A proposal to ditch paper tickets for public transport in favour of only using smart cards has been dumped in Queensland. I don’t think that we should be dumping paper tickets, but I do think we should be charging a lot more for them. More »
Although there are projects underway in Melbourne (myki) and Brisbane, and an endlessly stalled attempt in Sydney, Perth is currently the only Australian capital to have a proper city-wide transport smart card (SmartRider) that lets you pay for any form of transport without ever needing cash on hand, simply by swiping a card on a reader. This is, to be honest, a great pity.As travellers to London (Oyster) and Hong Kong (Octopus) will attest, smart cards make travelling a breeze, eliminating the need to scrabble for change or work out unfamiliar systems, and improving security (you can scan your whole wallet rather than fiddling to take the card out). If you’re visiting anywhere that has a smart card travel system for more than a day or so, ditch the paper tickets and get a smart card: even if you have to pay a deposit to get the card, the convenience is worth it, and in many places (Perth included) you get a discount on travel that’ll quick eat up the cost anyway.
