Public Transport to our airports - what's cheapest?

[Mwenenzi]

offish topic

How much do they already lose each day with the “Free” Tramzone?

Very little in my opinion. Just a few tourists or people who drove into the city.
Most people in the city (workers, etc) will have daily - weekly or monthly tickets. As I did for ~20 years. Not that many hourly tickets
Decades ago the on tram conductors(~ticket sellers), on most days, were paid more than the fares they sold-collected each day.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Yes the Bendigo Easter Festival is on, which is contributing, but I have caught trains before during Easter, nothing like this.

Only got on the second train apparently as it skipped an intermediate stop (Footscray) so they could make sure all the people who could not get on the first train at Sunbury could get on this second train.

Probably more to do with Easter weekend?

And some using public transport instead of burning liquid gold in a car, as current govt recommendations - suggestions.

 

[L2.]

Until the cut to regional fares in early 2023, it used to cost $48 for a return off-peak trip to Bendigo (as per the Internet Archive), and my recollection of having previously lived on that line on the 2010s is that the only time a weekend train would have been overcrowded was when an AFL match was on.

The sole exception to this used to be on Christmas Day, when free travel was offered and many took advantage of it do a day trip for a picnic out of Melbourne for the day.

I'd be tempted to make use of the free travel for an outing if I lived in Melbourne, but I'd also be livid if I was unable to utilise the system for an essential journey (e.g. coming home after a flight) because the trains were full of people taking completely non-essential journeys that had been encouraged by the government without any regard for how to accommodate the demand.

 

[Hvr]

offish topic

<snip>
Decades ago the on tram conductors(~ticket sellers), on most days, were paid more than the fares they sold-collected each day.

As someone who used to count the money the tram conductors paid in I can assure you that you are wrong. The weekly revenue more than covered the weekly payroll. Usually at least twice as much was received from the 'fare box' than was paid in wages at the depot.

This is for Melbourne.

 

[SYD]

offish topic

Very little in my opinion. Just a few tourists or people who drove into the city.
Most people in the city (workers, etc) will have daily - weekly or monthly tickets. As I did for ~20 years. Not that many hourly tickets
Decades ago the on tram conductors(~ticket sellers), on most days, were paid more than the fares they sold-collected each day.

There hasn’t been conductors on MEL trams for years - since the Myki cards came in. And that was the problem. Visitors couldn’t ride a tram without a Myki (at $4 a pop). So making a “Free tram zone” was probably cheaper than expediting contactless payments - which MEL still doesn’t have….

AMS was the same (as well as a few other cities) when they rolled out cashless payments via an OV Chipkaart (€5 non-refundable). But at least they eventually went contactless a while back.

 

[dajop]

There hasn’t been conductors on MEL trams for years - since the Myki cards came in. And that was the problem..

That’s not right. The last conductors finished when the Metcard was introduced. In 1998.

I remember well before any of that we had plenty of “free” public transport as a student with scratch cards. If using daily card you’d scratch off the month and scratch off the day only if you had a conductor or inspector on the tram.

 

[serfty]

That’s not right. The last conductors finished when the Metcard was introduced. In 1998.

I remember well before any of that we had plenty of “free” public transport as a student with scratch cards. If using daily card you’d scratch off the month and scratch off the day only if you had a conductor or inspector on the tram.

Some built an annual collection ...

 

[Hvr]

Some built an annual collection ...

It was an incredibly poor system. Many conductors would actually punch the dates.

 

[clifford]

Well, moving on, a few days ago I travelled from Broadbeach, Qld to Teneriffe, Brisbane return for the princely sum of $1. This involved bus, train and ferry travel. And I have to say that I think the train from Varsity Lakes to Beenleigh is the fastest suburban railway in Australia (based on my own experiences). Qudos to the Qld Govt (past ones that is).

The transport offerings were not overly crowded and staff were efficient and polite. I imagine based on above postings there will be calls for fares to be raised at least 20 fold. That would be very sad....