Short Ministerial Public Transport Tour 5 Feb 2010

[ozbob]

I was invited by Ministerial Nolan to accompany the Minister, CEO TransLink, EGM QR Passenger, Cubic Staff and the DG QT on a tour of public transport this evening.  I am now on board EMU 78 heading for Oxley.

The tour commenced at the Newsagency at 144 Adelaide St, where discussions on go card sales took place.

We then went to Central and there was an informal inspection of the go gates. Discussion as to the need for some unidirectional gates took place as commuters touching on and off noted. 

We then travelled to Eagle Junction by rail.  Discussion on go card readers, numbers and protection for outside readers took place.

Then rail to Indooroopilly. Look around the station with emphasis on readers.  1620 on the ARHS trip passed through whilst there.  It was agreed Indooroopilly is an ideal station for go gates.

Then we caught a 453 bus from Indooroopilly Bus Interchange (PIDs not working) to QSBS.  Foot to KGS Bus Station for a look at the ticket machines. Tour dispersed there.  I then caught a 66 to Roma St.

This was an excellent opportunity to have direct discussions with the Minister and the rest of the group.

I would like to commend the Minister for leading this initiative.  I believe there will be outcomes in terms of increased readers, protection for readers, improvements to gate flows at Central. Bus go card equipment is being progressively retro-fitted with new speakers for beeps.

Engaging with the travelling public is the way forward.  We all had our go cards checked by TO enroute from Eagle Junction to Indooroopilly as well.

[Jon Bryant]

Fantastic to see.  Hope they actively read this forum and use as crowdsourcing. Time for action not press releases.

[O_128]

you should have brought up platform heights. Its not to late for darra

[ozbob]

Platform heights was mentioned.

Some photographs.

AVVM at KGSBS













1620 passing through Indooroopilly on the ARHS Tour to Meandarra






Photographs R Dow 5th February 2010

[verbatim9]

Platform heights was mentioned.

Some photographs.

AVVM at KGSBS













1620 passing through Indooroopilly on the ARHS Tour to Meandarra






Photographs R Dow 5th February 2010

Great pics I wonder if the next step will be a software update on the go card system for capping?

[Jon Bryant]

After that many transfers the Minister will surley look at the different charges and exclaim "What a rip off There should be a daily cap" and the policy decision will have accudently been made.

[#Metro]

 

Ahhahhahah

[#Metro]

Did she have GoCard?

[longboi]

Very nice.

It can only be a benefit to public transport if these executives do this more often.

[ozbob]

Yes, all people on the 'tour' had go cards, and we were checked (including the Minister) by TO using a mobile reader on the run from Eagle Junction to Indooroopilly.  I also asked the TO if there were any problems with the mobile readers.  He said working fine but a bit slow to check a full carriage/train of course.  

[ozbob]

Also had some constructive discussions with the Cubic Staff.  Some work is going on with a view to an improved LCD screen for the station readers which will be more moisture resistant.  Also options for hoods.  Additional readers are being sourced by TransLink, if you have a look at Eagle Junction station for example there is already a marking for an additional reader on platforms 1/2.  If you can think of stations that need readers please update our thread here --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3301.0

[Fares_Fair]

G'Day Bob,

It's great to hear of the tour and it's top level participants. Well done.
Hopefully it will result in meaningful action and improvements to the Go card hardware and infrastructure.

Were fare options / or proposals discussed at all ?
I would understand if possibly not, as it seemed to be a tour primarily for weather and gates issues ?

We are having another round of CRG meetings starting this Monday on Infrastructure and Services.
It will be an ideal opportunity to ask where and when the new rail services
(approx. 85,000 rail seats out of the proclaimed 301,000 PT seats) will be occurring.

Again, congratulations and well done Bob.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[ozbob]

I did raise capping and periodical options casually (and other things eg. frequency and INB), although this tour was looking at mainly the go card usability issues, but as the song goes ' ... never let a chance go by .. ' 

It is to Minister Nolan's credit that this tour was done and I am grateful for the opportunity to tag along .. 

[Nightwriter]

Well done, Bob.  A great opportunity.

Yes, fantastic of the Minister to do this tour, albeit should have been done during the pilot/soon after the pilot so that problems were addressed during that stage.  (Maybe that did happen, not sure of the history)

In any case, better late than never!

[unixbigot]

Do the VMs at busway stations actually understand how to sell bus tickets?

When wanting to purchase a paper ticket at central for a train+bus journey I was astounded to learn the ticket vending machines could only sell tickets for train destinations.   Staff suggested I think of a train station in the same zone as my final destination and but a ticket to there.   User friendly!

[longboi]

The new ticket machines at bus stations allows you to choose the zones yourself which you can work out with a map at the side of the machine.

[somebody]

Do the VMs at busway stations actually understand how to sell bus tickets?

When wanting to purchase a paper ticket at central for a train+bus journey I was astounded to learn the ticket vending machines could only sell tickets for train destinations.   Staff suggested I think of a train station in the same zone as my final destination and but a ticket to there.   User friendly!

I had always assumed that the delay in putting them in the bus stations had been to sort out the software for this problem!  No so, apparently.  Just their recalcitrance.

[STB]

The only software available that Cubic had, as I've been led to believe from my sources, is that they had to create some brand new software for the busway and bus stations.  There were some other issues too, which I cannot go into.  They were indeed planned for installation 4 years ago though, but circumstance prevented it until just recently.

[beauyboy]

Did the minister explain why the new machines only dispense single paper tickets and not returns?

Donald

[ozbob]

No she did not.  But I expect with the pending phase out of paper the software development was not carried through to more paper options.
Clearly the Government / TransLink wants us to switch to the Go card.  Just more evidence for that.