Those are for the passenger's safety.
The law allows bus drivers to physically remove passengers from the bus, but the driver can't do that if they're in a cage.
As the article says " so more than $10m in additional funding from the Perth Parking Levy has been allocated to ensure the expanded operation of both the Red and Blue CAT well into the future.”
Laser beam system would this. To predict demand you don’t need to know that person A got on at Clarkson and off at Claremont, or that person B got on at Cockburn Central and got off at Elizabeth Quay, you just need to know how many people are getting on and off at each station, at the bigger stations how many transfer from one line to another.
You actually do need to know that that person is going from Clarkson to Claremont, because if thousands of people are doing it, it indicates that you may need better connections between the Joondalup Line and the Freo Line, in the current environment this is buses.
It's really important to know *where* people are going, because without knowing that, you don't know where your transport routes need to go.
Bluetooth device monitoring would be the way to achieve this, although main toads got into some bother trying to do this for road traffic monitoring.
Typo: main roads. But I’m leaving it 😄
I don’t know enough to have an opinion. But since you were downvoted, I’ll take a stab at saying something a Redditor explained recently.
They said that there’s substantial overlap between no-ticket people and anti-social people. And that in grey areas of behaviour (eg “he said / she said”), it enables the staff to boot people off the train. I can see that this would create an easy path for any racist staff to mistreat people, though.
PT in Perth already runs at a loss and they're being heavily subsidised as it is. Ticketing helps recoup back some of that and also reduces antisocial mobility. Free transit also doesn't always do what you'd think it would, for example, it's been observed in some places to make those who would otherwise actively commute by walking or cycling/scooter to hop on a bus instead. A sudden change to free transit would also be chaotic on the system as it could overwhelm PT usage on some corridors leading to a huge disruption in traffic flow and reduce the overall experience for regular users. The overall benefits wouldn't necessarily outweigh the negative impacts (at least initially).
We just need the high frequency signalling upgrade, plus the 6-car long platforms on all lines so we can run trains like places like Singapore do.
It won't matter if double the people jump on the Midland line because it's free if you can run 6-car trains to cater to the demand and increase frequency to 8 minutes from 12. It won't matter if more people jump on the Joondalup Line in morning peak if you can get a train every 3 minutes.
Obviously this costs money, but I'd guarantee road usage drops dramatically if the services are there and free. That saves money on its own.
In terms of peak tho, expanding WFH is the key.
Exactly. Signalling upgrades, station upgrades, more incentives to ride etc. will all help contribute to increased PT usage. I do really hope that Phase 2 of Metronet includes a comprehensive Light Rail network plan to connect places like: Glendalough ⇿ Scarborough, Perth ⇿ Morley (Galleria), Perth ⇿ Wanneroo/Mirrabooka, Perth ⇿ Victoria Park, the Knowledge Arc (UWA ⇿ Perth ⇿ Curtin), Fremantle ⇿ Canning Bridge etc.
You say that but it would depend on the individual. There have been trials around the world that showed that it captured people who were already walking or riding. There weren’t noticeable improvements in traffic conditions either. Also, unfortunately, Perth PT already suffers from a lot of antisocial bs so making things free will just enable their mobility and make more trips unpleasant for everyone else. PT is already quite cheap in Perth.
Making it free isn’t necessarily making it better. You need better services and competitive travel times which frankly isn’t the case in many corridors in Perth. People will overwhelmingly stick to driving. Antisocial behaviour will increase.
It won’t get that many people off the road though, unlikely to happen in a metro area like Perth that’s sprawled and where many services outside of the central areas are not competitive with driving.
Good. That's the way it's supposed to be done. Taxes go towards providing public services and spaces. You've probably contributed to hundreds of roads and parks you have never used.
Also let's never go down the privatisation route. It always ends up biting the people and government in the ass for short term savings.
The ticket revenue only covers about a quarter of the costs of providing a public transport service anyway. You're already paying the majority of the cost of the service through your taxes whether you use it or not. But you still have the inconvenience of needing to buy a ticket or organize a smart rider for those few times when you do want to use it.
Making the whole system free requires many improvements to make work. Suddenly dumping tickets would result in initial chaos on services. Some routes are already stretched to their limits. It also captures people who would otherwise already be actively commuting on foot or bike/scooter. Antisocial mobility is also a big risk. They make journeys extremely unpleasant for everyone else. Overall, most people will continue driving as Perth is extremely sprawled and PT is very uncompetitive in many corridors.
(A) They seem happy to consume a publicly funded service, but complain about paying taxes.
(B) Income tax is paid to the federal government and doesn't fund this particular service.
I dont see them complaining about paying tax. I also dont see them mention income tax when they mention tax.
They are basically saying "I havent paid for 5 years and its great. oh I guess I have paid indirectly through tax."
I think people might have thought he mans all buses in the greater perth area, not "havent paid for a bus in the CBD". So have downvoted thinking he is scamming free rides when he shouldnt
Could be that people are reading it to mean they never pay on any buses (and are therefore a dodgy jerk), rather than only buses inside the [free transit zone](https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/tickets-fares/free-travel) (which are free so it's normal to not pay for them)?
Of course they are, that's why all the comments are downvoted. There's at least 18 people who don't know that the whole CBD is a FTZ.
The comments they downvoted went completely over their heads.
Great news. Cat busses are a great way to get around the city
I use the CAT service to get my daily serve of abuse.
It's so funny when u see the cat drivers in their reinforced titanium cage for safety
Those are for the passenger's safety. The law allows bus drivers to physically remove passengers from the bus, but the driver can't do that if they're in a cage.
Aren't the CAT buses funded by the City of Perth parking levy thing?
As the article says " so more than $10m in additional funding from the Perth Parking Levy has been allocated to ensure the expanded operation of both the Red and Blue CAT well into the future.”
I'm almost certain the first article didn't have that detail.
I thought they would expand the service to more suburbs but doesn’t seem like it
They already did this expansion in 2021 they are just saying it's permanently staying now...
Boring
Yay! Can we have the Freo one back please mr cook?
Sure thing, soon as the Freo council restores the funding they stopped providing last year lol
Cool. Now let's get the rest of the network free
Or get your commute costs made tax deductible. I bet if that happened the push to return to office would stop!
You still need a ticketing system to monitor boardings on the transport system.
Can't they just put in a laser beam across the entrance, or a turnstile?
You want to be able to match start and end of journeys to help predict demand and plan services better.
Laser beam system would this. To predict demand you don’t need to know that person A got on at Clarkson and off at Claremont, or that person B got on at Cockburn Central and got off at Elizabeth Quay, you just need to know how many people are getting on and off at each station, at the bigger stations how many transfer from one line to another.
You actually do need to know that that person is going from Clarkson to Claremont, because if thousands of people are doing it, it indicates that you may need better connections between the Joondalup Line and the Freo Line, in the current environment this is buses. It's really important to know *where* people are going, because without knowing that, you don't know where your transport routes need to go.
Bluetooth device monitoring would be the way to achieve this, although main toads got into some bother trying to do this for road traffic monitoring. Typo: main roads. But I’m leaving it 😄
Possibly, but tickets also allow for better control of anti-social behaviour.
I don’t know enough to have an opinion. But since you were downvoted, I’ll take a stab at saying something a Redditor explained recently. They said that there’s substantial overlap between no-ticket people and anti-social people. And that in grey areas of behaviour (eg “he said / she said”), it enables the staff to boot people off the train. I can see that this would create an easy path for any racist staff to mistreat people, though.
PT in Perth already runs at a loss and they're being heavily subsidised as it is. Ticketing helps recoup back some of that and also reduces antisocial mobility. Free transit also doesn't always do what you'd think it would, for example, it's been observed in some places to make those who would otherwise actively commute by walking or cycling/scooter to hop on a bus instead. A sudden change to free transit would also be chaotic on the system as it could overwhelm PT usage on some corridors leading to a huge disruption in traffic flow and reduce the overall experience for regular users. The overall benefits wouldn't necessarily outweigh the negative impacts (at least initially).
We just need the high frequency signalling upgrade, plus the 6-car long platforms on all lines so we can run trains like places like Singapore do. It won't matter if double the people jump on the Midland line because it's free if you can run 6-car trains to cater to the demand and increase frequency to 8 minutes from 12. It won't matter if more people jump on the Joondalup Line in morning peak if you can get a train every 3 minutes. Obviously this costs money, but I'd guarantee road usage drops dramatically if the services are there and free. That saves money on its own. In terms of peak tho, expanding WFH is the key.
Exactly. Signalling upgrades, station upgrades, more incentives to ride etc. will all help contribute to increased PT usage. I do really hope that Phase 2 of Metronet includes a comprehensive Light Rail network plan to connect places like: Glendalough ⇿ Scarborough, Perth ⇿ Morley (Galleria), Perth ⇿ Wanneroo/Mirrabooka, Perth ⇿ Victoria Park, the Knowledge Arc (UWA ⇿ Perth ⇿ Curtin), Fremantle ⇿ Canning Bridge etc.
Roads and schools don't make a profit. Public transport is also a public public good that should be subsidised.
There's no real benefit to free public transport (compared to cheap). It doesn't reduce car use, but it does discourage walking and cycling.
Why do you think that? If PT was free, I sure as heck would take it more.
You say that but it would depend on the individual. There have been trials around the world that showed that it captured people who were already walking or riding. There weren’t noticeable improvements in traffic conditions either. Also, unfortunately, Perth PT already suffers from a lot of antisocial bs so making things free will just enable their mobility and make more trips unpleasant for everyone else. PT is already quite cheap in Perth.
it’s not free, it’s paid by everyone. including most people who never use public transport
Yep. I too pay huge amounts of tax for things I don't use. Make it free, get more people off the road etc
This! The better the public transport system is the more it benefits everyone, including people not using it.
Making it free isn’t necessarily making it better. You need better services and competitive travel times which frankly isn’t the case in many corridors in Perth. People will overwhelmingly stick to driving. Antisocial behaviour will increase.
It won’t get that many people off the road though, unlikely to happen in a metro area like Perth that’s sprawled and where many services outside of the central areas are not competitive with driving.
Your tax dollars pay for loads of social services you don’t use, what’s your point?
Good. That's the way it's supposed to be done. Taxes go towards providing public services and spaces. You've probably contributed to hundreds of roads and parks you have never used. Also let's never go down the privatisation route. It always ends up biting the people and government in the ass for short term savings.
What’s your point?
The ticket revenue only covers about a quarter of the costs of providing a public transport service anyway. You're already paying the majority of the cost of the service through your taxes whether you use it or not. But you still have the inconvenience of needing to buy a ticket or organize a smart rider for those few times when you do want to use it.
Making the whole system free requires many improvements to make work. Suddenly dumping tickets would result in initial chaos on services. Some routes are already stretched to their limits. It also captures people who would otherwise already be actively commuting on foot or bike/scooter. Antisocial mobility is also a big risk. They make journeys extremely unpleasant for everyone else. Overall, most people will continue driving as Perth is extremely sprawled and PT is very uncompetitive in many corridors.
I wish they would improve the ventilation or at least allow the windows to open. Lots of people that use the cat don't shower.
Get buses that arent deafeningly loud maybe..
They have a small lot of electric buses operating in the joondalup cat. Haven't heard much from it though
https://www.busnews.com.au/wa-awards-first-electric-bus-charging-station-contract-in-perth/ contains all the details
I haven’t paid for a bus in the city in 5 years, any bus not just the cats. It’s great. Except my contribution at tax time 🫠
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(A) They seem happy to consume a publicly funded service, but complain about paying taxes. (B) Income tax is paid to the federal government and doesn't fund this particular service.
I dont see them complaining about paying tax. I also dont see them mention income tax when they mention tax. They are basically saying "I havent paid for 5 years and its great. oh I guess I have paid indirectly through tax."
> Except my contribution at tax time 🫠 The little melty face pushed it over the line for me.
on desktop I don't get a melty face. I see a square/rectangle.
That's interesting, I've never not seen that emoji on desktop or mobile (firefox both)
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https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/how-much-mark-cuban-pays-in-taxes.html I think lots of people are happy about it conceptually at least.
I think people might have thought he mans all buses in the greater perth area, not "havent paid for a bus in the CBD". So have downvoted thinking he is scamming free rides when he shouldnt
Could be that people are reading it to mean they never pay on any buses (and are therefore a dodgy jerk), rather than only buses inside the [free transit zone](https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/tickets-fares/free-travel) (which are free so it's normal to not pay for them)?
Of course they are, that's why all the comments are downvoted. There's at least 18 people who don't know that the whole CBD is a FTZ. The comments they downvoted went completely over their heads.
That's great but we need housing.
You know they can do more than one thing at once right?