Translink Ticket Machines

[wayne john]

SOUTHBANK STATION AGAIN  Sunday 23rd tag on , on platform # 2 to get the 5.54pm Ferny Grove Train with about 10mins to spare . Thought I would top up the Go (no where ) Card . Machine not working . As there are never any staff on that platform I called across to a passenger near the ticket office to get the attention of the staff , a lady came out from the office and across the tracks I told her the machine was not working . She said that she knew and none of the the machines were working and she had reported it , and that if I needed to pay for a fare I should go to her at the ticket office . Which would have meant going up the lift or ramp to Platform #1 and back again to get a paper ticket , which obviously is more than what you pay on Go Card . And while I am on the subject of Southbank Station apart from the fact there is never any staff attending Platforms  2 & 3 the only train arrival indicator board is located to the far right of the ticket office on Platform #1 and is difficult to read from Platform #2/3 not only that it is impossible to read when there is a train on Platform #1 Almost forgot , the running sign on the top of the machine displayed " FULL SERVICE" may be Translink should considr organising to have a message option out of service AGAIN
Cheers
Wayne Bordacs

[p858snake]

Wonder why the staff member didn't think it was a good idea to place a "Out of Order" sign on them....

[Mozz]

Word on the street (rumour) is that staff have been advised not to place out of order signs on translink equipment......

[Golliwog]

If thats not one of the stupidest customer service failures I've ever heard, I'm not sure what is. If something is broken, it NEEDS an out of order sign. It doesn't matter if it makes TL look bad for having faulty equipment, if thats the case then it should be stated and they should work harder to fix it.

[mufreight]

Recently a QR staffer on a station put a sign on the AVM out of order following a number of complaints by commuters,
Thes staff member was then subjected to threats as to his position by a Translink staff member and was instructed to remove the sign despite the machine being faulty.
The machine was attended by Translink and the sign removed later that day but the machine remained out of order.
The QR staff member has since resigned from QR as apparently this was not the first time for such an incident.
The methodology and motivation of Translink as a service provider is on the basis of this instance highly questionable and does nothing for the credibility of Translink.

[#Metro]

Word on the street (rumour) is that staff have been advised not to place out of order signs on translink equipment......

IF this is true then:

I wonder why? Maybe if you don't put a sign on it people won't know its broken and then it will magically work.
Problems aren't fixed by simply hiding them under the carpet, not collecting data on them, making omissions, using statistics that are insensitive to problems etc etc.

[mufreight]

Translink has denial of anything that might be considered as detrimental to their image as a policy hence almost three years down the track they have still not done anything about timetabling of bus services in the Ipswich area despite beeing fully aware of the failures of the existing system.
By doing nothing they do not acknowledge that there is a problem and by now having another review of the system they can delay doing anything to rectify the problems for another 12 months or so.
The we claim that we do not know it does not work so therefor we do not need to do anything to fix it policy is firmly entrenched in Translink.

[#Metro]

Plausible deniability refers to the denial of blame in loose and informal chains of command where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible, meaning confirming responsibility for the action is nearly impossible. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such act or any connection to the agents used to carry out such acts.

"I did not see the memo" is one of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability

[Mozz]

GoCard reader on platform 3 east has been unusable for months, I haven't seen anyone use it in months - moisture affected and unreadable. I logged an enquiry form on the translink site saying it was unusable and has been unusable for months. I received a reply stating that translink was aware of problems with readers which were due to temperature fluctuations and they were working on a solution.

I replied with a cc to the Minister for Transport outlining that the issues with the readers have been known for years and nothing has been done thus far and to suggest that Translink has purchased equipment which can't be used in the Queensland weather is hard to believe. I am waiting for the followup response.

BTW there is no sign on the unusable reader, luckily most people take one look, see that it's full of moisture and walk to the nearest reader to use it.

[stephenk]

Strangely, other ticketing system manufacturers such as SkiData don't seem to have any issues with machines in extreme climates. Maybe Cubic need to take at other manufacturers products!

[somebody]

Translink has denial of anything that might be considered as detrimental to their image as a policy hence almost three years down the track they have still not done anything about timetabling of bus services in the Ipswich area despite beeing fully aware of the failures of the existing system.
By doing nothing they do not acknowledge that there is a problem and by now having another review of the system they can delay doing anything to rectify the problems for another 12 months or so.
The we claim that we do not know it does not work so therefor we do not need to do anything to fix it policy is firmly entrenched in Translink.

If no change is made to the AM peak inbound 4xx bus routings after the Go Between Bridge opens, my blood will boil.  The only acceptable plan I can see is that they want to use this bridge and don't want to make a change before then.

Understandably, your blood is already boiling.

To be honest though, I haven't seen these "moisture affected readers" problem yet.

[ozbob]

Here is an example of a moisture effected reader:

Go card reader screen eastern platform 3 Oxley.

Moisture effected, a few drops external but most is moisture build up on the interior of the screen, which then makes it impossible to read the detail.   Not good enough.





Photographs R Dow 22nd December 2009

http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=486.msg18155#msg18155

[Mozz]

I walked past it today on the old platform 3 and it is actually readable now, must have finally dried out, but with more rain looking imminent it won't stay clear for long.