Go Card Feedback - tell us of your Go Card experiences!!

[ozbob]

Feedback received:

... this morning?s trip had no ticketing equipment working this morning.  Bus was 222 departing Carina Shops at 7.45am.  Reader had message of ?driver card? (I think).  It was a full trip so big fare loss on this one.

[ozbob]

Feedback received ...   

The Go Card readers on buses are extremely aggravating.

- The screens, particularly on the ones mounted at the rear door, are not significantly angled up (sometimes not angled at all!) and therefore are quite difficult to read - especially on a heavily crowded bus where there is no room to crouch down and peer at it.

- There are often problems with the readers that make them unusable. It is well nigh impossible in peak hour to force your way through a crowded aisle to the driver in the hopes that their reader is working correctly when the ones at the rear door are not.

- Even when the readers are working, many of them either do not make any sound when reading the card, or the red/amber/green lights do not work, or BOTH! Given the difficulty of reading the screen on packed buses, this can make it very difficult to tell whether you have correctly touched off and has in fact caused me to be penalised after trying multiple times to touch off - not realising that it had worked the first time and had subsequently touched me back on again. I can only imagine the difficulties this must cause any travellers with poor eyesight.

I am a very conscientious traveller and I am very happy to be charged the correct amount for my journeys. But these unreliable readers do not make it an enjoyable experience at all, and the immediate assumption that I am trying to avoid paying the correct fare and therefore need to be penalised is offensive and unwelcoming. I understand that you need a way to prevent fare avoiders, but since your own system doesn't even work reliably and conveniently, it is beyond irritating to be penalised for your system's flaws.

[Mozz]

I don't have any experience or knowledge in this area, but I suggest there are commuters out there with varying degrees of ability to see, hear, move etc - I wonder how compliant the gocard readers are with respect to current legislation, or even best practice in this regard.

[Emmie]

I've learned to take off my polaroid sunglasses before touching on and off, as the polaroid seems to filter out anything appearing on the LCD screen.  Multifocals don't help, either.

[Huggies]

I've had several issues with the system recently including:

* Being penalised for not tagging off when I had tagged off the previous service.
* Being charged concession fair on a adult card.
* Unable to tag off on the route 598 when it arrived at Chermside yesterday at 1459 hours.

I'm yet to ring Transtink about it but I will do in the next few days.

[Otto]

I finally scored a bus with faulty equipment (on Thursday)..
After trying to boot up the DCU 3 times, I gave up trying and gave everyone a free ride for the next 4.5 hours.. Felt sorry for those with prepaid tickets

Also , word seems to be getting around amongst the school kids that they can tag on when entering a bus and then walk down to the back and secretly tag off on the rear readers as they pass. This I beleive results in cancelling the trip on their GoCards. This is getting more prevelent going on my own observations, but there is nothing drivers can do as they cant prove this has occured. Only TL officers with portable readers can catch them out, but I am yet to see a TL officer with a portable reader...

A fix for this would be to alter the programming so that only CID #1 can cancel tag ons..

[ozbob]

Thanks for the update Otto, very important information.

We have highlighted the short trip issue before (see here) and I have heard recently that it is happening now on rail too. Dutton Park being one station where go card users have been observed getting off, touching and getting back on the train!

[Sunbus610]

Caught the (C604) 599 to Carina on Saturday and.....of course.....the Cubic readers weren't working when I went to hop off along Meadowlands Rd  Ended up having to ring TTA to sort stuff out re not being able to tag off etc.

[ozbob]

Reports of go card gate chaos at Central this morning (24th Nov), anyone know what when on?

I understand everything was changed around?

[ozbob]

The problem was with one of the arrays ...

Go card users being temporarily redirected to functioning gates.

Cheers
Bob

[ozbob]

I have received some recent feedback that refunds of fixed fares (touch penalties) has improved in terms of acceptance of explanation and refunds being arranged for credit. 

Anyone else noticed an improvement?

Cheers
Bob

[ozbob]

I think it is essential that a new fare comes in that makes the Go card a more attractive option than the present integrated paper seasonal tickets (weekly monthly). A number of possible fares were canvassed in the recent survey.  It must be attractive enough to ensure that users that have the experience below are encouraged to try the Go card again.

Feedback received, thanks. 

After December I?m giving up using the Go Card and swapping over to a monthly paper ticket to ride the busses.  I?ve given the Go Card a really good go, having used it for several months now, and I?m just so jealous of the paper ticket people.  They only have to flash their ticket at the driver at the start and then they can put it away without having to worry about getting it out again to tag off.  If fact, the Go Card really doesn?t work because of the tagging off.  If you forget to tag off, it?s a struggle to get back on to tag off.  And if the readers go down you?re fined for not tagging off (and I never did get my refund back).  And so many times I?ve struggled to get the Go Card near the reader when tagging on ? sometimes the reader doesn?t even respond and yet it has still tagged me on.  And then the readers at the back doors often don?t work when you want to tag off and you have to push your way to the front to use the driver?s machine.

You?re probably wondering why I wanted to use the Go Card in the first place.  Well, I thought, it will be very convenient for me because I can top-up on-line and won?t have to go out of my way to buy tickets at the newsagents.  But, in practice, I am nearly always forgetting to top-up on-line and often end up at the newsagents to top-up anyway!!

In the end, convenience wins out for me.

[O_128]

I know that in Korea they use RFID [correct me] cards which are similar to go cards only  they do not have to be taken out of your bag. Honesty issues wouldn't matter as the driver could just see if it touched off
.

[Emmie]

I have just spent 13 minutes and 54 seconds on the phone to the GO card operator, trying to iron out a mis-read at Toowong Railway Station that left me being fined $5.00 TWICE this afternoon.  I had a similar misread on a bus to University of Queensland 2 weeks earlier which cost me another $3.00, which I raised at the same time.

I had, in fact, decided it wasn't worth my time phoning about the missing $3.00, because 10 minutes of my time is worth more than $3.00, especially at the end of a long day (and minus 50 cents for the phone call).  But $10.00 got me sufficiently stirred up to complain.

I realise that things can go wrong BUT the system for handling mistakes and over-charges is quite amazingly clunky!  I ring a number and wade through various options until I come to an operator.  I tell him my name, my address, my mother's maiden name, where I was at 4.45 pm 2 weeks ago, and what EXACTLY the machine said to me (as dozens of students rush past me to get on the bus).  I go through what went wrong - with the implication very clear that the mistake is mine unless I can prove otherwise.  After all this - I am told that my complaint will be reviewed by a board who will make a decision within 10 working days.  If their decision is unfavourable I can appeal - and I'm given a reference number for when I ring up to check on their decision.  All this for $13!!!!

I asked why they couldn't just email me to let me know what the decision was - and was told that there were far too many people complaining and they didn't have time to do this.  I'll be there are plenty of people complaining - although only those who have registered their tickets have buckley's chance of getting satisfaction - but surely these complaints could be handled quicker and more efficiently by email, rather than - I repeat - a 13m.54s. phone call.  That's $1 a minute!!

[ozbob]

Thanks for your feedback Emmie.  The refund process is not satisfactory, we have been trying for a long time to get something done about it.  We will just try harder ..

Cheers
Bob

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks.

Checked my transactions on my Go Card and found a $3 charge on it for supposedly not touching off.  It becomes difficult to keep track of it when the bus displays are at a bad angle and you don?t always hear the beeps. 

[ozbob]

Feedback received, thanks ..

I've just had my first run in with the Go Card (not being a frequent user it took a while!) - now I feel I belong .

I touched on and off - my statment even showed the times - but had me getting on and off at the same stop - not even a stop I had been through - it was the bus strating point. However I was charged the default fare - presumably because the GPS wasn't working.

Keep pushing for that on line refund form - it was a pain ringing and waiting and the operator wasn't particularly friendly!

[bnetrans]

My wife and I used the Go Card during a recent trip to Brisbane to visit family (we live overseas).

Purchased two adult Go Cards online a few months beforehand (arrived in about a week), then added $20 by credit card a few days before arriving.

Arriving at BNE, we weren't using the Airtrain, but I visited the AVVM at the airport station anyway to check the balance ($25)  - ensuring that the value was "loaded" onto both cards.

Made 6 "journeys" comprising 9 "trips" (3 "transfers"), using bus, train, and ferry over a two-week period.  All fares were calculated correctly.  Travel was convenient and the discount over single tickets was good, particularly the 35% discount when travelling to Gold Coast Airport for our flight home.

There was one minor hiccup.  We took a bus to the Cultural Centre bus stop (zones 1-4, $3.04) then transferred to another bus to the Valley.  Touch-on was fine (CONTINUATION TRAVEL) but when we exited the bus, both cards gave INVALID CARD and a red light.  Not knowing what else to do, we just disembarked.

Maybe we should have tried again, maybe we should have tried a different reader.  When we boarded, someone was purchasing a cash ticket from the driver, so we Touched On using the card reader on the right-hand side when boarding.  I wondered if that could have had something to do with the problem.

I was expecting to have to sort out the problem with the Translink call centre, but no failure to touch off hit the account.  Ten days later, when we next touched on, at a railway station, a message saying something like $3 charge was displayed.  The Go card history shows this $3 charge with "Touch Off" (for the previous bus trip) at the railway station with the same time stamp as Touch On for this railway station.  However, the Go Card balance has not been affected by the $3 charge.

Maybe the "failure to touch off" penalties not being imposed yet?  In the above case, I had already paid for zones 1-4 - maybe the system was smart enough to realize that the bus wouldn't go past zone 4, so there'd be no more to pay.  Or maybe the 10 days before next Touch On had something to do with it.

It's a bit of a mystery.  But anyway, this was the only Touch On/Off problem experienced, the fares ended up being correctly calculated, and I didn't need to contact Translink, so I'm happy.

[Mick_L]

First time I got to use my go card was on a river cat ferry from the city out to Hamilton.
No probs outbound, and a fairly decent saving compared to my travelling companion who purchased a paper ticket onboard.

Return to the city, and the touch on was okay, but when touching off, the reader was quite dead. The fella on the wharf suggested I see the chap manning the desk inside, and he mentioned that sometimes the system needs to be reset. He did this, which was a fairly fast process and I was thereafter able to touch off and depart, noting happily that again a decent discount was applied in comparison to the purchase made by my travelling companion.

[haakon]

I had the translink officers come through my Friday afternoon train trip and they had a go card reader with them.

He was very quick with it scanning 6 of us in about a minute. No keypresses, just touch card, hand back and repeat.

[dwb]

I was waiting for a bus in the city yesterday and there was a huge crowd of people, lots of whom were paying by cash. One fellow thought he'd try and be smart and jump on through the back doors with his go card. Obviously it went red and he hoped off and his friend laughed. He'll be charged the penalty fare, but it begs the question should there be rear door boarding of buses and how are things like the city glider going to function?

[STB]

New poster here .

I haven't had any real major problems using the Go Card both on the bus and train, don't go on the ferries that often so can't comment.  I have had some minor niggles with it such as a journey taking longer than I expected and being charged for two journeys instead of one, but it didn't really bother me that much, as I got to where I wanted to be and to me that's more important than getting upset over a few lost cents.

First got my Go Card back when it first started up and haven't looked back since.  For my purposes it works for me, and obviously doesn't work for everyone depending on their travel habits, plus I wanted a ticket where I didn't have to buy in bulk and worry about the zones.

So yeah...it's working overall...

[ozbob]

Welcome STB!

Thanks for your comments.  I have found the go card fine too, some folks do have problems though.

In time we are hopeful of some more improved fare structures, particularly capping and an improved process for adjustments.

Regards
Bob

[ozbob]

Feedback received from a go card user on the 384  bus this morning (7am) at Bardon, go card equipment not working, free ride!

[Otto]

Something new for the records !!

A passenger boarded my service today and attempted to touch on. The CID ( like my avatar ) redlighted and a message on my console displayed "No Value".
She tried a second time with the same result.
I informed her that the her GoCard had no credit. She then announced that she had just topped up her gocard before boarding, though I don't know which method was used to top up.
She tried a third time to see if it was a mistake, but the CID still redlighted with a "No Value" message on my Console.

Here comes the interesting bit...

She was determined her card was good and had another try... Low and behold, she got the green light and her card was accepted..   
I was dumbfounded !! So I asked her if I could check the balance and she agreed. I put the CID on read only to check and she had $14 credit !!

Now that made me feel totally stupid... but that is exactly how the situation unfolded...

THANKS TRANSLINK 

EDIT spelling

[ozbob]

 

Thanks Otto,  very very interesting ...

[GOody]

Saw someone hop in the back doors of a bus with their gocard today. Not sure if they tapped or not... Expensive way of getting on quickly!

My mind was elsewhere when I was go'ing today. Had three bus journeys in a row which should have been a total of 2 or 3 zones. Tapped on first bus, tapped off. Tapped on 2nd bus (continuation). Forgot to tap off. Tapped on 3rd bus (new journey+penalty) and tapped off properly.

So, I think I ended up paying around $7 for a simple fare that should have been cheaper. Fun!

Perhaps Translink should handle failure to tap off a bit better when the next tap on is so close.

[ozbob]

Yes, it is easy to forget!  Copping a fixed fare is one thing, what I am a bit apprehensive about is the poor punter who forgets to touch on, and some people are a bit forgetful, and getting pinged for fare evasion. $200 thank you very much.

[Otto]

Just checking our GOcard online statements.. Not Happy !!

First off, My wife travelled by train from Cleveland to Central and return on March 5th..

Statement ;
10-Mar-09 03:50:37 PM Touch Off Cleveland -2.72 * 
10-Mar-09 03:09:19 PM Touch On Wynnum Central     
10-Mar-09 11:03:08 AM Touch Off Auchenflower -3.84 * 
10-Mar-09 09:29:59 AM Touch On Cleveland     
10-Mar-09 09:29:59 AM Touch Off Cleveland -5.00 * 
05-Mar-09 01:57:55 PM Touch On Central     
05-Mar-09 11:27:44 AM Touch Off Central -3.84 * 
05-Mar-09 10:00:19 AM Touch On Cleveland

Inbound trip no problems..
Outbound trip upon arrival at Cleveland, She could not touch of.
She informed station staff who verified the readers were offline for updates..
Called Transtuffed and got a Ref # and told it would be rectified.
Caught the train on the 10th and got a $5 penalty...
That is pretty poor service I think. This should have been fixed as far as I am concerned as the problem had been verified by station staff. Don't Transtuffed trust QR employees who are on site and have confirmed there was a problem..

Secondly,
My son catches a bus after school and either catches a 250 or a 5053 service from school..
His school is at Victoria Point.

Statement;
10-Mar-09 04:00:59 PM Touch Off Bloomfield St F/S Russell St [30265] -0.96 * 
10-Mar-09 03:42:16 PM Touch On Bunker Rd AT Victoria Point Shopping Centre - A [30179]     
05-Mar-09 03:51:34 PM Touch Off Wondall Rd Opp Moreton Bay College [51761] -1.36 * 
05-Mar-09 03:20:34 PM Touch On Sommersea Dr App Genoa Ct [52669]     
04-Mar-09 03:58:45 PM Touch Off Donald Simpson Park [30267] -0.96 * 
04-Mar-09 03:43:14 PM Touch On Bunker Rd AT Victoria Point Shopping Centre - A [30179]

Coincidently, also on March 5th, he caught the 5053 from Victoria Point to Redland Bay.
On the statement, he apparently travelled from Cleveland to Wynnum, very strange considering he was home at Redland Bay and as a result  was overcharged. This would in my opinion be a error on the drivers part. Not a good day on the GO !!! 

[ozbob]

Feedback received, thanks.

I am going to stop using my Go card and go back to a monthly ticket.  It has been okay, but have started to have some touch on/off issues and no response from the first couple of times that I queried so it seems that reporting these incidents is a waste of a phone call and time to ask them to check it.  I have written to TTA about the issues of equipment not beeping and being difficult to read under  certain conditions, and have got their normal deadly silence.  I have even suggested some better message ideas ? verbal or visual that conveys better information.

So I am going to buy a monthly.  Had the Go Card and associated equipment worked properly and reliably, there would have been a saving. I am starting to get the same impression that I have heard expressed by a number of users (why do you use that rubbish ? not exactly their words but the sentiment) and so will be waiting ( not holding my breath of course) for some improvements.

[Nina M Blackwell]

   Well I've had my first run in with the infamous refund process.  Friday morning at Ormiston station I accidentally "piggybacked" on someone else's ticket machine transaction.  That is, the screen had not cleared itself to the "home page" before I touched the amount I wanted to top up.  I chose $50, inserted my Eftpos card, selected account and entered my PIN and voila! $50 was deducted from my account.  However when I went to touch my card to complete the transaction, the screen said "Touch correct card."  I hit cancel and nothing happened.  When I got to town and checked the ATM, my $50 was indeed deducted but not credited ANYWHERE except TransLink.  If the transaction cannot be completed correctly (ie swiping the correct card), the funds should be returned immediately from whence they came.  Now I have to wait 10 working days for a refund and outlay extra money to top up.  That is simply NOT RIGHT!

[ozbob]

Welcome redlandsneen!   

Thanks for comments. 

There should be traps in the code to stop these sort of errors.  Hopefully it will be resolved in time.

You would think that these sort of errors could be corrected quickly.  Hopefully it might be returned in a few days.

Cheers
Bob

[bnetrans]

  Well I've had my first run in with the infamous refund process.  Friday morning at Ormiston station I accidentally "piggybacked" on someone else's ticket machine transaction.  That is, the screen had not cleared itself to the "home page" before I touched the amount I wanted to top up...

So what has happened is you've loaded your $50 onto someone else's GO Card (the previous GO Card used at that AVVM).

The previous user must not have pressed the silver "cancel" button when finished, as shown at the 04:57 in this video:

[WTN]

Caught another bus with busted go card readers - free trip!  It was the 175 outbound at 5:56pm from Mater Hill yesterday.

[Gingerbeer]

I have had numerous issues with the Go Card. I have used the Oyster system in London, and used public transport in Brussels, Amsterdam, Dublin, Barcelona, Paris, New York,  Melbourne and Sydney.  So im hardly a bunny at train / light rail transport. I find the Go Card possible one of the worse systems, all system have teething problem but its a bit of a joke.

I could go on and on. But I have had 3 QR staff recommend that I go back to buying paper tickets. I find it better value for money and i dont have to cue up to get off at my station. At central I either piggy back off the person in front of me or go through the regular ticket door. I had a look at the legal ramifications of piggy backing if you have a valid ticket no problem. they might get you on health and safety but honestly thats about it.

I dont understand why they dont have a Oyster type system, it encourages public transport use. Go Cards are generally a rip off and im sure it break some sort of law. for implementing a $200 million system i would expect much better. Im going back to paper tickets.  

[ozbob]

Welcome Gingerbeer! Thanks for your feedback, the Go card still has a long way to go indeed ...

Regards
Bob

[Tavt]

Gingerbeer, you may find that the oyster card was plagued with just as many problems up until 2008 at which point TfL axed their troubled contract with TranSys.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39527256,00.htm

Perhaps the same fate may be on the horizon for Cubic if they can't deliver soon?

Also, as advised by QR staff to policy, safety regulations do not permit for "ghost riding" through fare gates, I believe a breach of customer safety fine may be applied in extreme or repeat cases.
Apparently the only reason this is used at central station and roma st station is because fare gates are clearly signed for go card use only, when you use a paper ticket to exit through a go card zone you are in breach of a directive issued by QR (directives can be issued for various health/safety reasons at any time and obeying these is part of your conditions of travel when you purchase a ticket).

[Fares_Fair]

Apparently the only reason this is used at central station and roma st station is because fare gates are clearly signed for go card use only, when you use a paper ticket to exit through a go card zone you are in breach of a directive issued by QR (directives can be issued for various health/safety reasons at any time and obeying these is part of your conditions of travel when you purchase a ticket).

Seriously, can you tell us what the health and or safety issue would be following someone through the go gates ?
I wouldn't do it because the gates only slow you down unless you time it perfectly, and all the government (propaganda) adverts showed a go carder streaming through with ease.
I reckon that any ticket issued on that basis alone would be open to legal challenge.

Much quicker and easier through the open paper-ticket gate.
However, admittedly if I was in a great hurry to make the train and the single open gated entry was blocked by the 71% majority of paper-ticket holders massing through at one time, then I would jump through a gate if possible to do so.

The deplorable lack of ingress/egress provided for the vast (71%) majority of paper-ticket holders deserves challenging.

P.S. Welcome back to paper-tickets Gingerbeer.
      We are thinking of creating a club just for those who eschew the go card and all it's many failures.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Jamin]

I just went back to paper ticketing after using Go card since launch. My reasons for the switch back:

• I am a heavy public transport user (14-18 trips/week in Zones 1-2). Weekly paper ticket cheaper by about $6-8 per week.
• No fundamental change in convenience or time taken. Loading Go card still takes the same amount of time as buying a paper ticket
• Lack of support from operators - new system seems to be faulty on buses at least one trip per week. Does not bode well for the system if the operator does not care about it not working effectivley
• Customer service system is clunky and adversary, forcing you to cal a call centre and plead your case for a refund. This may be available within 10 business days and is provided without technical reasons or corrective actions. This smacks of a system which expects a certain failure rate and assumes user error for a large part of its problems.
  
• Lack of any significant incentive from Translink/State Gov. Promises have been made since launch that a range of ticketing options would be introduced. This has not happened. Tired of waiting

I will keep the Go card to utilise it for the 20% off longer trips if needed, but cannot rely upon it being a viable solution to a real public transport user's ticketing situation. I will forward a version of this post on to Translink and the Minister and will post any feedback received.

Thanks,
Jamin

[ozbob]

Welcome Jamin!  Thanks for your comments.

Best wishes.

Bob