I’ve talked before about how important I think it is that agencies like Auckland Transport attempt to make public transport fun. Here’s a new example from Russia where in the lead up to the Sochi Winter Olympics some of the metro stations in Moscow are allowing people to pay for their train ticket by engaging in a little public exercise.
One of the things I noticed in particular was the smiles on peoples faces of those both participating and watching.
What’s also important is that this is something that isn’t forced upon anyone, it was given as an additional option and people choose to do it. Making PT fun is something AT need to be seriously thinking about and I think there sis so much potential to really capitalise on it.
Processing...
Fantastic! Do it in Auckland, definitely.
The idea is great
(Although in this specific case I would be very suspicious of any media like this promoting the Sochi games that claims to be “spontaneous” – This is a heavily managed government project and such promotions will likely by very tightly media managed)
I hope that everyone I ride the bus with has had a chance to get all sweaty before they get on. I’d be delighted to subsidize the remainder of their travel cost just for the pleasure of being in close quarters with them after exercising. It’s almost as good as paying for people’s gym memberships so I get to hang out with them in the locker room. (This is probably also a thing in Russia.)
When the bus card reader says “please check your balance”, I have this desire to stand on one leg………..
Damn! I so wish that was around when I was there for the 7s RWC in late June. I would’ve happily done my 30 seconds LOL!
How about we stick a pub in the central carriage.
They also need to make PT more professional though. Stupid policies like their $10 min top-up you can talk the employees out of (sometimes) is just ridiculous, snapper didn’t have this, nor do the Thales train station automated machines (which have a minimum of $1 unless in OD), plus they make $0.25 a transaction, allowing $1-9 at kiosks and retailers will keep things consistent and prevent people getting stranded with a $5 note (sure there’s cash tickets but what if you have a tertiary concession and you expected the discount) and not to mention make them more money since if someone topped up $5 in the morning and $5 before coming home they would of made $0.50 instead of that person topping up in the morning just $10: $0.25 that day and that person wouldn’t of been caught in a unnecessary situation caused by AT. When I pressured a transdev worker at a kiosk into letting me do it, they did it ($2.00), but I also asked why such a ludicrous policy was in place, they said “its so people don’t topup while there in OD”, which makes no sense since you cant tag on until your balance is $0.00 or greater, yes which gets me on to a funny topic, buy a $5 AT hop card at papakura instead of a ticket, tag on (you can with $0.00) and travel to waitakere, normally $14.70, now only $5.00, discard the card afterwards… Theres already enough holes in there system, why add to them with dumb policies lol.
Fun on our public transport? It’s just ticket inspectors checking your hop card daily.
Yep, its funny how everyone under 25 gets a bashing if they don’t pay yet anyone older gets let of a lot of the time, but reality is, everyone is effected when AT have issues, e.g. power outage (this was actually handled well though last time), machine out of paper or not giving change (sure you can hand in a paper to get your money back, but sometimes there’s no paper to give you that document) or your going nowhere near a ticket office or you need your change for lunch or other transport services or not taking eftpos. Luckily I have AT Hop + Autotopup but not everyone has that, wants to have that or could afford that.
Oh and yeah, the amount they spent on this you would think they would have a UPS or two at each station to keep the ticket machines, real time boards and tag-on posts powered on during a power outage, not just a few useless lights and some electric doors (new lynn).