Go card Reader is Broken

[Mozz]

Despite the assertion by TL that gocard equipment is 99.x% operational and working I will maintain that this is a fallacy.

Go card reader eastern end of platform 2 is broken, has been broken for 2 days, is not fixed, probably will not be fixed for many days possibly a week or more.

The reader displays "seek assistance" so unlike the 30 or so people who just sailed past it on each of the two trains from which I alighted (and those people will be receiving a nice $5 penalty) I decided to walk to the other end of the platform to inform rail staff and do what the message said, seek assistance.

I alighted from the 4.23pm from Roma Street on Wednesday and treked to the other end of the platform, no station staff available, they were elsewhere on site the sign said. Ok so I walked to the reader on the western end of the platform and touched off.

Today same thing, caught the 2.08pm from Roma Street and alighted and once again the same reader on the eastern end of platform 2 displayed the same message. So I walked to the other end of the platform to inform station staff, unfortunately this time the station was well and truly shut with the roller doors down and closed for business so again no possibility of seeking assistance.

At this point I though well I should suggest to translink that the "seek assistance" message be changed to "device broken" or something that actually meant something to the average commuter.

The I got to thinking how could a reader be broken for so long. When the gocard was rolled out we were told that TTO would know immediately if there was a problem on a station with readers which would prevent the average commuter receiving a penalty for travelling without a valid fare. Then the IT person inside of me thought, well all the readers on the stations are connected via a network, so obviously all the readers would and could be remotely managed, thus broken readers would show up like the proverbial on any error report and staff could be immediately despatched to resolve broken readers. Then I further thought, well also these readers exist at railways stations hwere staff are employed to assist commuters travelling on the network, so obviously the station staff are able to check the gocard readers each day to see that they are working and if not, log a fault, which once again would be immediately attended to. Surely Translink has some sort of performance contract in place along the lines of go card readers will be repaired within a 4 - 6 hour window if not then the company providing the maintenance service pays a penalty?

The problem it seems is that none of the above scenarios actual happen. Gocard readers break and are faulty more than is being admitted. They take days if not weeks to repair. Seek assistance messages are meaningless if station staff aren't around, or not able to actually do anything to resolve the issue and it would be more appropriate to display something that made sense to commuters.

While the readers are broken commuters are slugged penalty fares as they don't use or try to use and then ignore the broken readers.

This complexity does not exist with paper tickets but is accepted as normal by Translink for gocard users.

Patently not good enough.

It's not good enough now and will be immensely less good enough come next year with the huge increase fares forcing commuters to use gocards.

[ozbob]

I tweeted TL, but I suspect they have shut up shop ..

Robert_Dow
 
@TransLinkSEQ Go card reader broken east plat 2 Oxley --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3187.0

[ozbob]

I will check each morning on my morning walk to see how long it takes to become operational.

Santa might fix it!  

[ozbob]

Seriously, it is a circus ... even during normal business times it takes many days for the readers to be fixed.

I wouldn't be surprised if the go system crashes next year, particularly as the loads go up on the system real time.

The majority of go card  use is not real time at the moment (bus and ferry), the real test is coming as rail usage surges and is a direct impact on the system ...

Not overly confident to be honest.

[ozbob]

No Santa has been ...

Tested the reader this morning, still red lighting ...



Photograph R Dow 25th December 2009

Summary:

22 Dec not operational

23 Dec not operational

24 Dec 2009  not operational

25 Dec 2009  5.20am not operational

26 Dec 2009  6.10am still not operational

27 Dec 2009  6.05am not operational

28 Dec 2009  6.05am not operational

[ozbob]

When equipment is down, there should be a cover of some sort so that the punters know.  Many folks just keep on touching, and finally give up in exasperation.   At Oxley, they can then climb up and over the bridge to try their luck on platform 3, or wander down the other end of platform 2.   Or as Mozz has commented earlier in this thread take a fixed fare penalty and perhaps attempt to run the reimbursement gauntlet at the call centre.  Many don't bother as a:  they only have a mobile phone and it costs them more in call charges than the difference in the fare;  b: some folks don't have the time to plead for a refund.

There needs to be a:  free call phone number and a call back service for mobile users;  b:  an online claim form for simple claims.

The level of support is abysmal, and consider we are moving into a 100% go card environment.

Massive fare increases for those who continue to use paper, people forced to use go card and the equipment is not properly maintained.  

I think the Government has seriously underestimated the grief coming their way ...

[O_128]

hmmm ive noticed at manly they put a big orange sign over the readers if they are broken/

[ozbob]

That is good!  At least the punters are not standing there touching and touching in the vain hope it might work ...

I think there is a case for each day station staff check all readers and those not working are reported and clearly signed.

It appears that the system is not able to pick them up .... 

[Derwan]

hmmm ive noticed at manly they put a big orange sign over the readers if they are broken/

I dare say that this would have been done by a comited customer service supervisor (station master) even though it's not part of their job to have anything to do with Go Card equipment (other than to report faults to Cubic).

[#Metro]

There needs to be a:  free call phone number;  b:  an online claim form for simple claims.

Stickers could do.
Faults?: Call 18 XXXXXX. They do it for traffic light signal boxes...

If there is a fault and it is not practicable to go to the other platform and do all sorts of things, the trip should just be free or whatever their last trip cost, whatever the trip should have cost. A system failure is not the fault of the customer, and it should not be the customers job to make up for whatever failings the network has. What next? Will customers have to push the train to the nearest station in the event that power is cut?

It is the fault of the provider/supplier (The State), and vicariously may also be the fault of the contractor (Cubic in this case).
It is their responsibility to make sure that everything works.

If an item in a supermarket scans wrong, you get it free.
If in a restaurant someone bungles up, you get it free or a replacement.

If the benefit collection systems are in a state of disrepair, then it is implied that they have forgone that revenue (I mean, how else are you to pay??)

[longboi]

hmmm ive noticed at manly they put a big orange sign over the readers if they are broken/

I dare say that this would have been done by a comited customer service supervisor (station master) even though it's not part of their job to have anything to do with Go Card equipment (other than to report faults to Cubic).

Actually, I think you'll find very few CSSs()SMs) will do any outside work unless they're on their own at the station 

[ozbob]

Letter to the editor published Courier Mail December 28

When go card equipment fails it needs to be fixed promptly.  A go card reader at Oxley railway station has been non functional since the 22nd December.  As TransLink are forcing users to use the card, it is not  unreasonable to expect the equipment to be serviceable.

Summary:

22 Dec not operational

23 Dec not operational

24 Dec 2009  not operational

25 Dec 2009  5.20am not operational

26 Dec 2009  6.10am still not operational

27 Dec 2009  6.05am not operational

28 Dec 2009  6.05am not operational

28 Dec 2009  4.05pm not operational

29 Dec 2009  5.45am not operational

29 Dec 2009  3.45pm OPERATIONAL