Article: Go card ticketing not for all

[ozbob]

Queensland Times 21/02/2008

Go card ticketing not for all

RAIL users supporting TransLink?s new go card paperless ticketing system may be helping the environment, but are paying the price for their choice.  The controversial new ticketing system allows public transport users to top up their go card, which is simply scanned at the beginning and end of a trip, making load-on times faster and travel more convenient.

However, Rail Back on Track (RBOT) spokesman Robert Dow said while he and other users wanted to support the system, which would effectively improve public transport efficiency, high-frequency travellers were paying more than they would on a paper ticket.

?For high-zone rail travellers and also bus travellers, the cost increase is severe,? Mr Dow said.  ?Once you travel more than 10 zones the price is ridiculous.?

A TransLink spokesman said they understood the initial price structure would not suit all passengers and that?s why daily, weekly, monthly and off-peak daily tickets continued to be available.

?TransLink is encouraging all commuters to take into account the convenience, security and cost benefits of a go card and to consider switching to this new product if they feel it will meet their transport needs,? the spokesman said.

Twenty-year-old Nigel Itzstein travels from Booval or Oxley to the city every day, but said he doesn?t use the go card system.  ?At the moment there is no incentive for me to use it,? Mr Itzstein said.

?It would cost me more so I don?t see the point, but if the go card had a weekly ticket that was cheaper, then I would.?

A spokesman for Transport Minister John Mickel said the go card frequent user scheme was the first of a number of products that would be available on go cards, with new products expected to be available later this year.