Minimum balance to Touch On

[bnetrans]

What is the minimum balance you must have on your GO card to touch on?

I'm sure you can't touch on if your balance is overdrawn.

What is the minimum positive balance you need?


One would imagine that you must have sufficient for whatever the minimum cost of the trip you're about to start would be.  When starting a new journey, this would be $1.92 for a 1-zone fare (Adult), but how does this work when transferring, within the 60-minute transfer window?

The minimum trip fare when transferring would be $0.00 (travel in zone(s) already paid for).

A potential complication is that, even if you touch on within the 60-minute transfer window and get the "CONTINUATION TRAVEL" message, if the 5-hour limit expires before you touch off, that trip would have to be calculated as the start of a new journey.


Suppose my journey was from Central Railway Station to Gold Coast Airport (zones 1-18, $9.30), and my card balance was $9.35.

Touch on at Central.  When I touch off at Robina Railway Station, the fare for zones 1-15, $7.48 would be deducted, giving me a balance of $1.87.  When I go to touch on to the Surfside Bus #765, would I be able to touch on?  Or would the system say INSUFFICIENT FUNDS because my balance ($1.87) is less than the (system determined) minimum 1-zone fare ($1.92)?  (even though, in this case, the trip would actually cost $1.82 - within my balance)


What if my balance was exactly $0.00 when touching off?  Would I still be able to touch on within 60 minutes to transfer for a trip not involving extra zones?


Basically, what I'm asking is:

Is there any situation where I may need to top-up my balance to complete my journey despite having sufficient funds for the journey at the start?

[dwb]

My understanding is that it you are charged a fixed fee at the start of the journey (ie currently the full penalty fare for bus&ferry or rail) and when you tag off it adjusts so that it charges you the amount of the journey, in effect refunding the difference if the fare is less than the penalty amount, or charging extra if it is less.

The penalty fare is different for rail vs bus, concession vs adult.

However, when you bought the card you paid a "deposit". The deposit is not for the card itself, as the card issuance fee is currently waived, instead it is for a built in "overdraft" which allows your card to dip into an effective negative balance even when it says it is $0.00. You can get this back when you return the card.  For students this amount is $5 for adults it is $10.  The current penalty fare for rail for adults is $5 and for bus is $3 or half for concessions. Therefore you can always go at least one penalty fare into 'negative' before you actually owe Translink anything.  I think this is why it lets you hop on with a small amount of credit on your card.

Despite this I always try to keep a healthy balance on my card, when it is registered you don't have to worry about losing it (bc it is protected once you report it lost), it just makes it less of a hassle and makes accounting easier to load a little extra cash on as a safety barrier.  Rather than edge it right to a zero balance I'd suggest just loading it up with an extra $20.

It gives you a low balance warning below $7.

Some more info is available http://www.translink.com.au/qt/transLin.nsf/Index/go_downloads

Hope this helps/ is reasonably close to accurate.

[bnetrans]

What is the minimum balance you must have on your GO card to touch on?

I'm sure you can't touch on if your balance is overdrawn.

What is the minimum positive balance you need?

I've found an official statement for what dwb explained:

Before you start using your go card, you will need to top up your card and pay a refundable deposit. This deposit is like a safety net which allows you to finish your journey even if you have insufficient funds on the card (as long as your balance is positive at the start of your journey).

http://www.translink.com.au/go


Also this explanatory statement from another source:

As long as you started your journey with the minimum card balance, you will be able to finish your journey, even if your card balance falls below the minimum card balance before you get to your destination. This includes transferring, as long as you follow the transfer rules.

http://www.rankinsonthemallnews.com/gocards.html

So it looks like the minimum balance to touch on for a new journey would be either $0.01 or $1.92, and you could touch on with a negative balance if transferring to continue a journey that started with a positive balance.

Basically, what I'm asking is:

Is there any situation where I may need to top-up my balance to complete my journey despite having sufficient funds for the journey at the start?

It's clear then that the answer to this question would be "no".