Article: Fare evasion an easy touch

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Fare evasion an easy touch

Fare evasion an easy touch
CAMERON ATFIELD
March 2, 2010 - 5:21AM

Brisbane commuters are routinely evading bus fares by repeatedly touching their Go Cards, it has been revealed.

brisbanetimes.com.au last week observed a group of school students board a bus through the front door and touch on as they walked past the driver.

But as they passed the Go Card reader at the rear of the bus, the students once again touched their cards to the reader.

A Translink spokesman confirmed that would waive their fare.

"People who touch on and then touch off before the end of their journey are travelling without a valid ticket and therefore fare evading," he said.

"They risk a $200 fine for the sake of a few dollars."

Transport lobby group Rail: Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the practice had been observed "fairly regularly" and was a clear loophole in the Go Card system.

"Careful scrutiny of Go Card history might pick them up because it's an electronic system, surely they should be able to scan through the database and identify cards that seem to be having regular cancellations," he said.

But the Translink spokesman said flagging Go Cards was "not currently being considered".

Mr Dow said there needed to be more transit officers on board buses to observe passenger behaviour.

"It's a loophole in the system - it's too difficult for the driver to keep on top of," he said.

"One way around it is to have flat fares for buses, rather than touch-on, touch-off, like they do in London.

"But there would be winners and losers in that system."

Mr Dow said while most reports involved students, several adults had also been observed touching off before the bus had moved.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said there needed to be an investigation into the practice.

"There's still faults in the system and there's also loopholes that some people are exploiting," she said.

"The Auditor-General needs to get involved in doing an independent review of the fare box issues with the Translink system, because we saw in January this year there was a reduction [of patronage] compared to the same time last year.

"How often is this happening? I don't think anyone knows. It must be costing a motza and that's a real concern."

Ms Simpson said something needed to be done to make it impossible to fare evade in this manner.

"Where these loopholes are exploited, it puts the burden back on the commuters who are doing the right thing and who are increasingly facing higher fares," she said.

"There's a range of these anomalies that weren't thought through before they rolled the system out, so now we've got the system in place, they're going to have to retrofit a solution."

A spokesman for Transport Minister Rachel Nolan dismissed Ms Simpson's comments.

"Ms Simpson's call for an inquiry is yet another over-reaction to an issue investigated daily by transit officers," he said.

"This is fraudulent behaviour which carries a significant fine even for school students."

The Translink spokesman said the majority of school buses had one door and one touch point for Go Cards.

He said fare evaders made up about three per cent of bus passengers on their network.

"Last year Translink transit officers handed out more than 22,000 fines across the network to people travelling without a valid ticket - including those who touched off before completing their journey," the spokesman said.

"Translink estimates that fare evasion costs honest public transport users about $16 million a year."

[somebody]

Ms Simpson said something needed to be done to make it impossible to fare evade in this manner.

While I think Fiona Simpson is a crack pot, I agree with this one.  But it shouldn't be that difficult in theory to disallow "Cancel touch on"'s from the rear door readers.  Perhaps in practice, it might be difficult.

[#Metro]

I can see the potential. If only GoCard worked smoothly like it said it would.
Alas, it looks every day closer to the GoCard gate (fictional) saga:

http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3260.0

Sorry to be cynical, but I can just see it: A media release would go out first announcing the installation of the gate, with much fanfare. Then a single gate would be installed (thinking that is more than adequate), and after a 2 year delay on standby, it would be switched on.

Then the gate will be too small for people with special needs or the wrong size. It might not beep properly. The gate might fail to open on the first day. It will charge people twice (once at the gate) and on the bus. A $ blowout in IT consultants and experts would occur as they try to get the system to ignore accidental touch ons in the bus just for that station. And media releases would rain down upon us all.

[ozbob]

Loophole does have some wider meanings, the Macquarie Dictionary states " an outlet, or means of escape or evasion ".

But early touches is fare evasion, and so is deliberate no touches ...

[dwb]

Got checked by transit officers who boarded my bus yesterday, they did the whole bus which had about a full seated load (no standing) (post peak ~830pm) in about 2mins, most passengers had go card which were being read by the hand held device extremely quickly. Upon touch of the card the light would go green or orange, presumably indicating tagged on or off status (or perhaps concession card). No fines handed out.

[STB]

Early touches fare evading spotted today on an outbound 250 (departed Metro TAFE - Finucane Rd) at 1235hrs.  All but two students touched on at the front and then cancelled their journey at the rear door before the bus had a chance to depart.  Another who boarded at Alexandra Hills Shops did the same thing.

[#Metro]

Maybe cancels should be done manually for buses?
Canceling a trip is a rare thing once someone is on a bus. So this cancellation thing should be disabled on buses.

Sure there is the odd person who touches on and then can't fit inside the bus, or catches the wrong bus, but then that person should have their cancel done manually, or join the "I have a problem with my go card" phone queue...

[longboi]

Maybe cancels should be done manually for buses?
Canceling a trip is a rare thing once someone is on a bus. So this cancellation thing should be disabled on buses.

Sure there is the odd person who touches on and then can't fit inside the bus, or catches the wrong bus, but then that person should have their cancel done manually, or join the "I have a problem with my go card" phone queue...

Good idea tramtrain. If its possible, a message saying 'seek drivers assisstance' or similar should work.

[#Metro]

Ah, the soft touch of translink. 
Fare evasion is just a beep away...

Sometimes I get the feeling that the systems offered up to government are deliberately riddled with holes so as to blow up more cash on fixes and the like. However, I have no proof, but really, TL should review whether their contract should be renewed when it expires next...

[longboi]

"Careful scrutiny of Go Card history might pick them up because it's an electronic system, surely they should be able to scan through the database and identify cards that seem to be having regular cancellations," he said.

But the Translink spokesman said flagging Go Cards was "not currently being considered".

I could have sworn that when go cards came in, TransLink said they would monitor cards that have regular cancelled touch-ons.

Now they are saying the complete opposite. How weak.

[Otto]

There are a lot of things told to us during GoCard training that simply don't happen in real life !

[#Metro]

No fares on the bus tonight!
GoCard reader not reading again.

This is the 4th or 5th time now. This is better/worse than fare-evasion!

Thanks Anna!

[#Metro]

Another free ride this morning!

GoCard really is saving me money 

[mufreight]

It would be possible to eliminate fare collection and Go cards by making public transport free, raise rates by 1 to 1.5 %, as effectively everyone pays rates even if they only rent, so there would be no need for card readers and other infrastructure that fails, no staff needed to operate or maintain the fare collection system with that money then being able to be spent improving the system.
Fare evasion wouls cease to be a problem.
The increased numbers of commuters that such a change would attract to public transport would not be driving cars and there would be further savings to the public purse on the maintenence and construction of the road system.
      

[somebody]

That's one strategy, mufreight.  I wouldn't rush in as I think the Government would be too keen to cut services on that scenario.

[O_128]

How can they not know how many people are doing this if they have all the data

[#Metro]

If we can't touch on, we can't touch off, we are simply not recorded- it is like I don't even exist!

hahaha

[mufreight]

Have to disagree Somebody, with the no fares proposal the increased demand for public transport would see more not less services and as frequency increased and services became more convenient that usage would continue to increase and the savings on road infrastructure could further be divirted towards public transport infrastructure with further cost and environmental benefits for the community.
The concept has been tried overseas with a sucessful result with other communities now considering similar schemes.

[#Metro]

Frequency is the most powerful button to press if you want more passengers.
Below, fares are held constant but frequency is altered.

There are 2 possibilities. It depends on the local context as to which one occurs.
Both are bad in my view.

1. The bus fills up but there isn't money to put on new services as no farebox revenue is collected.
2. The bus is free, but there is little effect.

There is no doubt that the level of fares is one contributor to the level of patronage
for bus services. However, previous analysis undertaken for IPART found that the
bus patronage is relatively insensitive to changes in fares.
In particular, this analysis estimated that the price elasticity of demand for bus travel was around -0.38.9
This suggests that a one per cent increase in fares would reduce patronage by 0.38 per
cent, other things being equal. [10]

This is how Anna manages to get away with a 20%-40% fare hike.  BTW, those 301 000 new seats better be coming along...

In addition, the level of fares is not the only determinant of bus usage. Other
important factors include household incomes, population, location of employment,
service quality, and the price of alternative means of transport.

The available experience on providing free bus services supports the view that these non-fare
factors are important, and may even outweigh the effect of fares.

For example, despite the introduction of a fare free zone in the Newcastle CBD a couple of years
ago, stakeholder submissions to IPART's bus fare reviews continue to point out that
many buses travel through the Newcastle CBD with few, if any, passengers.[11]

Increasing the frequency will do amazing things (no change in fares):

Route    Date BUZzed   Overall    W'nights   Saturdays    Sundays

444      Oct 06                    138%     165%       228%          266%           % increase in patronage

And this is for a bus that runs mostly on the usual streets.
http://www.thredbo.itls.usyd.edu.au/downloads/thredbo10_papers/thredbo10-themeA-Warren.pdf
IPART Fares determination

[#Metro]

  We need more BUZzes!

[#Metro]

More free trips today!
This time it is my card that is malfunctioning. The light goes red and says "Seek assistance".
(From who? The bus driver, they can't do anything about it. And TL? No way, not waiting in queue and filling out 1000 forms before anything happens)

This happens on any reader and any bus!

I went and checked my go card credit at a retailer- no, there IS credit on it.
So I don't know what happened.

I topped up with a bit of cash, hopefully that might overwrite or wipe out issues with that.
Or maybe I will get a ridiculous credit for $200 rather than the $20.00 I put on 

[#Metro]

Unfortunately my GoCard has busted now and I have to buy a new one and get the balance transferred.


After multiple times getting free rides, watching other user's cards fail and now my card dying, I have the comfort of remembering what the head guys at TransLink say:

"Go Card errors are low...."

[Golliwog]

I would agree with what was said earlier, cancelling trips on bus's should only be able to be done at the front of the bus. That way, the driver can make sure those that cancel to actually get off. Alternatively, all the new bus's are being fitted with CCTV, and I think the older ones are being retrofitted. So surely you can cross check with the camera footage and the go-card time stamps and check if they did or did not get off the bus. Sure its a bit Big Brother-esque but it would work, and I think in this case would be justified.

[dwb]

pfft. it is minor. machine beeps when card is touched. driver can clearly tell. that is fine.

[Golliwog]

Yes the machine beeps, which is fine on your average off-peak route. But what about routes like the 109, where everyone is loading at UQ. The driver would be focusing on making sure everyone getting on is touching on or has a valid ticket, not listening for beeps from people cancelling trips at the back of the bus.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 28th March 2011 page 2

Free-riders on notice

[#Metro]

Are you serious. That's hilarious. 

BEEP-BEEP

They need to make the error sound different to the "insufficient funds" sound. Ka-CHING!

[ozbob]

Are you serious. That's hilarious. 

BEEP-BEEP

They need to make the error sound different to the "insufficient funds" sound. Ka-CHING!

Yes Sir, actually happened ...   rather comical if not sad ...

[Fares_Fair]

I see way too much fare evasion happening every day.
Unfortunate for the rest of us who do the right thing.

Common one is adults using children's go cards (great for half price fares).
Adults rushing through close behind legitimate go card users.
Adults not touching off at non-gated stations.

They need more TO's in outlying areas to keep on top of the rampant evasion.

It is also fuelled by the 15% fare hikes - people see no more value or improvements than last year and with the Sunshine Coast / Caboolture timetable changes not being released - when the implementation date is already announced, merely adds to commuters concerns of a less than ideal outcome.

Time(table) will tell.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[longboi]

The biggest problem is that too many TOs are based at Roma St. They need to start utilising stations further afield for TO sign on/off and having defined patrol areas so all lines/routes are patrolled on a regular basis.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Go Card free fare loophole closed

Go Card free fare loophole closed
Cameron Atfield
March 28, 2011 - 4:30PM

Translink has moved to close a loophole in its Go Card technology that allowed bus commuters to cancel their fare shortly after boarding.

Last March, brisbanetimes.com.au revealed how commuters were evading bus fares by touching their Go Cards twice, once at the front of the bus and then once at the back to cancel the fare.

More than a year later, Translink chief executive Peter Strachan today announced software had been developed to catch the fare evaders.

"The new software means passengers wishing to touch off immediately after boarding a bus will now need to use the machine at the front of the bus, which will be in full view of the driver," he said.

"Previously, TransLink had a system in place that allowed passengers to immediately touch off at the back door if they had caught the wrong bus.

"Some passengers abused this system and deliberately touched off at the rear door Go Card reader which allowed the passenger to avoid paying a fare."

The new software would apply to all commuter buses, including school routes, Mr Strachan said.

"Fare evasion costs about $18 million a year and is a problem that this government and Translink are serious about tackling," he said.

[awotam]

"Adults rushing through close behind legitimate go card users."
Saw this at Roma St one morning last week. I'd thought this was just opportunistic, latching on to some innocent go card user and following him/her through. However the incident I witnessed was two young (early 20's) guys obviously travelling together, one with go gard, one without. The one with no card following through very closely behind the one with the card while the gate was open. All the staff at the gates were busy and/or distracted by other passengers and never noticed.

[Sir Loin]

I train from Morningside-Park Road in the morning and Park Road-Morningside in the afternoon everyday.

It's amazing the number of people who are not touching off when they exit the train station(especially in the morning at Park Road). Either they have paper tickets or they are getting a free ride.

I've had my Go Card checked once on the train since Go Cards came out and the two stations above have never been monitored by ticket officers when I've passed through them.

[p858snake]

I've had my Go Card checked once on the train since Go Cards came out and the two stations above have never been monitored by ticket officers when I've passed through them.

I've had my go card checked once this year.... on a 7:30something pm trip to ferny grove....

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 24th October 2011 page 1

Pay up or else

[somebody]

From the Brisbane mX 24th October 2011 page 1

Pay up or else

It would help if they actually manned the gates at the gated stations that they have, particularly on the Gold Coast.

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 24th October 2011 page 1

Pay up or else

It would help if they actually manned the gates at the gated stations that they have, particularly on the Gold Coast.

Indeed, time to give paper the shunt?  $1 go cards??

[Stillwater]

Also needs a few desk jockeys checking people's unusual card histories.

[somebody]

$1 go cards??

Why bother?  $5 refundable isn't worth worrying about.  Too much incentive to buy a $1 card, put $9 on it and do two $8 journeys.

[Fares_Fair]

So TRANSLink are the one's calling for more transit officers - not QR ?
Yet TRANSlink are the one's who fund them at QR.

I have seen TRANSLink personnel checking Go cards on the trains (dark blue shirts) as well as Queensland Rail ticketies (aka the white shirts) checking go cards and tickets.
An apparent duplication of roles.

I hear that TRANSLink are pushing to take over the QR ticketing roles, since TL provide the funding to QR for them.


Regards,
Fares_Fair.