Take the 'Fair Fares' Survey Now

[ozbob]

Posted on behalf of David Bremner.

--------------------------------

Hello,

Lately we have heard more and more about passengers being left stranded waiting for buses and trains that are either late or never show up.  You may know that the Government is about to statutorily empower Translink to deal with an ever-increasing demand for Public Transport alternatives to the car in South East Queensland.  Given this situation I am writing an urgent submission to the Premier on the need for public involvement in all aspects of the Government's response, particularly in relation to Public Transport FARES.

Since 2004, South East Queenslander's have had integrated ticketing with paper tickets ? something envied by our counterparts in Sydney.  In February of this year Translink went live with the new 'Go card' smart payment system.  The launch has not been without its issues and many passengers currently face a substantial increase in their Public Transport fare.

The new system does offer passengers increased convenience of not needing to fiddle with change and as it becomes more popular and all the little bugs are resolved we should see significant improvements in the service efficiencies of buses (put simply, it makes it quicker for passengers to board), making journeys quicker and enabling more services to be run.  Many of the world's major cities such as London and Hong Kong rely heavily on their smart card systems.  Over time Go card will likely deliver significant benefits to the network ? consider this, a passenger who needs to purchase a ticket on board takes around 11 seconds to board, while one who has pre-purchased ticket or who uses Go takes about 3 seconds to board.  For a full evening bus of 60 passengers, that is a saving of 8 minutes just in boarding alone!

However, the recent launch of Go and equipment transition programs has highlighted some significant deficiencies in Translink's approach, particularly through the loss of discounts worth between 20% and 30% percent to some passengers.  The Minister seems to think the convenience is an appropriate compensation to customers of hidden and significant fare increases - the reverse approach of places such as London where the local 'Oyster' card offers large discounts over cash payment.

As such, this submission to Translink and the Premier will specifically focus on the need for public input to Translink's fare and Go card transition policy and suggest a list of concrete actions which Translink should proceed with to rectify the problem.

Please have your say on the important issue of public transport fares by using the following link:

--> Take the 'Fair Fares' Survey Now

It should take only 8-10 minutes and you will be in the running to win a double movie pass.  Your contribution to the survey is important in order to let the government know what is important to the travelling public.  Together we can demonstrate that a radical improvement with public transport services in South East Queensland begins with FAIR FARES.

--> Take the 'Fair Fares' Survey Now

Thanks for being a part of this community response,

David Bremner

Urban Planner, public transport user and advocate

PS ? This is a rare opportunity to achieve a significant change in Government policy as legislation to statutorily empower Translink is currently being formulated.  Translink's stated direction is for Go card to be the primary method of payment for Public Transport in South East Queensland by 2011, let's make sure that this implementation is balanced with equity and reason.

[Fares_Fair]

Hello,

I took part in this survey but was intrigued by the comments at the end of your survey .. Vis:

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. If you entered your email to receive a copy of the survey summary this will be emailed shortly after the survey closes. Please feel free to recommend this survey to anyone you know who may be interested in completing it. Your response has been saved and recorded with ID ******* If you would like to feedback directly to Translink about the QUALITY OF SERVICES, they currently have a formal online survey that you may access with the following link: http://survey.acnielsenonline.com/wix/p157943394.aspx Additionally, you may fill in the Queensland Government survey on the formation of a statutory Translink at the following link: http://www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au/consultqld/

Thank You for completing this survey.


I have asked the following question of David Bremner .. purely for clarification purposes.
I agree with the aims of this survey, and would certainly recommend completion of it.

Has this survey been initiated in any form by TransLink, or are you acting in any way or in any capacity on TransLinks' behalf ?
The wording of this seems to indicate that you are.
Could you please clarify the exact relationship that you have, contractual, via a third party,
or otherwise (if any) with Translink ?

Regards,

Jeffrey Addison
'Say No to GoCard' committee spokesman.
Our catch cry is "Say No to GoCard until Fares are Fair"

I would also like to point out that this survey is in no way connected to our campaign,
or my pseudonym here, Fares_Fair, however I do strongly support it's aim.

[ozbob]

David is a staunch campaigner and known to us.

See here -->  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=135.msg1335#msg1335

I have alerted David to your questions, the inclusion of the other surveys at the end is just for information.

Cheers
Admin

[dwb]

I have not received Jeff's email direct (my email is on the footer of the survey, I've checked my spam box - nothing there) however Bob has pointed out his post on here to me.

No I do not work for Translink.  I study part time, and work for Council part time. However I have authored the survey entirely off my own bat, under my own time and resources. I have done this because I care, and bc I can see the potentialities of Go card, but also the risks in early adoption.  I simply included the links to the other surveys because I think it is important that people reply to them as well... so far there aren't many responses on the Consult Queensland website, I'm not sure about the other, but it is kind of buried and you'd only find the link by really searching hard for it.

As Bob has pointed out I authored http://brisbaneseasterngateway.googlepages.com/translinkticketrawdeal and that I believe I did so before Jeff's accurate assertion of a 23% fare increase to those on the Gold Coast line was published on the Couriermail online.

Besides, I'm not sure how it would be a bad thing if I did work for Translink bc, and although I might be a bit biased, I think I've got some really good ideas that would make a hell of a difference to Go, which, either way you look at it, IS the future.  I don't say no to go, I simply say, tell em to give us fair fares first!

[ozbob]

Thanks for your response dwb!

I have completed your survey, well done.  I am sure it will help to get fair fares!

Cheers
Ozbob

[Fares_Fair]

Thank you for your response, David.

I would urge all commuters to take the survey.
It just may get TransLink to tilt the fares in a fair direction.

[Mozz]

Done and done, and I do mean done

[dwb]

Check out page 24 section 43 of the new Translink Transit Authority Act, from their strategic direction, it was clear it would have something there, but nonetheless it is a positive thing to see.

http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/Bills/52PDF/2008/TransLinkB08.pdf

[Otto]

Done and dusted !

[ozbob]

The survey has been closed off now.

See --> http://fairfares.googlepages.com/home  for the reports.

Thanks for the responses.  Good work Dwb!!

Admin

[dwb]

Good evening,

You recently contributed to a survey regarding the need for Translink to create a formal fair fares policy in South East Queensland.

The survey is now closed and the over 100 responses have been collated.

The survey analysis report is available from Fares.googlepages.com/Fair_Fares_Survey_Analysis.pdf.  The report has been mailed to the following people:

Anna Bligh, Premier
Mr John Mickel, Minister for Transport
Mr Tim Nicholls, Shadow Minister for Transport
General Manager of Translink
Hopefully with this community action we can encourage Translink to formalise a 'fair fares' policy and to ensure the ongoing implementation of the Go card meets such policy.

More information (including full data from the survey and copies of the letters sent and in future any responses to these letters received) is available from the website at http://fairfares.googlepages.com/home

The winner of the double movie pass is R Rule - this person will be contacted individually.

Thank you for your time,
David Bremner