17 Mar 2011: SEQ: TransLink Tracker Q2 2010-11 - bad news and a little good news

[ozbob]

Media Release 17 March 2011

SEQ:  TransLink Tracker Q2 2010-11 - bad news and a little good news

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has suggested that the latest TransLink Tracker (1) is cause for concern and some optimism.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The 2010 October - December  TransLink tracker shows that both buses and overall public transport patronage growth at 2.1% and 2.4% respectively have barely increased compared to Queensland population growth. The amount of taxpayer subsidy has increased, showing the policy of increasing fares with little in the way of service improvements has been a failure."

"Ferry patronage has decreased by more than 21%, and customer satisfaction with ferry services has also dramatically fallen. Ferries were out of service for less than 4% of this quarter, and passengers moving from CityCat to CityGlider for their commute should not be decreasing the ferry satisfaction statistic."

"With only 64.2% of commuters using go card, TransLink must be seeing hyper inflated paper tickets as a cash cow. No wonder that the go card lite was quietly dropped last year! There are also approximately 100 times the number of go card fixed fares than there are fare adjustments. 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."

"The only ray of light in this tracker is the 6% increase in train patronage despite a lack of service improvements and overpriced fares. This goes to show that against all odds, rail travel is the future of public transport in Brisbane. Rail needs considerable service frequency and more infrastructure improvements though to continue to give the much needed capacity on the public transport network.  Increasingly we find buses are no longer able to cope with peak passenger demands.  It is time to rethink the radial bus strategy!"

Reference:

1. http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2010-11-quarterly-report-oct-to-dec.pdf

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Discussion thread --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5611.0