Auckland Transport and Veolia, we need to have a little chat about a really important part of public transport, collecting fares. Unlike roads which a lot of people seem to think are free, on public transport people expect to have to pay a fare. I’m sure I don’t need to mention that collection of fares is of course really important as the more money collected means the less services need to be subsidised. The problem though is on the rail network there appear to be a huge amounts of fares that are going uncollected, this is for a number of reasons which I will explain below:

The Book Reader
There are a number of well known tricks that people will use to evade paying a fare, the most common of these is pretending to have already hopped on the train earlier in often involves things like staring out a window or reading book. The biggest culprits seem to be high school kids and I was having a conversation with a fellow passenger just the other day who remarked she had seen one group of kids cheering that they were up to 7 days without having had to present a ticket. Of course it isn’t just school kids and I have seen people of all ages do this.

The ExpiredPass Holder
Another common trick is to present expired monthly passes and this works because the on board staff often don’t check the exact details on each pass. I actually did a test of this about a month ago, I my monthly pass had just expired and I still had it in my wallet with my new one (that was valid). What I did was just present my old pass just to see how long it would take to be picked up however after a week I gave up.

The Short Changer
Another really common method to avoid fares has been to simply not pay for the full journey. On the Western line at least, staff are generally pretty good at questioning people if they try to pay for a fare that won’t reach Britomart but on the way home this isn’t so easy to police. Just the other day I saw a lady in her late 50’s/early 60’s do just this by paying for a two stage ticket but riding for four stages.

Another trick for this group is to combine a monthly pass with a ten trip ticket. In these cases the person will get on at a station that is four stages from Britomart and present a single trip ticket at the same time as a monthly pass which is designed to get them between New Lynn and Britomart. Now of course this is a valid thing to do however I am almost certain that these people don’t present their single stage ticket on the way home

The Sardine
This last group aren’t actually deliberately fare evading but still are not paying. This is because our peak trains are full and there are simply too many people for staff to get through the carriages and collect tickets. In the past this would have resulted from isolated incidents like service failures but it is now happening on a daily basis. Out west trains are often full by New Lynn which means a lot of people are getting free trips.

All of these reasons (plus probably a few others) behind my view that fare collection on trains has not been as good as it should. I also wonder if this is partly behind the slump in patronage which is based partly on the number of ticket sales. Either way Auckland Transport and Veolia need to do something about this as for one I get really annoyed at having to pay for my journey while hundreds of others get free journeys. I have heard suggestions that Veolia may look to moving onboard staff to the platforms to either collect tickets or ensure people buy paper ones from the new machines but there doesn’t seem to be any solid information as to when that will happen.

Now of course Integrated ticketing is coming at some point in the future and will address some of the issues raised above but not all of them. It will also create a few new challenges that will need to be addressed but what is clear to me is that we can’t carry on as they have been.

Completely unplanned, it seems this issue was raised in the herald today:

A lobby group is urging Auckland Transport to consider a partial rollout of its Hop card by November 30, if only to stem lost revenue from fare evaders on trains

Share this

60 comments

  1. Partially off topic but related to Hop. The last I heard from an insider is that the roll out for buses will not happen till 2014 at the earliest.

    1. I think NZ Bus would lose their contracts if it took that long. At least I damn well hope so!

      Back on topic, I agree with Matt fare evasion on the rail network is absolutely rampant at the moment. Half the time the ticket collectors don’t even seem interested in collecting/selling tickets.

  2. I can’t wait for the swipe card/gate system to reduce the fare collection issue. I’m a school teacher and had a conversation a few days ago with a student who was quite proud that he hadn’t had to pay his train fare for a week.

    I’m not sure how I feel about the gold card oldies getting free travel when they haven’t contributed much to rail infrastructure spend through the years. Many probably opposed it. Although they would have for buses. Helps with the expenses though. I don’t want to offend so will shut up.

    1. Please keep talking. I oppose the Super Gold card simply because older generations have the lowest rates of poverty in New Zealand.

      1. From the oldies I know that use “winnies bribe” aka the Gold Card, while they get a free trip into town they usually get stung on the home journey because they travel after the free time period (4pm?), so that’s something.

        1. Nah, it’s free after 9am in the morning (i.e. they only pay if they travel in the morning peak) so I think you will find they get away scott free all of the time. And that many of them give their Gold Card to their friends to use when they’re not using it … and all sorts of God dam fraud occurs from the super gold card.

          But they’re old, so of course they’ve earned the right to bludge.

        2. The Super Gold scheme allows for free off peak travel but the ARC in their wisdom decided to pay for it to be extended for the rest of the day. Also I think you will find that some of the anecdotal fraud is also from the operators, they basically just have to say that they carried a supergold card holder and they get paid the fare.

          If Super Gold has to stay then there are some things that could be done to improve it. The purpose was to allow the elderly to still get around their local area, perhaps it could be tied into HOP to provide free travel within a certain distance but if the person travels outside of that they have to pay.

      2. Stu, Stu, we had a discussion about cross-subsidies (yesterday I think) when you were in favour. Now you’re agin ’em! Guess you’re a young fella. And no, I don’t qualify either, but as a net taxpayer that’s one subsidy I support unreservedly. I know several oldies whose lifestyle has been transformed by getting out more (because they’re not wealthy, so would otherwise stay home). My guess (can’t prove it) is that there are significant health benefits involved.

        As for timing, apparently there’s no afternoon time limit in Auckland, but I’m told there is in other centres. I don’t understand the distinction.

        And BTW, that’s a pretty broad accusation of widespread fraud – got any evidence?

        1. Jonno, just because cross-subsidies are inevitable does not mean they are desirable. Normally they are desirable where they 1) help to correct a market distortion or b) respond to highly price sensitive customers. That is, after all, why commercial businesses provide discounts to students, seniors: They don’t normally do it out of the goodness of their heart ;).

          Note that providing a “discount” is different from making it “free”. Let me put it to you this way: Why should children pay 50% of the adult fare while seniors travel free? Why should tertiary students pay 60% of the adult fare while seniors travel free? Why why why? There’s no good economic reason why; as one comment noted above it’s just because Winnie likes oldies. So, while I support targeted cross-subsidies I don’t support free travel for seniors.

          Another way to look at it is this: The cost of the senior gold travel is approximately $30 million per year. If one was to spend that money on providing a general discount (i.e. lower fares but not free) to all price sensitive customers (say children, students, and seniors) then you would probably get more patronage. That’s another way of saying that the super gold is not “value-for-money” when it comes to public transport spending.

          Super Gold Card fraud is discussed briefly here (http://www.transport.govt.nz/about/publications/Documents/SuperGold-Card_Consultation_Document.pdf) with respect to photo IDs: “Anecdotal evidence suggests there is some fraudulent use of the SuperGold Card for free travel. However, at present, there is no reliable information available about the extent of misuse.” My older relative tells me the anecdotal evidence is on the money, as it were ;). But accept that’s not very “evidential.” Probably a fruitful area for further research ;).

          P.s. If you want to reward people for travelling in the off-peak then just provide a general off-peak discount, like Brisbane.

        2. I would also be more supportive of the oldies getting the travel free if they had been very vocal about and built up PT during their working years but the empirical evidence suggests they weren’t and haven’t. I’m closing on the 50 mark and I’ve seen little done for rail until the last decade. Here’s a gold card for free travel cause you built this up for younger generations to use. Not! (rail)

          As discussed, gold card was a fairly blatant bribe by winnie for the ‘grey power’ vote. While I’m on it, grey power seems to be all about ‘what we want’ rather than ‘what can we do for the community’. That feels better (love you nana!)

        3. Thanks for the link Stu. You raise some valid points, however I don’t see a $30m vote as being a big deal in the scheme of things. Once you enter that debate then all welfare benefits are up for grabs: WFF, interest-free student loans, DPB, parental leave, non-means tested super etc etc. And CRL enthusiasts want the government (taxpayer) to stump up $1.5billion plus future operating subsidies – no comparison!

          While it’s true that present-day seniors are funded from present-day taxpayers, you can’t blame some of them for feeling (albeit wrongly) they have earned some right of return from the exorbitant tax rates of the past. Even I had to pay Muldoon’s 66% tax rate, and of course Clark’s 39% on top of GST. Call me old-fashioned, but another aspect is respect for our seniors.

          But back on topic – yes, fare collection can be an issue. I occasionally take grand-children downtown on the train, and even on weekends or in school holidays there are times when the ticket collector barely reaches us, so there needs to be more emphasis on this. It’s sad that some deliberately attempt fare evasion; I’m not sure when society started down this path of blatant dishonesty, but it seems to be endemic now. I suspect it relates to a culture of entitlement fostered by the above-mentioned welfare handouts.

        4. Jono – $30 million per year is a big deal in the context of the public transport budget: Note that NZTA only spends about $220 million per year on PT services iver the entire country, so the Super Gold card equates to about 10-15% of the government’s contribution to PT’s operational expense.

          You need to approach this issue from the perspective of the PT transport budget, not the wider government budget – over which we have little control and are not concerned with so much on this blog. In terms of the CRL, that’s a red herring; we’re talking here about how to get the best value from the operating budget we already spend, rather than the merits of future capital projects.

          For the record, I fully support targeted discounts for seniors, just so long as those discounts are in line with what is offered to other price sensitive groups that are arguably more deserving (in a socio-economic sense oldies are relatively well-off, with the lowest rates of poverty of any age group in NZ).

        5. OK Stu, fair enough to look at this particular handout in the context of PT subsidies rather than welfare generally. However, the $30m does still end up in the operators’ hands, so provided the oldies aren’t occupying peak-time seats it’s a positive contribution to operating costs. And while some paid trips would still be made, not all of them would be, so even if the subsidy was paid directly I doubt the overall increase in revenue would be significant.

        6. Good discussion on the rights of senior citizens to enjoy subsidised travel. As far as off-peak travel is concerned, and travel during public holidays and other non-peak time periods – brilliant idea and good to hear that the uptake has been pretty darn good. Generally all recent PT investment has been made on the justification of providing the best mix of options to provide the peak time capacity. Without rush-hour, decent PT infrastructure in New Zealand simply wouldn’t exist. Therefore, it is crazy not to optimise off peak loadings by topping up trains, buses and ferries with super gold-card holders. There is an element of truth in the comment that these aging baby-boomers were some of biggest advocates of the decline of PT in New Zealand, although to give one example, you can’t blame them for the destruction of Auckland’s tramway network.

          An interesting point to consider however: with time, money and decades of social networking on their side for perhaps the next decade or so, the baby-boomers will continue to wield an enormous amount of influence on government policy. Best treat them nicely, eh.

    1. You may end up with a bit more deliberate evasion for trips between two ungated stations, but I think you’ll end up with a lot less fares simply being missed. Would be interesting to see if it’s possible to monitor whether people are tagging on and off via CCTV.

        1. One way to detect false tag on/offs is to aim a CCTV camera at the the tag post and have a ‘valid tag’ indicator light up on the bottom of the recording. This could then be used as evidence for fare evasion prosecution. If face recognition was used this could easily identify multiple offenders. Given that the worst offenders would tend to have a pattern to their travels it is a simple matter to lie in wait and catch them when they next offend. Similar methods are used in the London Underground..

      1. Simply charge maximum possible fare for any card being swiped at one end of a journey and not the other (after a suitable time delay). Gates at the larger stations will catch a number, and the glaring eye of conductors/platform staff will force a few to tag.

        The threat of large fines from inspectors is no threat at all really, as trains are too crowded for inspectors to function. And this is not just about deliberate fare evasion either. With people tagging on and off trains/buses/ferries in the course of the journey, occasionally you miss a tag in the rush. Rather than a tiny chance of a massive fine (and a moaning article about the injustice of the Hop card in the Herald), you just get $7-12 worth of discomfort to remind you to be very careful about tagging on and off.

        1. I believe that something like that (max. fare) occurs with the Oyster card in London (maybe just if you’re using a day pass). I recall being a bit confused at Wimbledon where it’s not totally clear where to swipe, and not wanting to be hit for an extra quid or two (cheapskate, I know). So there, I *have* used a train.

        2. As far as I know this is happening atm with the snapper card, and is also the plan with the HOP card. But I think we still should and probably will keep large Melbourne style fines for the obvious deliberate offenders. I’m guessing that there will be staff at stations or on the train that will be able to identify tagged cards??

        3. “keep”? We don’t have them now. One reason it’s so attractive is that the fines are nominal; they probably don’t even cover the personnel time associated with the paperwork.

          If I read the notices correctly, the fines for not having a valid ticket on public transport in Berlin are EUR400. That’s real money, and we should definitely be looking at similar levels of financial penalty to discourage such behaviour here.

  3. I am surprised Auckland doesn’t yet seem to have gated stations. These work no matter how antiquated the fare system. In Adelaide only the central station is gated, but this accounts for the majority of the trips. All fares must be paid before getting on the train at Adelaide station, while for those joining at suburban stations there are ticket machines on the train. The system is helped by a flat 2-hour fare structure. In Melbourne only the city loop stations are gated, and again these account for the majority of the trips. In Auckland if only Brittomart, Newmarket and New Lynn were gated, it would surely reduce the problem.

    1. Fully agree with this, why wait for Hop to arrive, implement even cheap temporary fencing and gates on stations at the peak times where passes are checked or fares are paid before allowing people onto platforms. It only has to be for peak time travel and it would speed up trains by giving the train managers time to operate the doors without worrying about collecting fares.
      Even if people lie about how many stages they go at least you are ensuring everyone is paying something.

  4. With you all the way Matt. Totally galling to those who do pay the way.

    Re: the Sardine, I’ve often stood in the crowd and not had a ticket checked due to busy western line trains…until the train significantly empties at Grafton. Collectors then happily pursue those unfortunate enough to go to NM or Britomart. Double standards do not make passengers into loyal customers.

  5. What is the fine for evasion? In many cities the fine is so steep that it serves as a huge disincentive.

        1. Precisely, either change the law so a steep fine can be issued. Or perhaps use trespass laws

        2. There’s already provision to ban repeat offenders, but my understanding is that it’s an operator-by-operator affair so of only limited use in stopping dedicated fare evaders.

        3. That’s kind of obvious really. I was on a Wellington train a few years ago when a (teen) passenger refused to pay or to leave the train. The ticket collector said that we’d all sit at the station until the police arrived, which wasn’t a great strategy for improving customer relations. Other passengers were offering to pay for the ticket just so we wouldn’t spend the next hour sitting at Paekakariki.

          On the other hand, I’m not sure how you’d enforce a system of fines either. I guess people aren’t going to accept a situation where ticket collectors have the right to wrestle non-payers to the ground and cuff them if they refuse to pay and refuse to offer identification.

        4. Oh please, some days I wish NZ would be just a WEE bit more willing to enforce it’s laws and regulations. All I hear – whether it’s speed limits, traffic rules, or fare evasion – it seems to end with “more education needed”. No. More enforcement.

  6. If the ‘sardine’ effect is happening more often during peak hours this could be having an impact in patronage levels. ie. if the patronage numbers are derived from tickets sold this could explain the numbers since the RWC.

      1. I admire AT’s monthly statistics reporting, but on the issue of Rail Capacity all it has to say is “there were three services reported to have exceeded AT’s planned seating to standing ratio during June.”
        If I was on the board of AT I would demand far more detail. We know more about the numbers and trends of their call center than this far more important statistic about whether train services are getting too full.
        I believe the new electric EMUs have automatic passenger counters which will go a long way. IIRC they use sensors at the doorway and also sensors to tell the weight of the train.

        1. I’d say it’s a bit more than detail needed here!

          Any western line peak commuter knows that it’s pretty much a daily thing. You really cannot trust Veolia on the basis of this reporting.

          My guess is that the passenger reporting is like the ticket collection- because the staff can’t get through the coach they don’t even try counting. Besides, who’s got time to count people if you can’t even keep up with checking tickets?

  7. You have to wonder sometimes, really.

    I caught the train home tonight with my partner, and I had my bicycle with me (we met in town when I finished work). We got on at Britomart and had cash fare, so $6.40 for the two of us and then a dollar extra for the bike ticket.

    When the clippie got to us just before Newmarket, my partner handed over $7.40 in coins and said it was for the both of us. The clippie examined the cash, then carefully counted a dollar back into my partner’s hand – I caught his eye and indicated that the extra dollar was for the bike ticket, at which point he looked at the bike and asked me – not kidding here, folks – “Oh, is that yours?”

    No, mate, it was already there in the aisle when I sat down and I’m just holding it up to pass the time…

      1. Agreed. But a real cracker of one, isn’t it? Even better, this was the same guy who directed me to the end carriage with my bike in the first place – I ran past him down the platform for goodness’ sake!

        1. I just don’t think the conductors on Auckland trains are any good at their jobs, generally speaking. I was a conductor on London buses many years ago, when there were fare stages. I knew where every passenger had got on and where they were due to get off: that was my job and it wasn’t difficult. The number of passengers per car on Auckland trains is no more than on an old Routemaster.
          I often see the conductors fail to spot new passengers; often the first they know is when said passenger thrusts a ticket under their noses.

  8. I was surprised when Veolia alias Connex were awarded the Auckland contract when they had a short time before lost their contract for SE England and were not popular in Melbourne. There seem to be many incidents of slackness in the Auckland system. The on time performance is terrible and the times I have used the trains i have never seen a ticket inspector. On a trip to England a few years back a ticket inspector fined a fare evader on the spot and threw him off the train at the next station. It was quite entertaining for the other passengers!

    With fare dodging none of the passenger stats. can be correct surely. I guess up to 25% of fares could be uncollected at peak time and if Veolia aren’t collecting all the fares the ratepayer gets bled more and more. Auckland Transport should stamp on this abuse

    1. They don’t really seem to have bought any international expertise to operate Aucklands rail network at all. Contracting out can sometimes be beneficial when it does this to backwards systems, but too often it is taken oven by people who want to take their fat cut, and take advantages of the holes in the contract. AT should look at bringing it in house, and bring in overseas experienced managers to run it next time it comes up. Even if this is too fa should be able to write much stricter contract.

    2. What I want to know is how Veolia’s contract got extended without any open tendering. Considering the tens of millions Veolia gets paid each year and the utterly rubbish job they’re doing, the fact that they seemed to get the extension/rollover is mind-boggling.

    3. Isnt the Veolia contract due to expire in 2014? By then, they would have made enough of a mess to fully warrant being replaced. Although MTR Corporation who run the rail network in Hong Kong, took over from Veolia in Melbourne, they dont seem to be much better – in June this year, they were fined AUS$2.7 million for the January to March 2012 quarter for poor service performance, including skipping stations, running shorter services and bypassing City Loop stations. Personally, I would look to Japan to manage the AKL network. There are several rail companies there that I work with, which would be interested in managing / developing a network overseas….and as we all know, the JP rail networks are the best in the world now. They certainly know how to move people, know how to keep them using rail and know how to keep fare evasion at virtually zero, irrespective of whether the network is open or closed.

  9. I’m one of the unfortunate travellers on the Western Line in the mornings. Getting on at Kingsland is often like being the last sardine to join the can. I often don’t pay a fare simply because I don’t see a ticket officer for the entire journey. But then again, most of the time, the train arrives 5-8 minutes late and stops at least twice between stations. So I don’t feel bad.

    1. Yeah. I can’t remember the last time the 8.15 arrival was on time. 5 minutes late is the minimum now, regularly been 10. This morning was 9.

      I understand occasional delays but thus is getting predictable, with no apparent reason other than Veolia’s lack of capacity.

    2. Tim are the delays mainly due to operational issues (i.e. no obvious breakdown or signalling/points failures)?

      1. Yes. Looks like simply getting people in and out of the train most of the time. Accumulates between New Lynn (on time) and Grafton usually.

        This morning was the first time in days that it arrived close to time (2mins). Train had 5 cars instead of 4 – this seems to be the key determinant of whether the train arrives on time at the moment.

  10. Without the gating of specific stations over and above the ones going in at Newmarket / Britomart and the gates planned for installation at New Lynn, Panmure and Manukau, Auckland will likely get the rail fare collection problems that Perth has – a city with a similar population and with a similar lightly-gated network. 

    A suburban rail network which is too ‘open’ in terms of station access, encourages passengers to fare evade at every possible opportunity.

    The AKL rail network needs to have particular island-platform stations gated, to prevent short journey fare evasion (trips between 2-6 stations), which  I believe is the main problem – especially amongst high school students.

    By installing a single wheelchair-width gate together with a ticket machine inside a large steel and glass box-like structure (with lattice-style roller doors at either end of the box) and placing such a box at either end of 4-5 specific island-platform stations, for an estimated NZ$500k per station (two boxes per station – cost includes box construction / gate installation), this would cost efficiently nix the fare evasion problem. The proposed box would have a similar encasement construction to that being used for the covered platform stairwells at New Lynn station.

    Stations to ‘box-gate’:
    Western Line – Mount Albert or Morningside
    Southern Line – Papatoetoe and Ellerslie
    Eastern Line:  Sylvia Park (NB: only a single wheelchair-width gate required here) and Glen Innes

    I really think Henderson Station needs to be gated as well. There,  I would place two normal width gates side-on, on the walkway, adjacent to the platform.  One gate would face the Council Offices direction and the other gate, the Town Centre direction. 

    At peak time in the mornings, the town centre facing ticket gate would be entry only and the council building facing gate, set to first come-first served entry/exit mode. This is assuming that most people using the Henderson Station in the mornings, come in from the town centre side. If that is not in fact the case, the council building-facing gate would be set to entry only. For the evening peak time, the town centre-side gate would be set to exit only and the council building-facing gate, set to for entry/exit mode. 

    I would put in a handrail in the middle of the Henderson Station concourse / walkway that runs pretty well the entire length of the walkway. This would allow plenty of room for people to walk from one side of the walkway/concourse to the other, allow plenty of room for gated passenger access to the platform – even at peak hours…and allow sufficient room for wheelchair access to the platform lift. I would place a wheelchair-width gate side-on, facing the council building end of the walkway. The Henderson platform ticket machine, I would relocate to the walkway, place it somewhere along the northern side towards the town centre end and place a second ticket machine towards the council building end, somewhere along the southern side of the walkway.

    The cost of gating Henderson, Mount Albert or Morningside, Glen Innes,  Sylvia Park, Ellerslie and Papatoetoe would be around NZ$3 million I estimate – a very reasonable cost, given the kind of ROI this would generate – significant reduction in fare evasion across the AKL rail network.

  11. Sorry, forgot to mention that my proposed wheelchair-width gate for Henderson station, would be placed side-on, on the concourse / walkway, adjacent to the platform lift and facing in the direction of the council buildings. Placing this gate side-on and placing two normal-width gates side-on, on the opposite side of the walkway – one gate facing in the direction of the town centre and the other in the direction of the council buildings, would not I believe, clog up the pedestrian flow of the walkway.

    1. single gates? Two might be better given how long we end up waiting for faults to be repaired at Britomart, let alone GI or Ellerslie.

      1. In my experience, Thales gates very rarely break down and if they do, there are procedures in place to manage ticket processing manually while repairs take place. One gate at either end of specific island-platform stations, will be fine thus.

        Please note that my proposal to have two sets of single gates at Glenn Innes, Papatoetoe etc and a single gate at Sylvia Park, is for each gate to be wheelchair-width.

  12. My pet peeve is there are not enough train conductors on the eastern line.

    In the mornings its the sardine effect where Meadowbank and Orakei commuters often don’t get clicked because it’s too packed for the limited number of conductors to click through and the distance between stations are short.

    Similarly in the afternoons, some conductors only get to the second carriage when the train arrives at Orakei, thereby missing a lot of passengers who get off.

    It’s frustrating for those who travel further, for the same reasons expressed by those above. Because the conductors are more likely to click the tickets that live further afield than those who get on at Orakei or Meadowbank, arguably people who would most often be corporate workers.

  13. Auckland should dump Veolia because of Veolia’s war crimes.

    Veolia operates transit systems in East Jerusalem and the occupied Jordan Valley. Thus it is providing services to projects that violate Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention.

    This part of the Geneva Conventions bans ethnic cleansing.

    Cities in Europe, Australia and the UK have dropped contract with Veolia because of it’s support for ethnic cleansing. So why does Auckland continue to contract with war criminals?

  14. I noticed when I caught the train the other morning that the “Due” numbers were notably absent from their column on the electronic displays. Conspiracies are bunk, but…

  15. @Matt Clouds – you didn’t read the Berlin fine correctly correctly actually. it’s only 40 EUR. thats low enough that it makes it pretty attractive for a lot of people to ‘schwarzfahren’ (lit: black ride, ride without ticket). a lot of the same problems (or potentials, depending on who you are) occur here where many people aren’t controlled, esp when trains are full or trains are running but checkers have stopped (late at night). what the BVG (berlin transport agency) do extremely well are the ‘abonnements’ (monthly and yearly passes), which provide big discounts on daily or weekly cards, reduce hassle for travelers and provide a steady source of income for PT investment, maintenance, etc which can be bet on for the next calendar year. they’re anonymous, which means that my wife can go out during the day and i can take it to head out to a concert or exhibition in the evening, a great plus. I believe Auckland still has monthly passes (been away for a while now but i used them for a while) but would guess that a relatively small percentage use them (be interesting to know this figure), and could be a huge benefit to get more people on them.

  16. @Rob Mayo – after riding gated metros in London, Washington DC, Paris, Chicago, etc I greatly prefer the ungated metro of Berlin – of course I realise this is harder for fare controlling (although many in Paris just hop the stiles), but as a traveler it’s just far easier – no hassles squeezing through stiles, esp with baggage, baby strollers, for the disabled etc and perceptually I believe it provides for a more open ‘public’, public transport system. seems like this kind of system does need vigilance though, LA has tried it for years apparently and are now moving from the ‘honour system’ to gated stiles.

    1. LM, in Asia, gated stations are the norm and in order to ensure that people with luggage, prams, wheelchairs etc can get through easily, there are always wheelchair-width as well as normal width gates at each station. As a business traveller (always with a large suitcase) , I never have any problem moving through railway stations in Asia. My proposal to strategically gate stations in Auckland, brings together the best of open and closed networks to cost effectively achieve a significant reduction in fare evasion and to keep fare evasion at an absolute minimum going forward.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *