The NSW Government’s new integrated ticketing platform for public transport MyZone, has been introduced today to less chaos than was feared by CityRail, however some commuters are upset, particularly those traveling on buses.
MyZone was hurried into existence to make good on failed election promises to introduce the TCard smart card system by 2005. The TCard system, was to bring enable travel on rail, light rail, monorail, and private and public bus and ferry services using the one integrated smart card.
MyZone’s goals were less lofty, simply to integrate ticketing on the most common public transport options (train, bus, ferry) and use existing ticketing infrastructure rather than smart cards.
Commuters were warned of chaos when purchasing tickets this morning for trains and the public relations efforts effectively guided commuters towards making purchases outside of peak hours or allowing additional time for ticket purchases.
Shane Perris noted that lines were longer than normal at his local station of Wentworthville.
“There is only a ticket window and ticket machine, it’s not a busy enough station for roving sellers.”
“I’m pretty sure no one missed the train though. Looked like everyone got served in time.” He said.
At other larger stations, there were masses of Cityrail staff, including security to manage the expected mob of commuters as well as roving ticker sellers to manage the demand and confusion over the new system.
Sydney’s bus network was seemingly less prepared, with some buses not equipped with the required ticketing machines to support the MyZone tickets, forcing bus drivers to manually mark tickets as people boarded.
Additionally, those attempting to source tickets in the Castle Hill area over the weekend found agents out of stock as demand far outstripped supply, with multiple callers to ABC local radio remarking they could not purchase tickets in the area.
