Article: Smartcard rollout hits hiccup

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

Smartcard rollout hits hiccup

Smartcard rollout hits hiccup
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Patrick Lion and Alison Sandy

May 19, 2008 12:00am

COMMUTERS will be unable to use southeast Queensland's public transport smartcard across the whole region until July at the earliest.

Transport Minister John Mickel on May 19 outlined the latest timeline for the roll-out of the beleaguered project after delays in the final Gold Coast section due to be completed in May.

His comments came at the opening of Brisbane's new Inner Northern Busway, where commuters began using the $333million "congestion-busting" project, with some early hiccups over more than 120 changed routes.

The busway is expected to save up to 20 minutes travel time in peak hour while servicing 50,000 commuters and taking buses off clogged CBD roads.

Mr Mickel said that earlier concerns over a lack of buses had been resolved after a meeting with Brisbane City Council last week.

"I'm very happy with the feedback so far," Mr Mickel said.

He said commuters were delighted at the pace of the new routes.

However Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman's office confirmed some buses endured delays of up to an hour from roadworks, the bus shortage and a lack of casual drivers.

"I think it's gone reasonably well but I'm sure there have been some issues along the way," Cr Newman said.

The busway completion comes as the long-awaited Go Card roll-out continues to encounter hiccups.

A dispute between a Gold Coast bus company and the NSW Government has given commuters some breathing room, with penalty increases for failing to "touch off" when leaving a service, which were due to start on July 1, now delayed.

The penalties would lift the minimum fare from $5 to $10 for trains and $3 to $5 for buses and ferries.

Mr Mickel on May 19 said he expected the issues to be resolved by mid-year but denied the delays were another smartcard broken promise.

[ozbob]

RAIL Back On Track has been calling for a while now for the scheduled increases to the touch penalties to be deferred, eg.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=698.0

This is necessary as system users are still getting too many penalties, and in consideration of delays on the coast!