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| My Zone: new fare structure for Greater Sydney |
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NCOSS has been briefed by the Minister for Transport's office about the new fare structure for the Greater Sydney area that was announced on 1 February – called My Zone. In short, the new structure reduces the number of existing fare bands into a simpler system that will apply to trains, buses (including private) and ferries. The new fare structure will apply from the 18th April and a website is available to explain the changes. The Government estimates that 9 out of 10 people will be better off or at least no worse off under the new system. Tickets such as the pensioner excursion ticket will remain in place. The Government estimates that the new fare structure will cost approximately $32 million in foregone revenue but argues the new structure will be easier, fairer, greener and will encourage increased patronage of the system. There will be:
There will also be 3 "multi" passes allowing changes between transport modes (a daily pass which is only available across all zones as well as weekly, quarterly and annual passes for the three different zones). While not providing true multimodal ticketing (i.e. single/return/daily tickets across all modes within particular zones) the changes are a good first step and will see fares reduce for those travelling the furthest. While the fine details will need to be analysed it seems initially that this is a good initiative in that it will be simpler for passengers, it brings private buses into a more uniform fare system and does not penalise those who travel the furthest (in fact the fare structure will provide savings for those travelling longer distances). For those of us who have long advocated for a fairer fare structure and a multimodal ticketing system this is clearly a step towards that and is a sound foundation for future reform.
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