As the ticketing system on Auckland’s rail system is basically unchanged from how it would have worked 60 years ago, rather unsurprisingly a lot of people manage to avoid paying for their rides. ARTA have estimated that fare evaders cost the system around $1.5 million a year – which is fairly significant. I must say I do often wonder whether most fare evasion is genuinely accidental – in that the clippie simply doesn’t get around to you in time before you get off your train. On some other occasions I guess that the clippie might just forget about them – and probably in fewer occasions again someone will actively refuse to pay a fare or be particularly sneaky to avoid paying.
Nevertheless, fare evaders (whether deliberate or accidental) do cost the system quite a bit of money, and as the rail system is run on a gross contract it is ARTA (ie. your ARC rates and your petrol tax dollars) that ends up missing out on the cash, not the profit line of some big company. So in that respect is it good to see ARTA trialling a few options to help reduce the number of fare evaders on the network:
Auckland’s train customers say no fare not fair
On Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 April, Veolia Transport will introduce a trial, customer driven initiative at Britomart train station checking customers have a valid, pre-purchased ticket prior to boarding.
The Auckland Regional Transport Authority’s (ARTA’s) General Manager, Customer Services, Mark Lambert says, “The initiative has been introduced following complaints to ARTA by customers and feedback from Veolia’s regular Meet the Managers sessions which indicate that fare evasion is a major issue for paying customers. Paying customers have told us, no fare is not fair.
“In addition, non paying fare customers cost the Auckland region an estimated $1.5 million in revenue per annum”.
Mr Lambert says, “Veolia and ARTA have already introduced a number of initiatives to assist customers to pre-purchase tickets. These include: ticket sales on train platforms across the network; the expansion of Britomart ticket office hours; the expansion of the local ticket agent network, the provision of a ticket office at the new Newmarket train station and the introduction of $5 discount off board monthly train passes.
“In respect of the ticket checks themselves, from 3.30pm – 6.30pm on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 April customers will be required to have a valid, pre-purchased ticket before they board the train. Access to the platforms will be closed off and Veolia staff will be on the ground to check and validate tickets before letting customers board the trains. Customers will be encouraged to pre-purchase from the Ticket Office, however Veolia ticket selling staff will be available at platform level to sell tickets to anyone without a valid ticket. Customers should check the MAXX website www.maxx.co.nz for a list of ticket suppliers”.
Mr Lambert says, “This initiative will be communicated extensively to customers over a two week period prior to the first check. The key message is to arrive early to pre-purchase tickets for travel from Britomart on these days or to take advantage of one of the numerous multi-ride ticket options available.
“Posters will be placed on trains from Wednesday 14 April. This will be followed up by MAXX Ambassadors distributing brochures to customers from 22 April. The brochure explains in more detail what will be happening and why. The ticket check barriers will be set up on Sunday 25 April with plenty of pre-warning signage so customers are aware that something different will be happening. On the day, extensive signage will be placed on the Central Post Office (CPO) level and on the platforms, and PA announcements will be made at Britomart and on the trains during the day.
“Once the initiative has been trialled, platform ticket checks at Britomart will continue periodically and potentially rolled out to other stations on the network”, says Mr Lambert.
While I certainly understand why ARTA is doing this, it does seem a tad odd to be making “an event” out of what they probably should be doing periodically anyway – and that is checking to make sure that everyone has indeed paid for their trip. It also seems somewhat overly optimistic “spin” to say that they’re doing this because passengers have demanded it. While I am sure some passengers who buy monthly passes are quite keen to ensure everyone pays their way – the majority of people would logically hope that the clippie doesn’t get around to them in time so they can get a free ride.
What all this shows to me is how desperately we need to bring our ticketing system into the 21st century. One would imagine that we will eventually have ticket barriers at Britomart (where they will go is an interesting question though, it doesn’t seem as though much thought was put into that matter when the station was being designed), at Newmarket and probably at a few other main stations. Aside from those stations it is likely that there will be some sort of “tag on” post at the entrance and exit of train stations – with people’s passes being checked to see if they have tagged on when they should have. London’s Docklands Light Rail system operates along these lines quite effectively.
Imagine how much more efficient the system will be to run with the new ticketing system. I wonder whether that aspect of integrated ticketing will be up and running for the Rugby World Cup.
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Perth’s open and closed system works well, but it relies on the smartcards. Open stations have a tag-on post, and closed have card-access barriers and guarded cash-ticket gates. In some stations, the buses pull into the closed-zone, so tagging off the bus also means you automatically tag on to the train.
Chances are, if you board at an open station, you’ll disembark at a closed station, and if you haven’t tagged on, you’ll pay the highest possible fare at the gate.
You’re right marsoe in that if the major stations have gates, chances are people will have to encounter them for at least one part of their trip – so will have to tag on and off as required.
I like the idea of buses pulling into “closed off” areas of train stations, so people essentially view the transfer as something similar to changing lines on the London Underground and don’t have to go through the hassle of worrying about their ticket.
Firstly I think the main cause of fare evading is that the clippies miss people who have hopped on the train.
As for these checks they do seem to happen from time to time it really just goes to show that we need to get integrated ticketing in asap. To me fare evading is not just avoiding paying but also paying the wrong amount i.e. I could easily pay for 4 stages on the way home but actually travel 5 as by the time we got to the fare boundary the clippie has forgotten who paid for what. Is there any idea how long it will be before we will see some changes at stations?
In the DC Metro, if you don’t swipe your card (whether magnetic or smart card) at the beginning of your journey, you can’t leave the station at the end. And because there are ticket gates at every station, it’s impossible to forget to “tag on”. I guess some kind of technical malfunction could trap you inside the station and require a staff member to rescue you, but that never happened to me in the month I was there.
I guess sj the point is that in Auckland it wouldn’t make financial sense to have ticket gates at every station. They’re pretty expensive beasts and need staff on hand at all times in case something goes wrong.
I think once we have the north-shore rail line along the busway corridor, having feeder buses that pull right up into the station will be a really good way to make the transfer less of an issue
admin, you are probably right about the cost of the ticket gates; I don’t know anything about the costs involved myself. Unfortunately I can see that if you were travelling between two “open” stations, it would be very easy to evade the fare: ticket inspectors are surely pretty expensive, too. Would the idea be to have gates at all the major stations, and only enforce the fares there, along with the odd ticket inspector? We certainly don’t want to end up with a situation like they have in Melbourne with fare evasion on the trams.
last time I was late for work (because two trains simply didn’t turn up – no explanation, nothing) after boarding the train when the conductor asked me to pay I simply asked him he thought I should pay, since I had just been waiting for forty minutes on the platform for a train. He didn’t press the issue.
I heard from ARTA that if they put ticket gates on Newmarket and Britomart they would, effectively, be catching about 80% of travellers on the rail system at one end of their journey.
Course you’d need smart cards as well.
If you add in the other new ‘big’ stations such as Henderson, New Lynn, Manukau etc you’d cover a lot of trips.
“As the ticketing system on Auckland’s rail system is basically unchanged from how it would have worked 60 years ago, rather unsurprisingly a lot of people manage to avoid paying for their rides.”
Wellington also has an old out dated ticketing system – without the same level of fare evasion.
My 2c:
There is too much cash handling on Auckland trains and this slows the clippies down. Being able to buy 10-trips and monthlies onboard doesn’t help in that regard. Also less incentive to use them (e.g. 10% discount on a 10-trip in Auckland vs 20% in Wellington.) Single fares like $8.10 or $9.60 probably don’t help change making either.
IMO onboard cash handling should be cut to singles and day passes only and everything else done by ticket offices or agents (and online sales in the case of monthlies).