Not much news or many events this week. However, regional council's transport committee decided to support an end to gold card free weekday peak travel on buses, when National Ticketing starts. Consultation will be 3 Sep-5 Oct. But does the cost of ticketing swallow up most of the cost of collecting fares? Waka Kotahi say fares collect $331m nationwide, towards a $1,710m cost of public transport. They also say $1,400m is being spent on the National Ticketing system and there are other fare collection costs as well. At best it's probably the least efficient way to collect money for public services, not to mention the extent to which it discourages use and leaves buses empty.