• Josephine Roper
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    21 year ago

    @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne I don’t think people are entirely rational economic access-seeking actors on a per-trip basis. I’m more interested in the psychological difference between pay-per-trip (transit) and pay-once-a-year (car insurance, rates - plus monthly payments if you have a lease, but you can’t just not pay them if you don’t drive, it’s a long term commitment too).

    • Josephine Roper
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      21 year ago

      @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne Free PT is one way to align payment frequency (well, remove the pay-per-trip and replace it with nothing), but another is discounted long term public transport passes, creating pre-commitment to taking public transport. And another, perhaps more politically difficult, is road fares per car trip…

      • Tom Andraszek
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        1 year ago

        @jroper @ajsadauskas @TheOne - oh, people are definitely #PredictablyIrrational when making decisions - check out the 2008 book by Dan Ariely, especially the chapter about the disproportional power of free.

        Yep, if you want people to use something less, make them pay for it every time they use it (there are no PT passes in Queensland).

        Also, people rarely compare total car ownership costs, which some PT advocates are fixated on, vs fares. It’s per trip decision if you have a car already.

      • Josephine Roper
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        21 year ago

        @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne Well not perhaps, obviously more difficult. Discounted monthly passes already used to exist, and I don’t see that they’re technically incompatible with smart-card systems.

        Monthly or yearly passes could be salary sacrified and/or a welfare benefit, resulting in many people getting effectively free PT - but seeing it differently from general free PT, as a thing of value that they paid for/were given and should take advantage of… maybe.

        • AJ Sadauskas
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          11 year ago

          @jroper @tom_andraszek @TheOne Discounted long-term passes for locals would be a great middle ground between free public transport and paying a fare for each journey.

          NSW offers a fare cap, and that is certainly one way of effectively implementing long-term tickets for regular commuters.

          In NSW, and I’d assume in other states too, there is a photo ID card that’s available to people who don’t have a driver’s licence. Potentially there’s an opportunity there to bundle a year of public transport with the ID?

          For tourists (especially from overseas), you could offer public transport fares as part of the cost of the airfare. I know there are countries overseas — Spain comes to mind — that do something like that?

          Another option would be to bundle the transport fare with your council rates or weekly rent. That would acknowledge that home owners or residents who live in close proximity to public transport still benefit from the system, even if they don’t use it themselves.

          • Christian Kent
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            11 year ago

            @ajsadauskas @jroper @tom_andraszek @TheOne I’m 100% willing to be convinced I’m wrong on this, so please do, but:

            Would every $1 that’s spent on this be more effective (eventually) if channelled into frequency etc?

            What’s that concept of “memorisable timetable” that’s not even a timetable because it’s every 10 mins?

        • Christian Kent
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          11 year ago

          @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne Please let’s not return to the crazy days of monthly / quarterly / yearly passes

          One of the most lowkey-socialist things Gladys Berejiklian ever caused to happen (I can only guess her direct influence) was to remove the classist and cognitive burden of Sydney’s fare incentives and rewards

          Labor’s T-Card and London’s Oyster had/have none of these policy goals

          Meanwhile Melbourne is cruel and lazy, charging $3.10 to go a few bus stops (2-hour minimum)

          • Christian Kent
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            11 year ago

            @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne While I’m here allow me to vent indignation at being charged by time instead of distance — thus rewarding for delay — and impacting those who can least afford it, with commutes approaching the 2-hour mark

            I also wish to applaud the Gladys era of Sydney Buses for switching to a line-of-sight distance charging scheme

            I am NOT defending bus-tram-train price differentials, but “as-the-crow-flies” fares won’t punish you twice for using indirect bus routes

            • Christian Kent
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              11 year ago

              @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne The dying days of Cabernet Dom Perignon Perrotet were bizarre with the kinds of policies you only see when a government thinks they won’t return

              Such as: Pushing down the Opal weekly cap even further. It’s a pure social policy objective. No other desired outcome.

              The exact same thing is true when fare collection is abolished and saves as money money as it costs.

              • Christian Kent
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                11 year ago

                @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne Ironically, what Chris Minns and NSW Labor is giving us instead is:

                Weekly motorway toll caps instead of lower weekly Opal caps

                This is our “socialist” party in charge now. I’m grateful it’s only temporary and they’re putting Australia’s most famous most capable most pointy-headed policy wonk, love child of The Sandman and Merlin the Mandarin, the one & only Alan Fels — in charge of solving Sydney’s toll structure once and for all

                If it’s possible!

                • Christian Kent
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                  11 year ago

                  @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne I’ve gone off on a rant now … all I ask is for policies that:

                  • make roads cost money not free

                  • make arterials that aren’t streets

                  • make arterials that are invisible

                  • rip up asphalt from “stroads”

                  (like Parramatta Road, Princes Hwy, Military Road and replace it with bike lanes, lines of trees, outdoor seating)

                  Neither major party offered all of the above but, weirdly, so weirdly, one of them had gone hard with the first three

                  • Christian Kent
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                    1 year ago

                    @jroper @tom_andraszek @ajsadauskas @TheOne Also weird how the same party started a metro network, laid heaps of light rail track — on many streets with new bans on cars and buses

                    I just hope Chris Minns doesn’t cancel any more rail projects than he promised already

                    I’m already quite worried that he and Donna Davis will start removing “On Demand” bus services from the Parramatta electorate

                    /end rant