Article: Bus free-for-all Drivers consider 'no fare' Mickel protest

[ozbob]

From Brisbane mX April 23 page 1 (below) now online edited at Courier Mail click here!

Bus free-for-all
Drivers consider 'no fare' Mickel protest

Bus free-for-all
Drivers consider 'nor fare' Mickel protest

Commuters could get free bus travel, with angry drivers considering a plan to stop collection fares after a bust-up with Transport Minister John Mickel.

Furious council bus drivers want Mickel to resign over comments he made yesterday, when he accused them of overcharging customers.  Mickel said some drivers were manually overriding the clocks used by go card scanners, leaving commuters hit with incorrect fares and penalties.

In a partial backdown today, Mickel admitted he'd "muddled his message" and said the problem laid with malfunctioning machines, not drivers. But Brisbane Transport bus driver Tony Everett insisted today that Mickel should be sacked for his remarks, and said drivers were powerless to change the time on the clocks.

"To accuse us of this behaviour is really bad and we want his job," Everett said.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union assistant secretary David Matters revealed that members would meet today to consider industrial action.

Drivers could stop collecting fare until glitches with the troubled go card system were resolved, Matters said.

"Some of my members are saying they'd like to see another transport minister because he (Mickel) really has lost their confidence," he said.

Robert Dow from commuter group Rail Back on Track said Mickel was juggling too many portfolios and called for a dedicated transport minister to fix the go card mess.

[mufreight]

Brisbane bus drivers are doing a most difficult job, one that is not made any easier by uninformed comments such as those recently made by Minister Mickel in which he sought to blame bus drivers for something that it has been common knowledge for some time is a technical fault in the system yet the Minister, Queensland Transport, Translink and their system supplier Cubic have taken an excessive time to address the problem.  Is it rectified as yet? and how many more glitches will crop up with this system that is over time, over budget and has supposedly been extensively tested.

As the Minister responsible Mr Mickel should do the decent thing and resign, as should his predecessor who managed to relinquish the responsibility before the failings of this much flawed system became apparent.

So much for honest open and accountable Government

Yes the drivers would be well justified in any form of protest that they may chose to make in response to this unfounded slur on their professionalism.

Cheers

[ozbob]

Media Release 23 April 2008

SEQ:  Show and Go!

Call for free travel for go card users on buses and ferries until go card system is made reliable

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 previously highlighted an number of issues with the go card system that is resulting in many users being overcharged on buses and ferries.  Until the system is made reliable it is only fair to give all commuters free travel on buses and ferries.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

?We have received steady feedback from go card users who are suffering excess fares and penalties due to equipment and system problems on buses and to a lesser extent river transport using the go card (1, 2, 3).?

?Translink must be overrun with requests for refunds of excess fares and penalties incorrectly charged to go card users accounts.?

?Go card users are tired of the constant excess charges and going through the laborious refund procedure which takes time on the telephone and normally at least 10 days for a refund to be credited.  This is not acceptable.?

?RAIL Back On Track calls for free travel for go card uses on buses and ferries until the problems with the go card equipment are resolved.?

?Failing that, to stop being hit with extra fares and penalties go card users may be better off using cash ticketing options on buses until Translink indicates the problems have been fixed.  This will further add to delays on the bus and river public transport.?

?The go card is working well on rail. The problems are with the mobile card devices and system on buses and ferries.?

?Translink should review the process for refunds of incorrect charges and have it expedited as many go card users are being significantly inconvenienced whilst waiting for the incorrect charges to be reimbursed.?

References:

1.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=516.msg3215#msg3215

2.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=432.msg3053#msg3053

3.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=432.0

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[Derwan]

Perhaps the misinformation from TransLink is going both ways - down to us - and up to the Minister.

Mr Mickel is obviously relying on the information without first-hand knowledge of what is really happening.

I'd encourage Mr Mickel to be more hands-on.  He should buy a Go Card and do a bit of travelling.  While he's on the buses, he should talk to the drivers about the Go Card machines and how much training they received for them.

Even if it IS something the drivers are doing, all the statement needed to say is that the problem has been identified and steps are being taken to rectify it.  No need to point fingers.

[Huggies]

I can understand why the drivers are pis*ed off with Mickel. I fully support their idea of not charging until the system is fixed. It might encourage Translink and Cubic to pull their fingers out.

The whole issue is really making me consider not voting for the ALP at the next state election.

[ozbob]

From Brisbanetimes click here!

Union delegate behind bus 'barricade' hoax

Union delegate behind bus 'barricade' hoax
Shannon Molloy | April 24, 2008 - 9:47AM

A hoax caller who told a Brisbane radio station that bus drivers had been barricaded in by striking workers at a northside depot has been revealed as a union delegate.

The man phoned 612ABC Radio's breakfast show about 5.30am and told producers he had information about an unplanned strike that threatened to throw morning commutes into chaos.

The man, who identified himself as Alan, said a convoy of cars had blocked the exit gates at the Virginia bus depot in a bid to prevent drivers from leaving.

The strike action was said to be in response to comments made by Transport Minister John Mickel in previous days regarding issues with the Go Card payment system.

However the concerned caller turned out to be Rail, Bus and Tram workplace delegate Steve Hellwig - and his story was completely false.

Meanwhile, reporters at ABC had started chasing the story and "woken up half of Brisbane" in the process, breakfast producer Majella Marsden said.

Ms Marsden had even jumped in her car to drive to the bus depot at Toowong in case a similar strike was underway there.

But it was business as usual at Toowong, and Ms Marsden returned to the station.

She decided to call a union delegate, who had phoned the show yesterday morning, to see if he had any information.

It was then that Ms Marsden noticed the delegate's mobile number was exactly the same as the tipster's number.

She phoned "Alan" to confront him, but Mr Hellwig initially denied making the earlier call.

A union official later called the program to apologise, before Mr Hellwig did the same at about 7.30am.

Ms Marsden said an apologetic Mr Hellwig said he made the hoax call out of frustration at Mr Mickel's apparent accusation that bus drivers were overcharging customers.

brisbanetimes.com.au contacted the RTBU's Queensland branch, but was told no one was available to comment.

Mr Hellwig did not respond to a request for comment.

[ozbob]

Spencer Howson has started a blog too on the 'blockade'  --> http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2008/04/spencer-falls-1.html

[ozbob]

From Brisbane mX 24 April 2008 page 4 not online

Mickel apologises for slur on drivers

Mickel apologises for slur on drivers

Martin Phillip

Angry bus drivers rallied in George St today, despite winning an apology from Transport Minister JOhn Mickel after he  accused them of ripping off commuters.

Mickel claimed this week that council bus drivers were tampering with go card machines, leaving commuters to be hit with incorrect fares and penalties.

But mounting calls for his resignation from furious transport workers forced Mickel to back down this morning.

"If the drivers feel offended, I'm sorry," he said.
"At no time did I ever mean to berate drivers ... I was acting on the advice I ws given."

Rail, Tram and Bus Union assistant secretary David Matters said Mickel's remarks had poisoned relations between drivers and the public.

"My feeling is that it's good that he's starting to see the impact of his words.  This has created conflict between passengers and drivers," Matters said.

Drivers shelved a plan to stop collecting fares in protest at Mickel's comments, he said.

The transport minister promised the problems with the trouble-plagued go card would be fixed by the end of next week.

"It is a software issue and Cubic, the people who look after the software, are doing something about it," Mickel said.

Shadow Transport Minister Tim Nicholls said bus drivers had been used as scapegoats for the ongoing go card troubles.

[ozbob]

It is unlikely that the ongoing issues with the go card will be resolved by the end of next week, other than the time zone setting. 

It would be prudent whilst doing the software update to fix a few of the other issues such as the double touches, logic errors with penalties, and incorrect data tables.

Time will tell.