Sydney Electronic Ticketing System Selected

According to media reports, the Pearl Consortium, made up of Downer EDI, Commonwealth Bank and Cubic Transportation Systems has won the Sydney electronic transport ticketing system. Key to the consortium is Cubic_Transportation_Systems which has provided electronic ticket systems to large city transport systems, including the Oyster Card for London Underground. Downer EDI is an engineering company (the EDI does not stand for "Electronic Data Interchange"). The Commonwealth Bank has experience with MasterCard PayPass and Visa payWave these are contactless payment cards. These and similar cards are now being distributed widely to bank customers. However, it unclear if the NSW will permit their use for travel payments.

Improving Australian Public Transport

Having used efficient public transport in Greece and Turkey, it is disappointing to get back to Australia and find state governments continuing to fail to provide it here. The latest with problems is the Victorian Government's myki electronic ticketing system roll-out (following scrapping of the NSW system). In contrast, Istanbul has a simple and effective electronic system which works on trains, trams, metro and ferries.