Go Card History - please check and comment

[Derwan]

Hi all,

I'm doing one of My View articles about the Go Card and am including the history of major events (blunders).

It's just in draft at the moment and may change significantly before I publish it - but I thought I'd put it here for everyone to see, check for inaccuracies and offer suggestions for other important event/factors that have lead to the view that the roll-out of the Go Card has been pretty-well botched from day one.

Your input is appreciated.  Here's the history so far.  (I haven't double-checked all the references yet, so they may not be correct.)

With the announcement of integrated ticketing back in 1998, The Minister for Transport at the time indicated that it would lead to "fully integrated ticketing... on smartcard technology, by July 2001." (1)

In 2002, the premier announced that a new ticketing system incorporating "state-of-the-art 'smart card' technology" would be introduced "by the middle of 2004". (2)   A preferred tenderer was selected which was "proof the Government is on track to launch the new system in mid-2004." (3)

In 2003, the Queensland Government signed a 12-year contract to deliver a "Smart Card" ticketing system for public transport in South East Queensland.  (4)

In 2005, public trials commenced in a limited pilot program.   (5)  Phase 2 of the pilot was supposed to commence in September 2005, but it did not commence until July 2006. (6)

During 2005, equipment started appearing at train stations adorned with stickers indicating that the smart card system would be introduced in 2006.  (The system wasn't launched until early 2008.)

During 2007 (prior to the launch), several concerns were raised.  Fares were not capped at daily, weekly or monthly rates, which meant that they would be more expensive under the new system.  In an attempt to alleviate concerns, the Minister for Transport announced the original Frequent User Scheme in November 2007, under which "commuters who travel on public transport to and from work five days a week, their cost for this will be the same as on a paper ten-trip ticket." (7)  The Minister's wording was incorrect and he should have said "weekly ticket".  The scheme did nothing to alleviate the concerns of commuters doing multiple trips in a single day, more than 10 trips a week (e.g. trips within their normal zones on the weekend) or those regularly travelling more than 10 zones.  In the same statement, the Minister indicated that this would be the first of a range of products.  We are yet to see alternative products (other than a rehash of the existing one).

Off-peak fares were also not going to be available, potentially increasing costs for occasional users.

Concerns were raised over the equipment, in particular the "fogging up" of the displays in wet weather.  (8)  This has never been addressed and equipment is still suffering effects of wet weather to this day.

The new ticket machines (AVVM's) were switched on.  They immediately drew criticism for their lack of intuitiveness and more difficult operation when compared to the existing machines (TVM's).  TVM's were later removed, meaning passengers had no option but to use the new machines – even if they stuck with paper tickets.

The system was finally launched in early 2008 (9).  As part of the introduction, the "penalty" for those failing to touch on/off properly was reduced to $5 (or $3 for buses) instead of $10.  (It was originally supposed to be $15.)  The reduced penalty still applies – no doubt to reduce the number of people bothering to claim the difference when the equipment fails.  This allows TransLink to publish adjustment figures (where people have requested a refund) instead of the actual number of penalty fares imposed, which has never been released.  Of course, to claim a refund in the first place, the passenger has to phone the TransLink Call Centre and wait on hold before attempting to justify why he/she should receive a refund of perhaps a dollar or two.  There is no simple online form to do this.  Why would people even bother?

With the fare inequities and reports of failing equipment, uptake was limited.  Why switch to a new system if it's more expensive and doesn't always work?  In February 2008 (almost 12 months ago), I predicted that a "stealth" approach would be taken in order to address the fare inequities.  "How they introduce the different charges between paper tickets and Go Card will be very important.  If they just increase the cost of paper tickets, there will be an uproar.  Instead, I think we'll see an increase across the board coinciding with the introduction of better [Frequent User] schemes for the Go Card."  (10)

In August 2008, Go Card fares were adjusted so that single journeys were 20% less than single paper tickets (11).  This was mainly to appease users of 10-trip savers on buses, which were being phased out.  High-zone travellers received a larger discount to address the inconsistency with weekly ticket prices for them.  The Frequent User scheme was adjusted so that the discount commences after 10 trips instead of 6.  Overall this did nothing to address the fare inconsistencies – with those doing more than 2 trips in a day or 10 trips in a week still paying more if using the Go Card.  It also removed the incentive to travel by Public Transport every day of the week – with those travelling by Public Transport just 2 or 3 days receiving the same discount as those travelling all 5 days.

The final solution was announced in October 2009 (12) and implemented on 4 January 2010.  Not only did they "just increase the cost of paper tickets", they decided to increase all prices to reduce the Government subsidy at the same time. 

References:
1.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=6605
2.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=14109
3.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=15354
4.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=20730
5.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=41652
6.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=47221
7.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=54838
8.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=135.msg1038#msg1038
9.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=56211
10.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=516.msg2118#msg2118
11.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=58869
12.  http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=66877

[ozbob]

Looks good to me Derwan.

There is a bit of history in this original smart card (go card) thread --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=135.msg279#msg279

[Derwan]

Oh yeah.  I was gonna mention - I actually went through that thread.  Quite interesting to see some regular members' first posts in that thread - including Zoiks, MJ (formerly Blade, now something else), Otto and yours truly. 

Just goes to show, when things aren't done properly, people will rally with a common interest to make it right!  That united voice will continue beyond what brought them together.  RailBOT has really taken off since then.  Perhaps we have the failures to thank for it!   

[Derwan]

Now published as two articles:

That's not "fare"
Go Card - could it have been more botched?

[Otto]

I just read through the old thread and couldnt help but notice the things we were told in the classroom that just dont happen in the real world of GoCard !!