New Fares : Articles, discussion, rants and roses ...

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 21st January 2010 page 1

Signs of unrest

[awotam]

"In Queensland, the smartcard will complement a simple zonal system integrating bus, train and ferry services across the state-of-the-art system making public transport easier for everyone to access and understand," he said.
Yeah, I'd like to see that! 

[Emmie]

I encountered two elderly women having their first - unhappy - experience with GO yesterday morning at Sandgate station just before the first off peak service.  One of them was tentatively holding the card close to the reader, while the pair of them tried to read what it said. 

They couldn't read the digital message, so kept repeating the tentative waving.  Not surprisingly, by the time I came to help, the message said: Seek assistance.  'Oh', said one, 'that only means if you want to know how much money you have left.'  I told them to go to the counter and ask - but they were both totally at sea with the whole system, and almost certainly would have clocked up a fine for a multiple read.

They couldn't see to read the message, which is hard enough to read with good eyesight.
Nobody had told them HOW to swipe the card.
They were timid and bewildered and likely to be hit with a fine they would have no way of dealing with.

The rest of the people on the platform went murmuring agreement while somebody ranted about politicians who don't know how the system works because they only use chauffeured cars.  Not a happy platform of punters.

[CraigT]

Hello again,

just updating from my rant on 13 January about the busses and trying to contact Translink. 10 days now and still haven't received a call back from Translink as requested when offered. Again, why bother, they don't care.

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times 25th January 2010 page 10

Transport union fears fares will keep rising

[Derwan]

The question of cross-subsidising was also asked at the combined CRG, to which Paul Scurrah responded that it simply did not happen.

The unions have their place, but sometimes they're just downright annoying.  This is deliberate scaremongering using false information.

[Mozz]

I would be interested however to see the calculations that are used to come up with the 75% subsidisation of rail versus the 25% from fare income.

[Derwan]

Considering the train timetable won't receive a major update until sometime during 2011, any further price increase or removal of paper tickets should be held off until after the major timetable improvements.

Commuters need to see the significant improvement in services before prices are raised again.

Subsequent fare increases should also be implemented as major timetable revisions (train or bus) are introduced, not just yearly without evidence of improvement.

[Jon Bryant]

Not sure how the other lines are going but on the Cleveland line the trains that were packed before Christmas have spare seats all the way in to town.  I know UNi is not back but the number overall passenegr numbers seem down.  It will be interesting to see the Tracker Report for the first quarter of the year and compare to 2009.

[Jon Bryant]

Not sure how the other lines are going but on the Cleveland line the trains that were packed before Christmas have spare seats all the way in to town.  I know UNi is not back but the number overall passenegr numbers seem down.  It will be interesting to see the Tracker Report for the first quarter of the year and compare to 2009.