Tickets please: smartcards plan for Adelaide
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SA hopes smartcard ticketing will be free of problems other places have had
Adelaide public transport is to get a new ticketing system.
Transport Minister Pat Conlon says the so-called smartcards will be operational by 2013.
Passengers will swipe a plastic card past a validating machine, which deducts the appropriate fare.
The Minister says the new system will cost $30 million and he hopes will be free of the hassles other places, such as Melbourne, have faced when adopting the technology.
"Sometimes in life you're better off one out, one back than trying to lead the field and that's the position we're in," he said.
"We've seen what's happened elsewhere, we've deliberately shaped our strategy around some of the difficulties that have happened elsewhere and we're very confident we'll introduce a system without any problems."
Mr Conlon says the current ticket system has operated in Adelaide for more than two decades.
The South Australian Opposition says ticketing changes are the wrong priority for public transport.
Opposition transport spokesman David Ridgway says the funding should be put towards improving safety for passengers.
"Seventy per cent of South Australians don't feel safe on public transport, according to the latest Productivity Commission report," he said.
"Thirty million dollars on a smart ticketing system isn't going to alleviate their concerns and get patronage numbers up.
"2013 is nearly four years away; if it slips a little it'll be beyond the next election."
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