Article: One-third of commuters use go cards: survey

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

One-third of commuters use go cards: survey

One-third of commuters use go cards: survey
Tony Moore
August 10, 2009 - 6:01AM

More than a third of trips on buses, trains and ferries in South East Queensland now use the go card, a new survey reveals.

However, South-East Queensland rail commuter lobby group, 'Rail: Back on Track', said the level could be boosted to 80 per cent if go card prices were reviewed and were more equitable for rail commuters.

Translink said it was constantly reviewing the fare structure.

While more than 370,000 go cards were used for 4.4 million trips on buses, ferries and trains by June 2009, the number of go card trips per month had dipped from the five million trips recorded in March 2009.

The 4.4 million commuters is equivalent to 33 per cent of all public transport trips in South East Queensland.

While it showed an increasing proportion of commuters were using the go card on buses and ferries, the take up on trains has been slower.

Rail: Back on Track attributed the stalling go card figures for rail passengers to weekly and monthly paper tickets still being cheaper than the go card.

Spokesman Robert Dow said said paper tickets were still better value for rail commuters than the digital go card, despite its convenience.

"Rail users at the moment prefer to use weekly and monthly (paper) tickets - and daily to a certain extent - because you can do unlimited journeys on those tickets," Mr Dow said.

"With the go card you essentially pay for every trip, even with the 50 per cent discount," he said.

"For students for example, they are much better off with a daily concession ticket because they can do multiple journeys."

He said Translink must review its go card fare structure before commuters made more trips on the go card.

"I don't think they will get an increase (in trips) until they bring in a new fare structure that beats the integrated paper ticketing system," he said.

Rail: Back on Track also favours a scheme where the Seniors "red" go card offers senior citizens free Sunday travel, rather than the current concession fares.

"This would encourage senior citizens to take up go cards - and they are often the people who are paying cash on Monday to a Friday commutes," Mr Dow said.

He renewed his call for Translink to introduce "incentive" fares to encourage commuters to travel outside main peak hours.

Translink said a number of fare options were being explored.

[stephenk]

Brisbane Go-Card usage - 33%
Hong Kong Octopus Card usage - 95%
London Oyster Card usage - 80%

Oh dear!

[Otto]

Brisbane Go-Card usage - 33%
Hong Kong Octopus Card usage - 95%
London Oyster Card usage - 80%

Oh dear!

I'm not surprised !

[dwb]

Does anybody know of their planned conversion rate? Many press releases keep saying that the uptake is "ahead of schedule".... I'd like to know what the schedule is, and how it is supported by government/cubic actions...

[Jon Bryant]

I can not think for a minute that the Cubic system can not be programmed to cap a person's weekly (Mon to Sun) fares at the current value of weekly ticket and then again for a calendar month and even a calendar year.  It is simple logic to programme.  I recognise that people buy their weekly and monthly tickets at times other than the beginning of a week or month but if you are a regular user it does not matter as long as the discount is applied.

I have also written previously that there are other near field communication technologies such as mobile phones, credidt/EFTPOS cards, etc. that need to be incorporated as well.  These will require gates to installed at all stations which I think should happen as well.

[O_128]

honestly if translink was serious they would set up mobile phones,credit/eftpos cards to be used and just keep the GO branding. for exapmle you jsut touch your phone where you put your card it si already in use in korea why not here? and it can wither be subtracted from pre paid or added as abill.

[dwb]

Get used to it, Go is around for the concession period.  In the future they could probably have proximity devices that can just tell when you are on the bus and when you are off the bus without ANY action on your behalf and charge the appropriate fare.  The proximity sensors could also be installed at stops and stations to gauge how many waiting patrons there are for each scheduled service.

I do not agree that dailies and monthlies should be capped at the current cost of a paper ticket and I do not think it is that simple to program weeklies and offpeak.  The current daily seems to have been implemented as a stop gap measure because it would have been to difficult to enforce a 'return' style ticket (at double the cost of a single).

If you think about it they would have to figure out "extension" costs for travel beyond your zones, and offpeak transfer adjustments when the first or second leg of a trip are outside peak could be confusing for patrons and a nightmare to program.

I am fully supportive of the notion of a monthly cap however that is value based that gives you more travel for more money and that is capped, effectively giving patrons a big discount.  This type of cap wouldn't require you to preselect the number of zones, only the value that you require.

[Jon Bryant]

DWB, what suggestions do you put forward.  Discount all fares so they are the same as a yearly pass?  I am all for this as the increased volume (if the system can take anymore which it can only do outside peak hour) will make up for the lost revenue.  Every trip that is made by public transport and not a motor vehicle saves the tax payer millions in the long run.

[dwb]

Hi Jon B, you can find a little bit of explanation of the idea here:
http://FairFares.googlepages.com/translinkgocardcap

The dollar values in it are notional, I did a lot of playing around for widely different scenarios trying to get it so that everyone (including Translink) came out on top although I'm not suggesting these are the dollar figures that do this.  The broader project I'd been toying with were changes to base fares.  Although some people on here may think that revenue raising is some evil concept, I think a good business model may actually be the best thing for public transport level of service since sliced bread.

Footnote and aside: NO I'm not saying full privatisation and NO I'm not saying we should do what they did in London. I'm saying that if PT were to tap the major market rather than simply being the thing no one uses unless they are absolutely forced to, it could actually be (or be near to being) profit making.  However in my scheme of things 'public transport' would probably also include things like taxis, carshare schemes and mini-van demand responsive options, so its not exactly an apples and apples comparison.  Just think of the revolution in customer service brought to the domestic air market by Virgin (Ansett was asking for all it got, just like I think our current PT providers are).

[O_128]

if only a competing rail company could be set up

[Arnz]

if only a competing rail company could be set up

QR/BT or any operators has no control over the fares.  TransLink does. 

It really irks me to see people blame QR for things that are not even operated by them (eg Go Cards and Readers when its a TransLink thing).

[O_128]

if only a competing rail company could be set up

QR/BT or any operators has no control over the fares.  TransLink does. 

It really irks me to see people blame QR for things that are not even operated by them (eg Go Cards and Readers when its a TransLink thing).

yes and i mean what if another rail company could be set up independant of translink like the airtrain.

[Tavt]

if only a competing rail company could be set up

QR/BT or any operators has no control over the fares.  TransLink does. 

It really irks me to see people blame QR for things that are not even operated by them (eg Go Cards and Readers when its a TransLink thing).

Nice try Arnz, but the Min decides what fares are needed based on information provided by TransLink. Information that is gathered by (interestingly enough) consultation with all operators. So at the end of the day, it's not just TTA responsible for fares. Also, AFC equipment on a QR station is technically the responsibility of QR staff. So when the equipment is faulty, it is their responsibility to make sure it is fixed in a timely manner. If Cubic are slow to respond, then I guess you could blame that on TransLink, but that would really only be for poor contract management, or poor choice in the first place.

I say hike the fares and be done with this monthly and weekly ticket business. Maybe introduce a daily cap to shut everyone up, I can see the positives of off peak too I guess. I for one am willing to pay more if it means funding more trains for more frequent run times! Otherwise the go card seems to be going great. All the people going on about the wonders of the oyster card are a little amusing. Did you know that in the last few months they terminated their contract with the company who ran the software because of an increasing rate of gate and other equipment failures? Every system has it's downsides.

[ozbob]

Interim TransLink Transit Authority Strategic Plan 2008?2012

Ticketing
? By 2012, 100% of TransLink customers will be using the smart card and it is integrated into everyday life
? there is a smart card in every pocket.
? To make the system even easier to use we will develop more innovative and forward thinking policies and ticketing products.

http://download.translink.com.au/strategicplan/2008-12_strategicplan.pdf  page 3

Admirable aim, time to get cracking!