Straight Thinking – By Owen McShane

The Worldwide Potential of Integrated Ticketing.

In her speech to open the current Parliamentary Session, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced:

Two important transport bills now before Parliament will be given priority for passage this year:

* the Public Transport Management Act, to give regional councils the ability to get better integrated passenger services and better value for money. I look forward to the not too distant day when Auckland passengers will be able to buy one ticket which takes them across bus, rail and ferry services.

* the Land Transport Management Amendment Act, providing for a regional fuel tax to speed up infrastructure investment and for improvements to regional and national transport planning.

The first is obviously the result of lobbying from the Auckland Regional Council, which has long wanted to bring Auckland’s public transport networks under central control. One of their reasons is the need to achieve integrated ticketing across the public transport systems serving the region.

No one denies that integrated ticketing is a great idea and the Prime Minister is right to encourage it. We have all seen how the “integrated charging” of Credit Cards and Direct Debit cards has promoted trade in the retail and restaurant sectors all around the world.

Of course we did not need centralised management and control of every retail store and restaurant in the country to make this happen. The technology drove the whole network, which now works all round the world, and is being further “integrated” every day. There has been no need for the UN to manage every shop and restaurant in the world. And just as well.

I can use my credit cards and debit cards to pay for public transport systems in most countries in the developed world. There is no central planning committee operating BART, the Singapore subway, and the Paris Metro.

Similarly, in many parts of the US, Smart Cards not only enable integrated ticketing across the bus, rail and ferry services but can be extended to taxis, shuttles and the other private and public sector operators in the market. Most recently, and most importantly, these Smart Cards allow road tolls to be paid without the need for toll-booths or other collection points. Drivers just wave their Smart Card – equipped with a small antenna and microchip – as they drive by the card-reader station. Currency conversion can be automatic too.

Such Smart Cards also enable the ready conversion of inefficient Bus Lanes and High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes into High Occupancy Toll Lanes (HOT lanes) which greatly increase mobility over the whole system. Buses and high-occupancy vehicles can enter HOT lanes free of charge, but any vehicle can enter the lane on payment of a variable toll, which climbs rapidly as the lane approaches capacity. Hence the HOT lane operates at maximum loading but never reaches the point where traffic grinds to a halt.

So anyone who really needs to get to a destination such as a hospital or an airport can pay a toll and guarantee full speed travel.

Sadly, our collectivist ARC transport planners are dedicated to “getting people out of their cars and into public transport” rather than increasing Aucklanders’ overall mobility. So they will hardly welcome the universal Smart Card.

In the meantime HOT Lanes and Smart Cards are spreading rapidly over the United States – and now the cellphone is stepping up to the line.

On Jan. 29, San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system began testing a program that allows passengers to pay fares by waving their mobile phones at the smart-card reader on the turnstiles. A wireless chip in the phone completes the transaction and debits the passenger's bank account. (Watch out for iRide).

Such cell-phone systems are already used by foreign transit agencies, and cell-phones are increasingly used for other retail purchases. The technology is already compatible with the banking industry.

Soon, visitors to New Zealand will expect to find these facilities here. We should be ready for them.

The Prime Minister has the right target. But we need to use the same process that has placed New Zealand as a world leader in the use of direct debit cards.

Otherwise we may find the ARC’s buses and trains are isolated from all the private operators of taxis, ferries, shuttles, planes and HOT Lane tolls.

High Speed Broadband reduces congestion on the roads

In her opening statement to Parliament Prime Minister Helen Clark also said:

“On broadband we've got confidence in the new regulatory settings and we are close to finalising Telecom's undertakings on operational separation and commitments on infrastructure investment. Going forward, the aim is to build out high-speed broadband in our cities and rural areas, delivering benefits to business, the education and health systems, and society at large.”

Some commentators expressed concern that spending on broadband could be at the expense of other infrastructure, such as roads and bridges.

However, the Prime Minister is on firm ground, and should stick to her guns.

Overseas experience has demonstrated that the single most effective means of reducing congestion on urban roads is high speed broadband – and the higher the speed the better.

Since 1980, telecommuting is the only commute mode, other than single occupancy driving, which has increased right across America. The figures are startling. If we exclude New York City, which accounts for over 38% of total transit commuters in the US, telecommuters now outnumber public transport commuters – about 4.0 million telecommuters to about 3.75 million public transport commuters.

In San Diego, Dallas and Phoenix, telecommuters outnumber all public transport commuters. In Oklahoma City, telecommuters outnumber all public transport commuters by nearly five to one. In San Diego, telecommuters outnumber light-rail commuters by 22 to 1, and in Denver by 47 to 1. Broadband, unlike light rail, requires no subsidies from ratepayers or taxpayers – and it works. The PM should save the money about to be wasted on rail, and encourage private telecom companies to invest in high speed fibre-optic broadband.

The PM should think Broad – not Big.

When supported by high speed broadband, telecommuting improves mobility, reduces air pollution, reduces accidents, reduces fossil-fuel consumption, increases “quality time” and leisure, and increases employment opportunities for the physically handicapped, and for young mothers.

This same package, working in reverse, also improves access to health care by allowing top quality doctors and specialists to operate from “virtually” anywhere. (New Zealand lags dreadfully here.)

Unions campaign for extra annual leave while employers complain of the extra costs. Typical telecommuters in America are gaining about 15 eight-hour work-days a year in actual extra time. These extra days come at no cost to the employer.

These savings are based on the measurable savings in commuting times. But telecommuters find other ways to save time – they shop at off-peak times and so enjoy easier parking and less time in check-out lines. They go to the gym when it suits rather than on their way to and from work when everyone else does.

They also save real money. The typical telecommuter in Southern California saves as much as US$1,500 a year in petrol money alone. They also save on expensive wardrobes, restaurant meals, hairdressing, makeup, child-care, and house care.

You can read about this silent revolution in Ted Balaker’s splendid paper: The Quiet Success: Telecommuting's Impact on Transportation and Beyond.

So the Prime Minister should stick to her guns. Broadband is the great highway of the modern economy and represents as big a leap forward as did the Roman Roads, 19th Century Rail, and Henry Ford’s working-class car.