Most Perth stations are unstaffed, but the busier ones have a customer
service/security person. I've found them very friendly and helpful. You can
also buy all-mode cash tickets with time in them (2 to 3 hours) from bus
drivers. Or just get a Smartrider card (free) from any outlet like a
newsagent, top it up with credit, depending on how long your visit or keep
it for future visits too.
Tony P
On Friday, 25 May 2018 23:02:01 UTC+10, Geoffrey Hansen wrote:
>
> I actually had trouble with the ticket machines when I visited Perth. I
> wish I had someone to help me then.
>
> I noticed that the Perth railway stations seemed to have transit officers
> rather than station staff and guards. To me this gave a bit of a "Police
> State" feel about the Perth rail system.
>
> Maybe the Customer Assistants setup on Gold Coast might seem friendlier.
>
> Regards
> Geoffrey
>
>
> From: 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder
> Sent: Friday, 25 May, 12:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: The Gold Coast light rail project shows
> that new transport links are worth it | CityMetric
> To:tramsdo...@... <javascript:>
>
>
> They have GoldlinQ uniforms so I suppose they are paid by the operator,
> but who knows what is in the contract?
>
> People with luggage not familiar with public transport use are likely to
> give up puzzling over ticket machines and call for Uber. I see these people
> as good PR on a line which has a high percentage of tourists riding after
> the morning ‘peak’.
>
> But as I said earlier, I’ll have to look to see if they are still around
> when special events are not on. Some were hired for just the first 6 months
> after opening 4 years ago.
>
> And during the Commonwealth games very many extras were employed but not
> for ticket checking or assistance.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> On 25 May 2018, at 10:48, Prescott lenkap...@... <javascript:>>
> wrote:
>
> I wonder if these customer service people are provided by the operator or
> Translink? It seems to be a feature of new tram services being overwhelmed
> here as there are regularly such people assisting with the crowds on IWLR
> at Central. Again I'm not sure if these are funded by the operator or
> TfNSW. They shouldn't be necessary and I suspect often over-nanny and
> prevent people catching the service.
>
> Tony P
>
> On Friday, 25 May 2018 10:34:50 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:
>
> It’s run by Keolis and friends. Who knows what profit margin they have
> written into the contract?
>
> I don’t criticise this point, but at times they have had a number of
> customer assistant people at some of the trams stops. I’ll have to look out
> and see if they are still around. They mostly help visitors coping with the
> ticket vending machines which have quite a few options for purchasing and
> topping up gocards and thus can be quite confusing to people not used to
> public transport.
>
> If anyone is at a loose end, just go to Broadbeach South terminus and help
> the visitors with their ticket purchases for a few hours. I have helped the
> occasional visitor there.
>
> Regards,
>
> On 25 May 2018, at 9:57 am, Prescott lenkap...@...> wrote:
>
> I don't think it should be tampered with either. I'm just wondering why it
> costs so much to run! Cutting out trips wouldn't save much, as you still
> have most of the trams and drivers out on roster anyway.
>
> Tony P
>
> On Friday, 25 May 2018 09:20:38 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:
>
> Let the bean counters get at it and they will make plenty of ‘savings’.
>
> Every second tram to Helensvale does not meet any train so a 15 minute
> headway beyond the hospital would suffice.
>
> In fact a 15 minute headway all day could probably cope easily with the
> loadings.
>
> GoldLink has their own ticket checkers but they could just let Queensland
> transport do all ticket checking.
>
> Trams run half hourly overnight Friday and Saturday instead of buses but
> does anybody pay?
>
> But of course all of those cuts would encounter customer resistance and
> sure to result in lost passengers.
>
> As it stands, it is a turn up and go service with many bus routes
> connecting here and there along the way. There is no need to make buses
> connect with trams at particular times as with erratic bus running times
> every bus will meet up with a tram within minutes.
>
> Personally, I think the service is great as it is and should not be
> tampered with. I sometimes wonder how many visitors to the region no longer
> bother hiring a car and use the tram instead. Maybe some day visitors from
> Brisbane will now choose the train and tram rather than fight the M1 which
> seems to have traffic collisions with monotonous regularity, weekends too..
>
>
> Regards,
>
> On 25 May 2018, at 8:31 am, Prescott lenkap...@...> wrote:
>
> If $5 per passenger per year is the operating subsidy, it still has a way
> to go with patronage before the cost-benefit kicks in. The Gong Shuttle is
> costing $1 per passenger per year and the NSW government (the one that's
> blown $1 billion extra on CSELR) is complaining that it's costing too much!
> May GCLR continue to be blessed with sympathetic governments with a little
> bit of a financial blind eye. I really thought operating costs for an
> electric transit system would be a lot lower than that too. What on earth
> are they spending the money on?
>
> Tony P
>
> On Friday, 25 May 2018 08:05:59 UTC+10, Richard Youl wrote:
>
>
> https
> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
> ://
> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
> www.citymetric.com
> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
> /transport/
> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
> gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
> https://www.citymetric.com/transport/gold-coast-light-rail-project-shows-new-transport-links-are-worth-it-3091
>
> *The Gold Coast light rail project shows that new transport links are
> worth it | **CityMetric*
> Gold Coast’s light rail scheme has attracted great interest since the
> streets of Surfers Paradise were torn up and stations and track were built.
> Was it worth spending A$1.5bn
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-three-state-and-federal-questions/7411588
> on 13km
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/gold-coast-light-rail-stage-three-state-and-federal-questions/7411588
> of light rail and more than A$40m a year in subsidies? Are we right to be
> spending another A$420m on an extension
> http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/the-first-sod-has-been-turned-on-420-million-light-rail-stage-2-as-tate-plans-stage-3/news-story/2520cd82de301a34498552b6a6e7dde5
> to Helensvale in time for the Commonwealth Games? Should we be taking it
> all the way down to Gold Coast Airport?
> Another question is whether gains in property values served by the project
> could be “captured
> https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-value-capture-and-what-does-it-mean-for-cities-58776”
> to fund such infrastructure. Previous studies of property values in areas
> serviced by the light rail showed only modest gains after it opened. Our
> research
> http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line cast
> a wider net back to when we first started planning the system in 1996
> through to the latest data we could get in 2016.
> The results were intriguing. We found that prices in the catchment areas
> started to increase in the earliest planning phases. The effects of the
> light rail were to push up property values within 800 metres of the
> stations by more than 30 per cent in total from 1996 to 2016.
> This is well above most previous estimates of a light rail system’s
> effects. This is mainly because we looked earlier for the property value
> gains and used a carefully designed control to make the comparison.
> *Impact after opening seemed modest*
> These findings cast a different light on the apparently modest impact of
> the light rail after it opened.
> When the first stage from Broadbeach to our university at Parkwood opened
> it was well received. But the behaviour change we all hoped for was rather
> modest at first: after opening in 2014, patronage did not surge compared to
> bus ridership on the route in earlier years.
> New passengers got on board, but it was an uphill climb for the new
> system. Fare increases of almost 50 per cent
> http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/translink-fare-hike-to-make-brisbane-australias-most-expensive-20140103-30910.html from
> 2010 to 2014 pushed passengers off public transport across southeast
> Queensland, especially on rail. Not all passengers enjoyed improved service
> for their particular journeys, either. Those who used to travel through the
> corridor in a bus now had to break their journey at the light rail terminus
> and transfer, adding travel time and annoyance.
> In the second year of operation, however, patronage jumped 16 per cent
> http://www.goldlinq.com.au/news-and-media/g-that-s-successful and our
> contacts suggest third-year patronage is tracking well. Subsidies per
> passenger are falling. The decision to add the connection to Helensvale
> looks a sound one.
> But, seemingly, other changes everyone expected weren’t there. The Bureau
> of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics analysed property
> values in the corridor from 2000 to 2013
> https://bitre.gov.au/publications/2015/files/is_069.pdf using a coarse
> geography and didn’t find much evidence of any uplift. This gave many cause
> for concern.
> Reassuringly, Cameron Murray used valuation data for a similar period
> https://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps-put-a-figure-on-value-captures-funding-potential-65084
> using a different geographical scale and found a 10 per cent increase for
> properties within 400 metres of the new stations. But there was still
> uncertainty.
> Our new research backs up and expands on Murray’s findings, suggesting
> there was substantial positive impact.
> *The Gold Coast light rail under construction at Surfers Paradise in 2013..
> Image: author provided.*
> *What did our research look at?*
> Our research team in the Funding on the Line
> http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/grants/funding_on_the_line
> Australian Research Council Linkage Project took a different approach. In a
> peer-reviewed paper, which will shortly be presented at the World Symposium
> on Transport and Land Use Research, led by Barbara Yen, we used sales data
> for residential properties along the corridor. Our study compared areas
> within 800 metres of the stations with a control area containing locations
> a little further away but still in the same vicinity.
> We used a longitudinal methodology to see when the value uplift occurred
> from back in 1996, when planning of the system first started, through to
> the latest 2016 data. Property prices in the catchment areas started to
> increase very early in the planning phase. The property value uplift was
> highest in the locations between 100 and 400 metres from the stations.
> Values went up 11.9 per cent in these locations compared to our control
> areas between 1996 and the feasibility study’s announcement in 2002. They
> increased a further 26.3 per cent from 2002 to 2006 over the control areas
> when the feasibility study was completed. Prices rose only 2.3 per
> cent from 2006 to 2011 when the formal funding commitment was made and
> construction began, and then by another 5.4 per cent after the line opened
> to the end of the study period in 2016.
> *Timeline of the planning and development of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage
> 1. Image: author provided.*
> The areas less than 100 metres from the stations, and between 400 and 800
> metres also recorded strong increases compared to the control areas, though
> not quite as much.
> This is to be expected. Sites closest to the stations received some
> nuisance from the light rail and road corridor; sites further away obtain
> fewer advantages in travel time savings for passengers.
> *What are the funding implications?*
> The property value gains attributable to the project from 1996 to 2016 of
> more than 30 per cent are very significant. Yet it’s pretty much only the
> landowners who benefit.
> The City of Gold Coast recoups some of its A$120m investment
> http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/rapid-transit-6004.html in the light
> rail through its rates and its public transport levy on urban residents.
> The Queensland government may end up getting a little slice via stamp duty
> as properties are sold. The few pieces of government-owned land likely rose
> in value.
> But the state and federal governments generally have no other mechanisms
> to take a small sliver of the increased property value their investment
> generated to help pay for the light rail system or reinvest in public
> transport elsewhere. We’ve written about this previously
> https://theconversation.com/what-brisbanes-ferries-can-teach-us-about-funding-public-transport-30874 and
> suggested ways we could change the system.
> A recent federal parliamentary inquiry
> http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/TransportConnectivity/Report_1
> and moves to set up “value sharing
> http://www.luticonsulting.com.au/projects/value-sharing-mechanisms-review-nsw/”
> units in the Queensland
> http://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/infrastructure/value-sharing-in-queensland.html
> and New South Wales https://www.greater.sydney/digital-district-plan/679
> governments suggest we are now getting serious about generating alternative
> funding for public transport. Our study’s results only add more support to
> these initiatives. Get it right and we should be able to deliver more
> metros, busways and light rail to serve our growing population and its
> increasingly urban way of life.
> *Matthew Burke* https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-burke-1677*
> is associate professor in the Cities Research Institute at **Griffith
> University
> http://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828*
> *This article was originally published on **The Conversation
> http://theconversation.com**. Read the **original article
> https://theconversation.com/why-gold-coast-light-rail-was-worth-it-its-about-more-than-patronage-78190*
> *.*
>
>
> Richard
>
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