City Saver tickets

Page last modified/checked: Friday, 06 May, 2005

A new pair of Metcards known as City Saver (single) and City Saver 10 were introduced effective with the fare rise on 1st January 2004. These tickets can only be purchased and used within a fare boundary termed as the "City Saver Area". This covers the CBD and a surrounding fringe to include localities that are popular destinations. A leaflet and double sided sheet have been produced which detail these tickets, and include a map of the City Saver area showing rail, tram and bus services within its boundaries. The maps' graphics are a little daunting and the bus routes (orange) do not properly reflect actual route structure. Based on our observations from January 1st, we can detail the City Saver tickets as follows:

Only the machine type number (017, 018 or 065) distinguishes a rail issue city saver. Note that unlike Rail+2 tickets, the station of entry is not shown when validated. Sold from and available for a single journey between Flinders Street, Spencer Street, Flagstaff, Melbourne Central, Parliament, Richmond, Jolimont and North Melbourne stations.

Only the machine type number (019) will distinguish a tram issued city saver. It can be purchased anywhere enroute, but is only available for a single tram journey within the City Saver area.
Since mid-January 2004, the route and section boarding points are shown on the ticket.

Bus issued City Savers are a paper ticket generated from the drivers ticket issuing machine, as were the former short trip tickets.

There are 3 bus companies whose services terminate within or pass through the City Saver area, namely, Melbourne Bus Link, Eastrans and National Bus Company. City Saver single tickets cannot be purchased on NBC buses due to the existence of that companys' section based fares which are a cheaper option. It has been bought to our attention that City Savers are also valid on Sita route 402 (Footscray - Royal Women's Hospital - St Vincent's Hospital) & Dysons route 546 (Heidelberg - Melbourne University - Victoria Market), although these are not shown on the official map. Posters in buses of the respective bus companies note this.

Following the January 2005 fare increase, the City Savers appeared for a short time with the leading "1" before "City Saver" on the first line of print omitted. This applied to both Full Fare and Concession issues. The "1" now appears to have been reinstated.

From further observations, it now appears that only the tram issues have the leading "1"

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