Adelaide Metro - Ticketing

Ticketing

The Adelaide Metro ticketing system is multi-modal, meaning that one ticket can be used to transfer between trains, trams and buses, regardless of the service provider. The system brand is Metroticket. It is an automated system which uses magnetic stripe tickets to encode conditions of ticket validity. The system was developed by Crouzet-SA (France). It was introduced on 27 September 1987. In 2010 a contract to introduce a smartcard ticketing system in 2013 was awarded to Affiliated Computer Services using technology used in, among others, Montreal, Houston and Toulouse.

Passengers are required to insert their ticket into a validating machine upon each boarding, including when transferring to another vehicle. The machine reads the ticket to check that it is valid and then magnetically encodes and prints the initial validation time and ticket type details onto the ticket. This information is only printed on the ticket the first time it is validated for single trips and a beginning time stamp of the current trip is printed for each of the ten trips on multitrip tickets.

Metrotickets are available in three fare types: Regular fare, Concession fare, and Student fare. The latter two are discount fares that are only available to those who present a valid entitlement card.

Metrotickets are then further broken down by journey type:

• Singletrip 2 Section - a one way journey within 2 sections (about 3 km.). No transfers allowed.
• Singletrip Zone - unlimited transfers within two hours of initial validation.
• Multitrip ticket - ten journeys on one ticket. Available in 2 Section or Zone varieties.
• Daytrip ticket - allows unlimited transfers from initial validation until 4:30 am the following day.

Singletrip and Multitrip tickets are available as all-times and interpeak tickets. 'All-times' allows travel at any time. 'Interpeak' allows travel between 9.01 am and 3.00pm on weekdays (excluding public holidays), for a lower price than an 'all-times' ticket.

Daytrip tickets allow free travel for two children aged under 15 on weekends, public holidays and during school holidays when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Across the rail train network, single trip and day trip tickets can be purchased on board using ticket machines located near the drivers end of a powered carriage. These machines accept all coin denominations except the 5c piece. These machines have all been replaced with the newer MetroCard vending machines, which feature a touchscreen interface, pre-validated tickets (the old vending machines would dispense a blank ticket and require the passenger to insert it into the validator themselves to validate the ticket), the ability to top up MetroCards and accept MasterCard and Visa cards. The new machines have also been installed on the trams.