Article: Translink forced to refund overcharged go card users

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Translink forced to refund overcharged go card users

Translink forced to refund overcharged go card users

    * by Robyn Ironside
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 21, 2011 12:00AM

TRANSLINK is providing almost 900 refunds a week to go card users who have been overcharged for bus, train and ferry trips throughout the southeast.

The real figure could be much higher however with some travellers claiming it was too much hassle to contact Translink after being overcharged anything from a few cents to $15.

Close to 23,000 adjustments were made at the request of commuters in the past six months of 2010, and 18,535 complaints received about go cards.

The figure is expected to be considerably higher this quarter after big problems were experienced by travellers when go card machines were switched back on following a week of free travel after the January floods.

Sunshine Coast retiree Peter Sim who uses his go card up to six times a day between his home at Forest Glen and South Brisbane, said he was seeking adjustments two to three times a week.

"If I'm overcharged 35c I'll complain and they'll credit me 35c," Mr Sim said.

"I'm just jack of it. It's not their fault of course, it's the system."

He said each call took about 25 minutes from start to finish, with the call taker first seeking his name, address, phone number, password and last eight digits of his go card.

"I spend a great deal of time on the phone to Translink, I can understand why a lot of other people couldn't be bothered," Mr Sim said.

"But if more people complained, perhaps they'll shake the system out."

Rob Lutton, of Teneriffe, in Brisbane's inner-north, said malfunctioning card readers on buses had resulted in his go card regularly being overcharged.

"I now keep a track of all my trips and claim back any overcharges which TransLink have always repaid," Mr Lutton told The Courier-Mail.

"Be aware of what your card is being debited at journey's end and do not merely swipe and go."

Translink spokesman Andrew Berkman said mistakes occurred for a number of reasons, including user error and disruptions to equipment.

"We are trialling some new go card readers at Oxley station for the very reason they are easier to read."

He said the number of refunds being sought by commuters were small considering "2.5 to 2.6 million go card trips were made each week".

"If a customer believes they have been charged an incorrect fare they should call 13 12 30 or visit www.translink.com.au to request an adjustment."

[ozbob]

There are also approximately 100 times the number of go card fixed fares than there are fare adjustments according to the last TransLink tracker. Either passengers have been poorly educated in how to use the go card and are not claiming back incorrect fares, or many passengers are taking advantage of the fixed fare system. This is cause for concern.

[Derwan]

I overheard a couple of women at Boondall.  One asked the other if she had to touch off.  The response was, "No, I never touch off."  I don't know where she came from.  Being zone 3, she would've had to have come a significant distance to actually save by not touching off.

This is where I think my idea should be used.  If you fail to touch off, the next touch on should be used as the destination to calculate the fare.  This would be correct in 99% of cases and would reduce fare evasion (i.e. deliberately not touching off) as they would still be charged the correct fare.  It would significantly reduce the workload of call centre staff as claims for refunds would plummet.

[Gazza]

Either passengers have been poorly educated in how to use the go card

You can lead a horse to water..... 

[mufreight]

There is a simple answer, free public transport, what would be saved on the present fare collection system and the staff to minitor it would come off the costs of provision.

[Fares_Fair]

You have to love how Translink's spokesman quotes go card 'trips' to make the statistics more impressive, not passenger journeys !
In today's Courier-Mail story, the retiree Peter Sims, conducts up to 6 trips in a day, but it is counted as only 2 journeys.
How about TRANSLink produce real statistics that match the payees situation.

They do anything to inflate the real figures to make things look better.

It should be the 2.5 to 2.6 million divided by the number of passenger journeys - NOT go card trips.
If the retiree quoted above was average use then that would be 416,666 - 450,000 passenger journeys.
(It wouldn't be the real average perhaps, but you get my point).

It's the same story for the latest statistical spin on 100,000 extra seats on public transport
We want to know how many trains, how many buses etc. and on what lines they occur.
An honest breakdown would reveal the true situation.

ALSO

His response, in keeping with true TRANSLink obfuscation, says they are trialling new readers at Oxley Station. This is for train services.
The errors occurring are for the bus legs.
That is where the location issues and GPS reader issues seem to occur most.
You would think they know that. IMHO the trains are far more reliable with the fares and readers.

Another case of TRANSLink comparing apples with oranges to come up looking roses.


Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Golliwog]

In the Translink CEO's opinion piece on Brisbanetimes.com.au, he mentions IIRC that only 17% of go card users do more than one trip in a journey. Also, I think stating errors per trip is the way to do it. Errors can occur on each trip in a journey, not just once in the whole journey.

[Gazza]

You have to love how Translink's spokesman quotes go card 'trips' to make the statistics more impressive, not passenger journeys !
In today's Courier-Mail story, the retiree Peter Sims, conducts up to 6 trips in a day, but it is counted as only 2 journeys.
How about TRANSLink produce real statistics that match the payees situation.

But the article is to do with the error rate of go card equipment, not the success of PT usage in SEQ in terms of how many trips/journeys/whatever are taken on the network, so trips, not journeys, is the metric they need to be monitoring.
Think about it, each trip has to have a successful touch on/off. If it doesn't, then that stuffs up the transfer...as the saying goes a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

If they only collected data on "journeys" taken on go card and the error rate, how would they be able to differentiate between 1 out of 3 transfers on a trip failing, or all 3?

So to sum up, to get the true error rate, you need to count the number of errors as a percentage of the number times all the devices actually get used.

His response, in keeping with true TRANSLink obfuscation, says they are trialling new readers at Oxley Station. This is for train services.
The errors occurring are for the bus legs

Different issue entirely. The problem with the current station readers is that they were getting moisture under the screen, and UV damage to the glass, so the screen was unreadable. The beeps were too quiet too.

Both the GPS issues for Buses, and the usability issues of station readers need to be addressed.

[Fares_Fair]

from Gazza.
If they only collected data on "journeys" taken on go card and the error rate, how would they be able to differentiate between 1 out of 3 transfers on a trip failing, or all 3?

I am not saying to collect the data that way on journeys, sure, collect it on individual trips, but release the data in the same way as it is reported as a problem - per individual.

again from Gazza.
Different issue entirely. The problem with the current station readers is that they were getting moisture under the screen, and UV damage to the glass, so the screen was unreadable. The beeps were too quiet too.
Both the GPS issues for Buses, and the usability issues of station readers need to be addressed.


Agree with you there 100%.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Gazza]

but release the data in the same way as it is reported as a problem - per individual.

I'm not sure what you are getting at there? Are you saying TL should release the records of each individual user, and the success rate they have had?

The fact remains that the only accurate way to report the go card success rate is express it as a percentage of trips.

Or to sum it up in a clean phrase.

"Out of the 2500000 times go card equipment is used per week, refunds are provided for 900 of these uses."

[#Metro]

I've brought this up before: The error rate must be compared to something.
I suggest that the rate of error should be compared to the rate of fare evasion which is also low. Whether a fare is not paid due to a fault or due to someone not deliberately paying, the outcome is similar.

It might be a bit harder to do this now that almost all paper tickets are gone, but not impossible.

[Sir Loin]

I've had 10-15 of these this year, mainly due to readers on both the bus and at the train stations not functioning.
Refunded every time within 5-10 days.

[Otto]

As a driver, I find the the majority of passengers just swipe and never check the readers ..

[Golliwog]

As a driver, I find the the majority of passengers just swipe and never check the readers ..

As a user, I see that often as well.