8 Sep 2007:TRANSLink Smart Card - Serious concerns ignored, more problems

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track - Media Release 8 September 2007

Brisbane: TRANSLink Smart Card - Serious concerns ignored, now more problems.

RAIL ? Back On Track (http://backontrack.org)  a web based community organisation for the promotion of rail throughout Australia has again called for the TRANSLink Smart Card to be junked, and a decent system implemented!

Robert Dow said:

?The TRANSLink Smart Card is years late and is an expensive failure.  It simply fails to deliver.  Plagued by inflexible software, it is unable to cope with the present fare and ticket options throughout the TRANSLink network.  The ramifications being that there will be significant cost increases for most regular commuters when it is finally rolled out.  This is because there is not a daily cap threshold or weekly or monthly options.?

?Regular commuters, particularly rail,  are going to be hit with very significant cost increases in their weekly commuting costs, anywhere from 25% to perhaps as much as 200% as it stands, depending on their patterns of travel with the Smart card, and that is not even considering the penalties for touch off and touch on failures!?

?Two hundred million dollars are already spent.  Small pilot studies are not representative of the stress that will be placed on the Smart Card system when and if it is finally rolled out.  Recent reports have indicated there are now problems with the new TRANSLink Smart card ticketing machines and problems with some machines on the buses. If a small pilot trial is struggling, how much more the real thing??

?The project is about four years behind schedule already, a sure sign of the mediocre nature of the ticketing system.?

?Abysmal is the apt description of this ticketing fiasco!?

?Repeated requests to TRANSLink and the Minister of Transport and Main Roads for clarification on specific points has not resulted in clear unambiguous answers. (See reference 1).  Is there something to hide??

?Why the ?cone of silence? and an apparent policy of keeping commuters in the dark??

?Queensland Taxpayers are entitled to know what the justification is for the delays and the massive expense.  They also need to be informed in unequivocal terms that the cost of this ?dud? system is not going to borne by the travelling public; if and when it is rolled out, and that the cost of using public transport will remain in general terms as for present ticketing options.?

?The public is already suffering because of chronic congestion and service shortfalls.?

?Is the Smart Card rip-off designed to force hapless commuters from already stressed public transport back onto the even more congested roads??

?The project is a disgrace!?

Reference:

1.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=135.0

Contact:

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