Yes I believe so.
Do other states have cheaper off peak fares for public transport? In SEQ (Brisbane and surrounds) the off peak fares apply from 8.30am to 3.00 pm weekdays and all weekends.Thatās the advantage of finishing work at 1.30pm.As Iāve just recently sold my car I can travel home on PT during off peak hours and before children are travelling home from school.The downside is because I start work at 5am thereās no PT services from my home to work at that hour so I have to Uber to work in the mornings
In melbourne there is free transport on trains if you tap on before 6:45am and top off before 7:15am
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Adelaide has cheaper off peak fares too
Using public transport early afternoon on a weekday the fare is about a dollar less.We use a zone system here in SEQ so fares are worked out from how many zones you travel through From home to work although I only travel through 2 zones, I need to travel on 2 services from home to work and vice versa
I have a weird question to share with you (in the style of Beyond 2000 and, later, Beyond Tomorrow).
Could it be possible to travel from Kawerau (where I am based) to Auckland in just four minutes?
Iād take a special piece of transportation - similar to the TARDIS, a fictional time machine and spacecraft from Doctor Who and its various spinoffs - rather than driving a car or taking public transport (e.g. buses, trains, ferries etc). This device could allow me to travel anywhere in New Zealand faster and reduce longer travel time by converting from hours into minutes, minutes into seconds and vice versa.
For your guide, here are the normal, approximate travel times (by car) and shortened travel times (by the TARDIS-like device in which I talk about) for each of the following 15 cities as examples (from Kawerau):
- WhangÄrei: 5 hrs, 30 mins = 5 mins, 30 sec
- Auckland: 3 hrs, 29 mins = 3 mins, 29 sec
- Hamilton: 2 hrs, 13 mins = 2 mins, 13 sec
- Tauranga: 1 hr, 14 mins = 1 min, 14 sec
- Rotorua: 52 min, 24 sec = 52 sec
- Gisborne: 3 hrs, 2 mins = 3 mins, 2 sec
- Napier/Hastings: 3 hrs, 42 mins = 3 mins, 42 sec
- New Plymouth: 4 hrs, 35 mins = 4 mins, 35 sec
- Palmerston North: 4 hrs, 50 mins = 4 mins, 50 sec
- Wellington: 6 hrs, 19 mins = 6 mins, 19 sec
- Nelson: 12 hrs, 7 mins = 12 mins, 7 sec
- Christchurch: 14 hrs, 32 mins = 14 mins, 32 sec
- Dunedin: 18 hrs, 58 mins = 18 mins, 58 sec
- Queenstown: 20 hrs, 12 mins = 20 mins, 12 sec
- Invercargill: 21 hrs, 28 mins = 21 mins, 28 sec
What do you think?
Photo courtesy of the BBC. No copyright infringement intended.
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Not a thing in Perth/WA and since the fare cap is of a 2-zone fare anyway.
Victoria has it for regional (VLine) trains, but not for metro areas. They did bring a metro off peak discount in for a short while to reduce crowding for covid reasons, but that unfortunately expired.
Thereās a thing though for evenings - after 6pm the fare covers not just the two hours, but all the rest of the day, which is handy.
The lack of early starts is such a shame with most services. Iām interested in how it will work out with Melbourneās airport rail once it eventually exists - the SkyBus is 24 hours right now, like the airport, but nothing feeds into it - so getting to Southern Cross early, or having something to connect with late, is pretty impossible. Iām sure a taxi driver would just run me over if I asked them to drive me to the station instead of the airport directlyā¦
I was going to have to get there really early before I got my flight bumped recently, but I was looking at how to get to the airport at 6am, itās near impossible on a weekday - giving you some fun google maps directions like leaving at 1am to take the last service, then just waiting around in the city for 5 hoursā¦
Even if they were hourly and you needed to go further to reach a stop - a 24 hour bus network should be in all the major cities here. Slight improvements to public transport could let far more people live car free.
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i donāt know what the timetable is like in sydney, but to get the train in brisbane, the first service leaves central at 4:31 and arrives at 4:55 and once again you have the same issue. its fine to say thereās a train at 4:31, but this one and the one following at 5:01 only service the city and stations in between the city and airport. its realisticly only usable by people who either live or have a hotel room in the city.
the first bus i can get from my house leaves at about 5:15am, getting to roma st at 5:45. I can get an airtrain at 5:57 and be at the airport at 6:25am, but if you have an early flight (theres flights at 6am to Sydney and Canberra) it wonāt work. may as well cab it all the way.
I find even for a week parking at Airpark or one of the offsite parking lots and getting a free shuttle is a lot cheaper than a return fare on the AirTrain.
24hr PT in all the capital cities wonāt become a thing for many years here if ever. No govt would dare try it in a ācar is kingā environment.
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The earliest services from home is a train from Morningside station (Its about a 15 minute walk to the train station from home)that leaves at 5.19 am then I have to get off at Park Road Station , change to an outbound train on the Beenleigh line to travel out to Salisbury.Or the earliest bus is 5.19 am ,a ten minute walk from home to bus stop,then change buses at Woollongabba,to catch an outbound service to Salisbury.(the earliest one departs the āGabba bus station at 5.45am)As work have recently changed our hours,Start at 5am ,finish at 1.30pm obviously starting at 5am the only way I can arrive at work in time is travelling by Uber.PT is ok going home though, also Iām travelling home in off peak time so fare is cheaper.
Some of us folks on low incomes canāt afford to run a car anymoreš
Am Iām only working 4 day a week having to pay for 4 Uber rides to work a week works out cheaper for me than the cost of running a car,rego,insurance,maintenance costs,loan repayments,etc.
I can use PT for anywhere else I need to go to ,the city,nearest shopping centre or I can walk to local shops
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I ride on a H set about once every week on one of the aforementioned shorter journeys. Despite their age, I find them to be more comfortable than the VLocities because they have very thick seat fabric. Iāll miss them when they are retired (although this wonāt be for a while).
They wouldnāt really cut it on long distance services though.
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The Age article also mentions the lack of catering facilities onboard the brand new V/Locity carriages for long distance trips. I donāt mind if food and drink is available on the trains, there are plenty of choices at Southern Cross station or at the destination. Otherwise, V/Line could consider installing vending machines for snacks in one of the carriages.
Thereās a variant of the VLocity which have catering on board made for the Albury line - hopefully they can implement them on the broad gauge long haul services as well.
From the article, looks like that wonāt be happening.
In a blow to passengers, The Age can reveal that cafe bars have been removed from the newer designs, meaning passengers will not be able to buy food and drink during their journey.
āWe understand there are some passengers who would prefer to have catering facilities on board during their journey. We acknowledge this will be a change and will work with them to see what alternative options are possible,ā the V/Line spokesman said. Including cafe bars would require the loss of 75 seats, he added.
I recall Sprinters doing the Albury run in the 1990s, terrible seats for the distance, but a catering trolley was available for much of the trip, not sure why these were ditched.
Except I donāt think the buffet has been installed yet in the new Standard Gauge V/Locity , the first sets are getting these now I believe
They did so in Brisbane when the G12 came to town. Bit of a case of jumping at shadows really given nobody of importance was ever going to take PT to their meetings/outings.
and they still ahve not brought them back. i suspect they will stay gone, at least until after the olympics for the same reason