Right: A group of former conductors entertain passengers as they put their case for a return to Melbourne trams.Arguments against reinstating conductors
1. Conductors are not needed to sell ticketsIt has been claimed that a properly implemented automatic ticketing system, including appropriate support staff in the initial stages, would sell tickets effectively without the need to reintroduce conductors.
A spokesman for the Public Transport Minister, Lynne Kosky, has stated that myki would have its own 'ambassador' support staff.
The spokesperson, Stephen Moynihan, indicated, 'Once myki is rolled out, ambassador staff will be stationed across the tram network to help passengers use the new ticketing system.
Mr Moynihan further stated, 'In addition to public transport staff, there will be a detailed and comprehensive education campaign to help the community get ready for myki.'
The myki Internet site promotes the smartcard in this manner. 'When myki arrives, Victorians will be able to enjoy the same technology leading cities around the world have been using for many years. myki is the future of public transport ticketing in Victoria - a plastic card that stores value and makes travelling by train, tram and bus simpler...
myki is the size of a credit card so it will fit into your wallet or purse. Unlike paper tickets, myki is made of durable plastic so that you can use it over and over again for years.
myki is powered by smartcard technology. This means that myki contains an embedded microprocessor which is like a mini computer.
The back office computer and card reader actually "talk" to the microprocessor in myki which is designed to give you the best fare for your travel.'
myki is designed to replace a number of ticket systems in Victoria, primarily the current Metcard (metropolitan Melbourne) and V/Line (regional) ticketing systems. myki will also operate on local bus services in many regional centres, including Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, and Warrnambool. The Skybus Super Shuttle Melbourne Airport service (with its own, premium fares) will also accept myki. myki gives customers the best fare for the way they travel and fares will continue to be based on the time-zone fares currently used under the Metcard system. myki will store monetary value (myki money) and travel days (myki pass). myki money calculates the best fare for the user's trip as they scan on and scan off throughout the system and caps to the applicable 2 hour, daily or weekly (Monday - Sunday) fare.
myki will be able to be purchased from myki machines at all Connex train stations, various V/Line stations tram super stops and selected bus interchanges; the Internet;
myki info line and network of retail outlets, mainly 7-Eleven. myki will need to be topped up as the stored value diminishes along the way.
2. Conductors perform no other service of significant value
It has been claimed that those who believe that tram conductors used to provide a wide range of public services to passengers are either nostalgic or delusional. In an online reply to a point of view published in The Age supporting conductors, the writer claimed, 'Louisa Deasey's romanticised article about the tram conductors (The Age 15/7/08), is ridiculously fanciful and bordering on delusional. I think Louisa's experience stems from one or two tram conductors I noticed back in the 80s, when they were becoming so bored with their jobs, they took up acting lessons part time to drum up comic one-liners and even vocal abilities to entertain themselves from committing suicide!
The job was a troll's existence! My father was a tram conductor along the Chapel Street line and he was sick of the drunks, the violence and the aggression.'
It has been claimed that in Adelaide, where the Glenelg tram line still has conductors, commuters are not as enthusiastic about them as some of Melbourne's supporters of conductors claim.
Margaret Dingle, from the lobby group People for Public Transport has said of the Adelaide conductors, 'They do sell tickets but sometimes you wonder why we have them, because they sit around and don't do much.'
There are those who argue that the enthusiasm for conductors is simply a sentimental longing for things past and that conductors rarely if ever behaved in the way people like to remember. This point has been made by the premier of Victoria, John Brumby. Mr Brumby has stated, 'There's a lot of nostalgia about conductors but the system has changed.'
In a letter to the editor published in The Age on July 15, 2008, the letter writer stated, 'The best thing Melbourne ever did was to get rid of conductors on trams. Most were rude, bored and often aggressive and unhelpful to passengers. I saw more passengers assist the frail and elderly than conductors. Fare evasion was rife also, as in peak times (and trams have always been packed at peak times) conductors could not move. At off-peak times many conductors just couldn't be bothered to sell tickets. As for protecting the public - these were conductors, not police. Please remove the rose-coloured glasses.'
3. New trams are not designed to accommodate conductors
It has been claimed that the new trams that operate on Melbourne tram routes in the ten years since conductors were employed are not designed for human ticket collectors.
Critics of any proposal to reinstate conductors on Melbourne trams claim that these new trams are too long and have aisles that are too narrow for it to be feasible for conductors to collect fares.
The head of Metlink, Mr Bernie Carolan, has said the return of tram conductors would not cut fare evasion to its previous levels because around 20% of the fleet's trams are now several metres longer than the older models.
It has also been claimed that the increase in the number of commuters being carried per tram will make conductors even less able to sell all passengers a ticket before they disembark.
The Victorian premier, Mr Brumby, has stated, 'The volume of people using the tram system has changed fundamentally and all around the world now, systems of ticketing are automatic. You know, I think that's the most efficient way of operating the network'
4. No comparable rail service employs conductors
It has been claimed that worldwide trams have largely been abolished and that the majority that still operate do not carry conductors. Those that do, it is argued, are not comparable to those that run in Melbourne's system.
A spokesperson for Yarra Trams, Colin Tyrus, has claimed that Sydney's light rail was not relevant to Melbourne, because it was so small and not part of the public transport network. Mr Tyrus stated, 'The vast majority of tram systems around the world don't have conductors - more than 90% of tram passengers in Europe do not see a tram conductor.'
The Victorian Government, defending its decision not to re-employ conductors, has said that networks around the world had scrapped conductors in favour of electronic ticketing, including in France and on one of Europe's biggest networks, Zurich.
It has been noted that this worldwide trend can be explained in terms of vehicle design as streetcars and light rail vehicles now operate in a way that makes the conductor largely unnecessary. This point is explained in the Wikipedia entry on conductors which states, 'Many antique or heritage trams (streetcars), which operated through the earlier part of the 20th Century, were designed for operation by a crew of two or more. The conductor primarily collected fares and signalled the driver when safe to depart from stopping places. The conductor also assisted with shunting when necessary, changing the trolley pole and attended to passengers' needs.
Modern vehicle design and ticketing arrangements have largely done away with the need for conductors on street railways and light rail systems.'
5. Reinstating conductors makes public transport more vulnerable to strikes
It has been claimed that the more dependent a public transport system is on staff the more vulnerable it is to industrial action. That is, with fewer workers there will be fewer strikes.
This position has been put in a report on the effectiveness of privatising Victoria's public transport system. The report is titled, 'Victoria's public transport: assessing the results of privatisation' and was written by Richard Allsop on behalf of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). It was released in April 2007. One of the reports key findings is 'Commuters no longer experience the huge inconvenience caused by strikes and stoppages that historically plagued Melbourne's public transport.'
Later the same report states, 'Given the history of industrial action on the Melbourne public transport network, there has been remarkable industrial
calm in the past seven years... The lack of industrial disruption is one of the key benefits of the post-privatisation period compared to previous decades.'
It has been claimed that the dominance of the transport by unions had prevented previous attempts to reform Victoria's public transport system.
The IPA report states, 'Victoria's ever-powerful transport unions bitterly opposed the reforms and in one of their more memorable industrial actions 'parked' trams in city streets for several weeks in early 1990. The combination of the power of the unions, factional battles within the ALP and Labor's poor result in Victoria at the 1990 Federal Election killed off any hope of the implementation of transport reform.
As Cain wrote: "The reform program in transport was progressively dismantled
in the months that followed and we moved to a policy of adhockery and perceived populism."
John Cain has commented that "this vital public sector industry was controlled for the perceived benefit of a small part of the workforce' and the unions' position meant that 'the prospects of improving the system's public acceptability and its capacity to deliver services are diminished."'