TransLink - Did they respond to your Questions ?

[Fares_Fair]

TransLink - Did they answer your Questions - or did they send you 'spin' ? 

I have decided to give TransLink a second chance to see if their culture
of not answering commuter queries has changed in the last 3 months.

This evening I sent them some feed-back questions using their on-line form.
I shall furnish this site with their response.

Questions sent shown in colour below.

1.
Can you please tell me how many of the 50,000 GoCards have been sold to the public
and how many have been given away for free ?

2.
Will you be providing a better discount system than the current one under the GoCard,
to distance commuters who would be hit hard by the massive 23% increase in fares under the GoCard ?

3.
Since only Daily Paper Tickets are currently dispensed by vending machines at stations.
When will you be removing Weekly and Monthly Paper Tickets ?

4.
When will you be removing the QR 3 Month, 6 Month and 12 Month tickets ?

5.
Will the cost increases due to come into effect this 1 July be greater than the inflation rate ?
( Yes or No, and by how much ? )

Thank you for your assistance.

We shall look forward to their responses.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[ozbob]

Good luck Fares_Fair!

Despite the response I received from TL (after 5 days) with the major time issue and the promise that it would be resolved with urgency, it is still not sorted ...

[ozbob]

Sorry to rain on the parade Fares_Fair.  I have again heard that the plan is to phase out all paper tickets other than singles sometime next year ....

There is a big problem with that of course!  The go card is not working properly ... nor the present fare equitable.

If you track back on the original 'smart card thread' we have consistently asked the question re the future of the paper ticket options. Never once was there a guarantee other than that they would be available for a "period".  They have consistently refused to answer the question.

The Opposition has raised the lack of the public release of details of the Cubic Transportation's contract with Queensland Transport.  Not surprising that the details are not forthcoming when you piece the bits of information together that are available.  The equipment used for the go card is just standard mass produced cubic gear, you can see at Cubic's web site --> http://www.cubic.com/cts/

The thing I find highly amusing at Cubic's web site is this:

Cubic? Transportation Systems, Inc. is the world's leading turnkey solution provider of automated fare collection systems for public transport including bus, bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, ferry and parking.

Some one forgot to give Translink and Queensland Transport the key!   

[Mozz]

That last post by Bob caused me to chuckle, the issues we are seeing here in sunny queensland, with pathetic fare structures, equipment not working on buses or ferrys in an anything approaching an acceptable manner, equipment that is patently not fit for purpose, software or internal processes that can't handle the non daylight saving qld environment causing commuters to be illegally penalised, gps systems that don't work underground in tunnels or in streets with tall buildings  etc etc would almost be acceptable if we were the first place on the planet which tried to implement this stuff - but of course, we aren't and apparently there are many places across the globe where this "system" is working flawlessly and apparently we only paid hundreds of millions of dollars for it (bargain) so what the heck happened here in qld       

[Derwan]

Mozz is right.  The roll-out has all the hallmarks of a brand new system not previously tested or implemented.

Cubic has come up with some pretty revolutionary equipment - but has stopped there.  If they do not continue to evolve, they will fall behind any competitor that comes into the market.

Surely Cubic has come across these issues before - and yet they continue to push themselves as "the world's leading turnkey solution" without addressing them:

1.  Malfunctioning LCD screens on touch devices.
2.  Condensation behind the outer cover of the LCD screens on touch devices.
3.  Weather affecting touch devices on Ferries to the point where they malfunction.
4.  Incorrect software set-up in regards to daylight savings.  (No, we're NOT on Sydney time.)
5.  Underground bus stops where GPS will not function.
6.  Daily and weekly fare caps.

[ozbob]

Getting the GPS to work in radio shadows and tunnels is possible.

Two possible approaches.

1. Equipping buses with Inertia Measurement devices that take the last known accurate position before signals lost and maintains position calculations based on inertia measurements.  These are used in aircraft ships and so forth. Might be a bit complicated for buses though.

2. Wire tunnels for radio signals.  (see http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99352.htm for interesting discussion). Difficult but not impossible.

The problem at the moment is the manual intervention that is necessary to activate the devices.  Maybe there could be a local radio system that could be developed for each undergound stop and back up for the city areas in shadows that tells the system where the bus is, removing the need for manual intervention.

To be fair to Cubic, I think Cubic is responding in part to the Translink requirements eg.  the funny FU fare.  Other Cubic systems elsewhere have capping and sensible fare structures.  It is in the smart state that the fares are bizarre ...

[Fares_Fair]

TransLink - Did they answer your Questions - or did they send you 'spin' ? 

I have decided to give TransLink a second chance to see if their culture
of not answering commuter queries has changed in the last 3 months.

This evening I sent them some feed-back questions using their on-line form.
I shall furnish this site with their response.

Questions sent shown in colour below.

1.
Can you please tell me how many of the 50,000 GoCards have been sold to the public
and how many have been given away for free ?

2.
Will you be providing a better discount system than the current one under the GoCard,
to distance commuters who would be hit hard by the massive 23% increase in fares under the GoCard ?

3.
Since only Daily Paper Tickets are currently dispensed by vending machines at stations.
When will you be removing Weekly and Monthly Paper Tickets ?

4.
When will you be removing the QR 3 Month, 6 Month and 12 Month tickets ?

5.
Will the cost increases due to come into effect this 1 July be greater than the inflation rate ?
( Yes or No, and by how much ? )

Thank you for your assistance.

We shall look forward to their responses.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

First Response received today referring the questions to another area ...

Dear ******,

Thank you for contacting TransLink.

Your enquiries have been forwarded to our go card Product Development team
for response.

Kind Regards,

*******
TransLink Customer Support

[ozbob]

I have had those before too Fares_Fair. 

For example I sent some suggestions re the card  in about two months ago (see http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=486.msg1949#msg1949 )  and I received a 'referred to the Product Development Team', no further communication received.

[stephenk]

Transport for London (TfL) got around any potential bus issues by making all London bus journeys one fare. Thus you only have to swipe on with the Oyster card when using a bus, and not swipe on and off.

[Zoiks]

Londons network could be smaller in size and is most certainly more densly populated then ours.

I think I may whinge if people that comute from robina to brisbane got charged the same as indooroopilly to brisbane. If people want to commute so much for work they should pay for it. If not for the money they are costing the gov but the environmental impact they have

[Derwan]

A single fare probably wouldn't work - but reducing the number of zones might.

For example, everything in zones 1 through 3 could be a single zone.  For the rail network, you'd then only need to worry about north and south - rather than situations like travelling from Boondall to Ferny Grove - both in zone 3 but you have to go through zone 1 (Bowen Hills).  It would've made programming the system easier.

For the bus network, do away with individual bus stops within zone 1.  Even with the current zoning, the driver could then just select Zone 1 instead of finding the actual stop name when GPS isn't working.  Extending zone 1 as per the example above would mean current and future tunnels would be covered.  Outside of zone 1, have larger "areas" instead of individual "stops". This would allow for drivers letting passengers off in places that aren't designated bus stops.

I'm not sure how many zones ferries currently run through - but extending zone 1 to cover the current zones 1 to 3 might mean they'll only ever run in a single zone (if they don't already).

[Zoiks]

I too have thought about reducing the zones. Not too sure about the whole scrapping of individual stops. Wouldnt this reduce the effectivness of that statisical analysis that the gocard brings us

[haakon]

I'm with you on that one Zoinks. Data mining the travel data will help give a better outlook on traffic flows and where to place future bus routes

[Derwan]

True... didn't think of that.

[Fares_Fair]

TransLink - Did they answer your Questions - or did they send you 'spin' ? 

I have decided to give TransLink a second chance to see if their culture
of not answering commuter queries has changed in the last 3 months.

This evening I sent them some feed-back questions using their on-line form.
I shall furnish this site with their response.

Questions sent shown in colour below.

1.
Can you please tell me how many of the 50,000 GoCards have been sold to the public
and how many have been given away for free ?

2.
Will you be providing a better discount system than the current one under the GoCard,
to distance commuters who would be hit hard by the massive 23% increase in fares under the GoCard ?

3.
Since only Daily Paper Tickets are currently dispensed by vending machines at stations.
When will you be removing Weekly and Monthly Paper Tickets ?

4.
When will you be removing the QR 3 Month, 6 Month and 12 Month tickets ?

5.
Will the cost increases due to come into effect this 1 July be greater than the inflation rate ?
( Yes or No, and by how much ? )

Thank you for your assistance.

We shall look forward to their responses.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

First Response received today referring the questions to another area ...

Dear ******,

Thank you for contacting TransLink.

Your enquiries have been forwarded to our go card Product Development team
for response.

Kind Regards,

*******
TransLink Customer Support

Congratulations, and thank you to TransLink.

I have received an answer to the questions I put to TransLink.
This is all I was looking for, and I am grateful that my concerns have been addressed.

This is what the public deserve - a lot of criticism can be avoided if the Government
determines to be open, honest and accountable to commuters .. and I didn't receive any GoCard 'spin'.

The winds of change may be sweeping through TransLink.
Reproduced below are the answers to the questions I raised.


Dear *******,

Thank you for contacting TransLink earlier this week with your enquiry re:
TransLink products and fares.

As previously advised, your enquiries were forwarded to our go card product development team and they have provided the following responses to your specific questions:

1. Can you please tell me how many of the 50,000 GoCards have been sold to the public and how many have been given away for free?

A1. Over 85% of the go cards currently in circulation have been purchased by users.


2. Will you be providing a better discount system than the current one under the GoCard, to distance commuters who would be hit hard by the massive 23% increase in fares under the GoCard ?

A2. The go card frequent user scheme is the first product being offered on go card and further products are being developed. Details of these new products will be released once they have been finalised.

TransLink understands the go card frequent user scheme may not suit all public transport users, that's why integrated paper tickets, such as weekly, monthly and daily tickets, have been retained.


3. Since only Daily Paper Tickets are currently dispensed by vending machines at stations. When will you be removing Weekly and Monthly Paper Tickets ?

A3. There is currently no timeframe for the removal of weekly or monthly tickets


4. When will you be removing the QR 3 Month, 6 Month and 12 Month tickets?

A4. There is currently no timetable for the removal of QR's three, six and 12 month tickets.


5. Will the cost increases due to come into effect this 1 July be greater than the inflation rate ?
( Yes or No, and by how much ? )

A5. The fare structure for the 08/09 financial year has yet to be determined.


Thank you ******* for your enquiry.

Kind Regards,

*******
TransLink Customer Support


A big thank you to TransLink for addressing the concerns I have raised.

Q1. I must admit, I do wonder if they are including registered cards in this figure.
I would hope not because that is an add-on to the card, not a purchase per se.

Q5. They may not have given a definitive answer to this, and I would think that
with the increases due in just 2 months, they would know the proposed fare structure.

I sincerely hope that the prices of the weekly and monthly paper tickets won't increase
above inflation ( unfortunately, now 4.2% ) to push us onto the GoCard
( unless the fare structure to the card is altered to be fair for all as well ).

An increase in fares will also further fuel the inflation rate - a consideration I hope the government is aware of.

I would be keen to hear if anyone else has noticed a change in TransLink's responsiveness.
If so, please let us know here.
Thank you TransLink for responding.

Regards,
Fares_Fare

[ozbob]

Good to see some responses.

I am of the opinion that it is not the full story though  ....

One of the issues is the fact that the go card is not working reliably on buses and ferries at this time.
(Apart from the one hour time shift issue). 

We are heading to a real mess when the ten trippers are pulled on BT mid year!

Most people I talk too who are switched on card users on buses are getting anywhere from 5 -10 % transaction errors    In fact they are getting to stage of not persevering with the card because of the constant problems and  the process and delays in getting their money re-credited