Cashless Buses To Take New Tunnel

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday April 6, 2007

Jordan Baker Transport Reporter

SYDNEY'S prepaid bus trial will be expanded to include a new Lane Cove tunnel service.

The 297 - a cashless peak-hour service between Denistone East and the Queen Victoria Building - builds on the success of the prepay Bondi 333, which has increased patronage on that route by almost 5 per cent.

The 297 will replace the peak-hour 286 service that uses the Gore Hill freeway.

The Transport Minister, John Watkins, said the new prepay service meant commuters would not only save time by using the tunnel but would also spend less time waiting while other customers bought tickets.

Paying a cash fare takes an average of 11 seconds, while validating a prepaid ticket takes three. If the bus has an average load of 50 people, the journey time can be cut by six minutes, the State Transit Authority said.

"Customers wanting to ride the 297 are advised that the driver won't be selling tickets on board, but customers will be able to prepurchase tickets from ticket agents and vending machines located at major bus stops," Mr Watkins said.

There will be eight 297 services during the morning peak hour and six during the evening peak hour on weekdays. The 286 service will run outside peak hours on surface roads, and the 287 and 288 will still take cash.

Mr Watkins said it was time to expand cashless buses after the success of the 333 Bondi bendy service, which has led to a 20 per cent drop in the number of people paying cash for a ticket on the Bondi corridor.

Only one in five bus users on the Bondi route - the most popular in Australia - pays cash for a ticket on the bus. In general, 30 per cent of people using Sydney buses pay cash.

Mr Watkins said the number of people using buses along the Bondi corridor had grown by 4.3 per cent, or 180,000 passengers, since the cashless 333 service was introduced last October.

The first prepay trial was conducted in 2004 at the Watson Street bus stop in Neutral Bay. Average loading times were reduced from 50 seconds to 36 seconds.

Another prepay service was introduced last November at the Druitt Street stop in the central business district, for people travelling along Victoria Road between 3.30pm and 6.30pm.

State Transit said the number of passengers purchasing a cash ticket on this route dropped from 20 per cent in March 2006 to 16 per cent in March 2007.

A spokesman for Action for Public Transport, Jim Donovan, said he would like to see the prepay initiative rolled out across the entire Sydney bus network.

"It's excellent; we've been pressing them to do it for many years," he said.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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