AT Cracks Down on Fare Evaders
Melbourne’s Ticket System Packs a Sad
Lesson?
People might not be fans of Twitter but, in some cases it has it uses for media alerts. These two rather particular Tweets came up on my feed this morning – both on transport:
Auckland Transport cracking down on train fare theft. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/auckland-transport-cracking-down-train-fare-theft-5420953 … #onenews
No sooner as I had finished reading that particular piece did this Tweet come up – from Aussie-land some eight minutes later:
Myki crashes at rail station opening http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/myki-crashes-at-rail-station-opening-20130428-2imsq.html …
So here in Auckland, Auckland Transport plans to crack down on fare evaders
From TVNZ
Auckland Transport cracking down on train fare theft
Published: 8:27AM Monday April 29, 2013 Source: ONE News
Fare-dodging train passengers in Auckland are being targeted by a “rolling blitz” at suburban stations. A new scheme is being rolled out today which Auckland Transport says will make the system fairer for honest, fee-paying commuters. Travellers can expect random ticket inspections throughout Auckland today, along with checks onboard trains. The spot check initiative has been trailed over the past few weeks and caught out 113 people at one station. A follow-up inspection saw that number reduced to just 17. “Those who steal travel on our trains make it unfair for those who pay their way which means potential increases in rates and taxes to compensate,” Auckland Transport’s Chief Operating Officer, Greg Edmonds said. “We are losing revenue through people stealing our services. Every dollar lost to fare cheats is a dollar less to renew public transport infrastructure.”
Edmonds said there are occasions when it may not be possible to buy a ticket because a machine has been vandalised, but travellers should explain this to inspectors.
That is nice from Auckland Transport. I wonder if they read this first: “LESSON FROM MELBOURNE” – “FARE EVADERS ALLOWED TO DO A RUNNER” (in Melbourne) before starting this rolling blitz regime (which if we look at the numbers at face value it seems to be working). However do we need to point back to this: “SERIOUSLY AUCKLAND TRANSPORT? – Campbell Live and AT-HOP” to remind ourselves the uphill battle Auckland still faces with AT-HOP.
So while AT are busy cracking down on fares we have this from Melbourne this morning
Myki crashes at rail station opening
As eager commuters headed to Melbourne’s newest train station on Sunday, they arrived to find the myki system out of order.
It meant that for more than an hour, passengers at the $110 million Williams Landing station couldn’t buy or top up myki cards at the counter or from the lone myki machine.
Minutes before the system crashed, Victorian Transport Minister Terry Mulder was talking up the Werribee line station, which will service Point Cook and future residents of Williams Landing.
There is more on a planing and safety aspect of this new station in the article that is worth a read as well.
Note to everyone: Don’t let a Minister talk up something in particular, you might never know if they will jinx it 😉
However, you can see that Melbourne’s misfortunes are lessons for Auckland to learn AND RATHER AVOID. The catch is can the city and the CCO concerned – Auckland Transport be proactive and learn from Melbourne rather than be reactive after the fact (and great annoyance). Time will tell (and yes the AT-HOP tag posts and Ticket Machines have crashed before similar to Melbourne).
Late Note
No sooner as I format this post for publishing this came up also from Melbourne:
Five lines hit by cancellations
Services on five railway lines have been altered after works on the Regional Rail Link ran overtime.
Passengers on the Craigieburn, Frankston, Pakenham, Werribee and Williamstown lines are waking up to changes to timetables and cancelled trains.
Four city-bound services on both the Craigieburn and Pakenham lines have been cancelled, while the Williamstown line will run as a shuttle service from Newport.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/five-lines-hit-by-cancellations-20130429-2inda.html#ixzz2RnSn5Mrk
Also don’t forget that you can give feedback on our rail system this week as well
Talking Southern Auckland 