maybe joy's not the right word. :)

  • It's not free. It's 33% off, or thereabouts. The other two-thirds of CityRail's funding is paid for via your taxes. And the lost fare revenue will have to be recovered from public money anyway, so in a sense we're not saving anything.

    • It is free to the individual user. The payers are collectively all the NSW taxpayers. But i'd imagine that the variable costs of additional patronage on the lines is virtually nothing as most of the costs involved in running trains would be fixed, based on the same number of services. So at the end of the day, the NSW taxpayer is better off using it more to get their "money's worth" of their tax paid!

    • Just making sure that you realise there are cities in the world where public transport is absolutely free?

      • really? like which ones?

      • This is a really good idea. In this way people would be more inclined to use public transport because they have paid for it anyway (through taxes).

  • read this on mx. had to make sure they didnt resolve the case on the weekend, or alot of ppl were to get caught on the trains :p

    • +3

      No problem, you just go to the station and if the office is not selling tickets, then you know it's free. Don't ask a vending machine though, they don't know about strikes. :) They also are sticklers for the rules, you can't get a starting station further back even if it costs the same. :(

  • I haven't taken a train regularly for years ever since I got a job outside the city. I only take the odd train ride once every month or two if I need to head into the city, or can't get a dropoff by car to the airport.
    The transport system is completely retarded for me. Eg. it takes me 20 minutes on the bus to the station, then 1.5hrs to get the train to Macquarie Uni, which involves changing trains once or twice, whereas driving only takes me as long even in the worst traffic conditions.
    The rail system doesn't make sense because almost all the lines are to/from the city (hub system), meaning unless you are heading into the city, you will be taken on massive detours which takes 30-60min longer on your travelling time. The city really needs to invest in more point-to-point systems taking people directly from major residential interchanges to major commercial/industrial centres (and Sydney has more than 1 of them).

  • Wow. Got a train ride today, so I am VERY glad I checked this site this morning! Nice news to wake up to!

    • I tried checking the net at around 6am this morning on mobile while walking to the train station, but there was no confirmation…

      luckily when i got there there was a message stuck up on the ticket counter.

      So yeah, free train ride….thankyou to all those non-train users of NSW…indirectly you're paying for this freebie for us. :P

  • sweet…one of my mates told me about this yesterday..

  • I had no idea about this until I got to the station this morning. Ticket window was closed - didn't care I had plenty of time. So I joined the extra long queue.. I got about a third of the way to the front and was finally close enough to read that you didn't need a valid ticket today so I walked away. But there were still dozens of poeple queuing and paying for tickets haha. Maybe they figure they may as well just buy their weekly tickets… Except I was in the coin only queue and that only does Singles and Returns so that doesn't add up haha

  • Great!….

    Used this this morning!

  • It has been a while since a caught the train. so i think ill catch it today when i finish work. I'M EXCITED!!! =)

  • I missed the train this morning, then had to go back and drive as usual.

  • It doesn't really make a difference if u get a weekly ticket. I thought I could skip the Monday and just buy bus tickets but figured it would be too much hassle so bought it anyway. lol :<

  • Free travel! What about the rest of Australia?!

  • The only day I dont buy a train ticket and not worry about getting checked…
    is also the first day in years I got checked on the bus :O Good thing I paid for it :)

  • On the train now.

  • Haha awesome, saved $4 today! Ok it's not that much, but still. Better than paying $4 of course though =)

    • And.. I can't really tell when the next one is? Tomorrow? Thursday? Next Monday? Cause it seems like they'll be having another one but it's not exactly clear when the next one will be. Only Aug 16th seems to be quite likely though

  • +2

    Saved $26 return to domestic airport =) Great one!

  • Doesn't seem like there will be a fare free day tomorrow.. noooooo =(

    • yeah if you go to cityrail page, it says further action is suspended because the negotiations are on going. I missed the last one and was making a trip plan for today :(

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