According to this, the physical installation on the Illawarra line has already been completed.
Have the readers been uncovered or revealed yet?
According to this, the physical installation on the Illawarra line has already been completed.
Another website, that has been covering it more extensively that this one, had all the Illawarra line stations completed and working last Wednesday, then the installers moved onto the Bankstown line.
The Illawarra line was completed by the end of the 1st week of February. The installers then moved onto the East Hills line not the Bankstown line.
As of the 20th of February, All of T2 EXCEPT for Glenfield and the Airport Link stations are completed. About half the Bankstown line has been done and at the rate they have been moving that will be done by the middle of next week. Looks like all Suburban Rail Opal will be done by the end of the month.
The Airport Link stations probably haven't been done so far as they are privately operated, so the Opal people probably have had to negotiate different work site access agreements. Also the station operators are paid on the basis of passengers through the stations so they probably don't want the gate lines disrupted when the station is open. If the gate line goes down, the operators lose real money.
There is track work on the East Hills line this weekend (22nd February) so the stations will be closed. The Opal people will probably then do the work this weekend when there are no station operations to disrupt.
Also since they started on the Western lines back in early January, the newly installed Opal readers have been left active and not closed when the installers leave - the only thing to stop you from using them is the black sticker saying 'under test'.
Some one has been plotting the Opal roll out on a Google Map -
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zpbk9N0JWG5w.kugydjzTYSpQ
As long as the orange light is on (or alternating red/orange in the case of wide access gates), then they can be used stickers or not.
Does anyone know how that beast known as the airrort (airport) gatepass is to be implemented?
For example, the system will let you tap on at any station with a credit left of say $15, but what will happen if you try to tap off at the airport and the total fare, which includes the gatepass fee, which will exceed the credit left over on your card.
The Airport Link stations probably haven't been done so far as they are privately operated, so the Opal people probably have had to negotiate different work site access agreements. Also the station operators are paid on the basis of passengers through the stations so they probably don't want the gate lines disrupted when the station is open. If the gate line goes down, the operators lose real money.
Does anyone know how that beast known as the airrort (airport) gatepass is to be implemented?
For example, the system will let you tap on at any station with a credit left of say $15, but what will happen if you try to tap off at the airport and the total fare, which includes the gatepass fee, which will exceed the credit left over on your card.
Also, will the retailers at the airport put a surcharge on the cards? (like they do everything else)
The local paper is getting a tad over-excited with the headline "Opal Card Rolled-out in Illawarra". Makes you think that it's in service already!
I would say that the Airport Link stations don't wan't the Opal card.
If you came to Sydney as a tourist would you buy one for one trip?
What would the cost to the city be?
I used to use public transport when visiting Melbourne, but not any more.
One complication with the airport stations is that frequent users are able to effectively buy a weekly (or longer) gate pass that offers a substantial discount to the equivalent single gate pass. This doesn't map well across to the model that Opal has used for fares for the rest of the network.
The current gate pass fare arrangement effectively allows full cost charging of infrequent users (the vast majority of which will be people going to the airport to catch a plane) and maintains a considerable level of subsidy for frequent users (the vast majority of which will be employees going to work). I can see some sense in this, and therefore can see some sense in allowing the arrangement to continue under Opal.
(Those who simply advocate removal of the gate pass in its entirety need to nominate the service cuts or general fare increases that they would apply in order to fund that removal. Public transport funding doesn't grow on trees.)
While this model seems to make sense, it seems that not many of the workers use it. Apparently, 80% of them drive.
That's simple enough. Just apply the full increase which IPART recommended. Even better, bring back more equitable charges for long distance bus users.
Can I have some of what you are taking, it must be really good stuff!
Dave
I suspect (I don't know) that proportion isn't too dissimilar to other non-cbd employment centres. I'm sure that the higher fare dissuades some frequent users at the margin, but I suspect the usual stories of travel time and convenience are what drives that figure.
No complaint from me about your proposed fare increases, but note that "we are putting all fares/all long distance bus fares up so that airport users heading off for their business trip to Melbourne/holiday to Bali can get a cheaper rail ticket" may not be the easiest political sell.
(I'm still not an economist.)
It’s not just the Sydney CBD that had reasonably high public transport mode share. Public transport mode share peaked in the centre of the following regional hubs:
- North Sydney 53%
- Bondi Junction: 41%
- Parramatta: 38%
- Chatswood: 35%
- St Leonards: 34%
You see Dave a lot of people here have tunnel vision and only see things one way. Most people do not use rail when they are on holidays etc. I know very few that use it interstate or overseas. The people on this forum are interested in rail so it is not a clear representation of the average traveller. Most of my friends would use public transport less than a couple of times per year.
Opal cards are not really free.
How about "one gate pass fee and then you get the rest of the week for nix"? That still gives you a good chance of extracting full economic cost from aviation users, but should make the fee for employees almost nominal.