Question

[ozbob]

Question:

This weekend suburban rail services are suspended between Corinda to Rosewood due to track maintenance and work on the Corinda - Darra triplication.

What happens to fares if you are using Go Card?  Remember that rail zones in some situations don't match the bus zones.  If you touch on a bus in lieu of a rail service, eg.  I am going to Darra from Roma St, normally a zone 3 by rail. (Darra is zone 4 bus). I travel by rail to Corinda, then  get the bus at Corinda to go to Darra. Touch off leaving Corinda, touch on in the bus at Corinda, touch off the bus at Darra does it correctly identify as transfer - continuation no charge.  I don't think it would be possible to reprogram the rail buses to do that.  Does the Go Card user travel free?

Might have to put this one to Translink go card? 

I have also asked this question on the Bus Australia forum too.

One solution would be for people not to touch off at Corinda and touch off at the station of their destination after they get off the bus, providing they can access the station and the touch devices are working.  This would be a pain in the backside if it is the only solution ... and would no doubt confuse a lot of users ...

Cheers
Ozbob

[ozbob]

Submitted this to Translink:

Greetings,

This weekend suburban rail services are suspended between Corinda to Rosewood due to track maintenance and work on the Corinda - Darra triplication.

What happens to fares if you are using Go Card?  Remember that rail zones in some situations don't match the bus zones.  If you touch on a bus in lieu of a rail service, eg.  I am going to Darra from Roma St, normally a zone 3 by rail. (Darra is zone 4 bus). I travel by rail to Corinda, then  get the bus at Corinda to go to Darra. Touch off leaving Corinda, touch on in the bus at Corinda, touch off the bus at Darra does it correctly identify as transfer - continuation no charge.  I don't think it would be possible to reprogram the rail buses to do that.  Does the Go Card user travel free?

One solution would be for people not to touch off at Corinda and touch off at the station of their destination after they get off the bus, providing they can access the station and the touch devices are working.  This would be very confusing though as it is changing the normal pattern of use.

Also buses used for the rail substitution may not have go card equipment.

What is the suggested procedure under these circumstances?

Thank you.

Regards
Robert

[ozbob]

Went down to Oxley railway station for my morning walk 

I checked the touch devices, operating normally.



Photograph R Dow 8 Mar 2008


Waited for the rail bus to arrive.



Photograph R Dow 8 Mar 2008


When the bus arrived I asked about the Go card.  The advice received was 'just hop on' 
So I guess the majority of Go card users will touch off at the end of the rail part of journey as they normally do and then essentially travel free for the rest of the ride. Not sure if this how it is meant to work but you know the punters!   



Photograph R Dow 8 Mar 2008

[Derwan]

Yeah it's Brisbane Buslines which I'm guessing wouldn't have Go Card readers anyway.

It's an interesting point.  If I were to buy a paper ticket, I'd ensure it covered the whole journey.  But using Go Cards and only touching on/off at train stations you actually travel to/from on trains would result in a discounted trip.

Perhaps this can be labelled as an "advantage of the Go Card" with the discount considered compensation for the inconvenience!

[ozbob]

Some folks at Bus Australia have suggested you don't need a ticket for buses running services in lieu of trains as for Corinda to Rosewood this weekend.  I have never seen that documented anywhere.  Does anyone know if this is actually the case and a reference for it?  I would have thought the expectation was that you have a valid ticket for your journey whether by bus or train.  Something I will chase up.

In any case it would be near on impossible for Go Card users to do anything other than touch off at the rail station where the rail journey starts or finishes I guess if travelling by bus in lieu, particularly as the buses don't have go card equipment in any case, or touch on at the station where they are getting the bus, and touch off where they get off the bus at journey end.  This would at least avoid zone clashes between rail and bus eg. Darra and Oxley (rail zone 3 bus zone 4).

So as it stands if I was going from say Roma St to Oxley today and using a Go Card I would touch on at Roma St, when the train arrived at Corinda I would walk down to the rail bus.  (And presumably NOT TOUCH OFF at Corinda which is a change from normal procedure and will confuse many I think), hop on the bus, travel to Oxley, get off the bus and then walk up to the platform and touch off?

Can you really imagine the masses doing that.  My guess is they would touch off at the last rail station as they normally do and take their chances on the bus 

Thanks.

Cheers
Ozbob

Footnote:  I have sent the following email to QR.

Greetings,

I would be interested if you could confirm that when buses are substituting for rail for weekend closures, eg. Corinda to Rosewood, passengers don't need tickets?

Please see this thread for some further background --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=602.0

I posted a question at Bus Australia and was promptly told that QR have said previously that "you don't need a ticket for buses that are substituting for rail services".

Could you please confirm this either way?

The issue arose in the context of the Go Card.  As we were wondering what Go Card users would do in these circumstances.

Thanks.

Best wishes
Robert

[ozbob]

It will be interesting to hear back from QR on this.

Further advice at Bus Australia is that QR contract BBL (or whomever I guess)  to run the buses, so it is not normal Translink travel as such. Maybe you therefore don't need a ticket for that part of the journey (the bus in lieu part). Sort of compensation for the delays and disruptions.

So on that basis if you are Go carding, you touch off at the end of the rail journey and then enjoy the free Rail Bus?  And vice versa I guess.

[Huggies]

How many people who travel say from Oxley goto the platform and purchase a ticket then go back to the bus stop to board a Rail Bus ? I suspect not many as no doubt some people would think they could buy a ticket off the bus driver.

I've always get the impression that when a railway line is closed with buses providing a service that Tickets are the last thing on the mind of staff.

[ozbob]

Yes for sure Huggies.

Although interestingly enough this morning I was talking to a lady heading up the stairs of the platform at Oxley, I reminded her that the trains were not running and she said that she knew that but was just going up to the platform to get a ticket from the TVM.  (No advantage in waiting till Corinda as that zone 3 too!    )

[Otto]

As a point of interest, I did the occasional rail shuttle back in the 80's. At that time, when the trains could not run, QR sent ticket sellers onto the rail shuttles..