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

[colinw]

My bus to work today - route 554 Kuraby to Garden City leaving Kuraby station at 8:25AM - was the most heavily loaded I have seen it.  Thanks to Go Card this didn't translate to running late, as it most likely would have with people buying paper tickets.  And the best thing is, for the first time ever, every single person I saw boarding used a Go Card.

We spent years lobbying our local councilor for a bus service to Kuraby, to be repeatedly told "everyone uses the train, there's no demand for a bus in the area". (This was pre- TransLink). Thanks to a Greens candidate, it became a major election issue in our division of Karawatha a few years ago, and the service eventuated.

For the first couple of years, our buses seemingly ran almost empty, but for the last few months they have been getting increasingly busy. Not sure if there is a link to public acceptance of Go Card, but the big surge in patronage on the 554 seems to have coincided with the big switch over from most people buying paper tickets to most people swiping their cards.

The integration between bus & rail timetable at Kuraby is still more or less non-existent 'though. The service also manages to neatly avoid the major employment precinct at Brisbane Technology Park, instead going on to the busway via the Gateway motorway on-ramp at Levington Road, which is a pain for me as there is no easy pedestrian link over the freeway from Eight Mile Plains busway station to my office, even though I can see the busway station from our car park.  Instead I get off at RACQ Levington Road, and walk - good exercise but not convenient.

cheers,
Colin

[#Metro]

The integration between bus & rail timetable at Kuraby is still more or less non-existent 'though. The service also manages to neatly avoid the major employment precinct at Brisbane Technology Park, instead going on to the busway via the Gateway motorway on-ramp at Levington Road, which is a pain for me as there is easy pedestrian link over the freeway from Eight Mile Plains busway station to my office, even though I can see the busway station from our car park.  Instead I get off at RACQ Levington Road, and walk - good exercise but not convenient.

Thanks! We need to know where the black spots are.

GoCard uptake makes it easier to transfer IMHO; its tighter integration.

[colinw]

Thanks! We need to know where the black spots are.

Case in point.  Today, my bus was stopped at the Beenleigh Road level crossing by a train which arrived at Kuraby station about 1 minute AFTER the bus left the stop at the station.  Both the bus and train were running exactly on time.  Scratch one potential connecting service from the rail to RACQ headquarters at Levington Road, Brisbane Technology Park, Garden City, and all points accessible via the busway.

The 554 has considerable potential as a connecting service, because it takes a very un-congested secondary route through the back of Kuraby and Eight Mile Plains and consequently manages much better on-time running than the Warrigal Road bus services.  Due to congestion and "bunching" effects, I have found the BUZ route that travels along Padstow & Warrigal roads to be a complete crapshoot - sometimes it is fantastic, but I have also sat at the "Multicap" stop in Padstow Road for over half an hour waiting for the supposedly 15 minute off peak bus to appear.  Then three came at once.

One look at the traffic conditions along Warrigal Road, and the effect of the level crossing at the junction of Warrigal & Beenleigh roads will tell you why.

[#Metro]

Colin, is there a bus stop or bus interchange at Kuraby?

[colinw]

I hope this works.  Here's a link to a Google map showing the location of current & past (disused) bus stops at Kuraby.  This imagery was taken while the triplication was under construction, and the current bus stop site is hidden behind barriers.

Click here

There appear to have been 3 distinct attempts at creating a bus service in the Kuraby area.  The shops over the road from the station (marked "disused bus stop") have a bus zone which has never been serviced by bus in the 10 years I've lived in Kuraby.  I don't know when it was last used.

The 2nd generation was a loop with a bus shelter in the "park & ride" that was built on the site of the old turning triangle.  This was used by a handful of Clarks Logan City buses per day when bus services to Kuraby were first re-commenced a few years ago.  In more recent years, the only buses I've seen use it are rail replacement buses during track closures.

The current arrangement has all buses arriving across the level crossing, then doing a loop via Strathmore St, Alpita St, Allbutt St, Winifred St and Donegal St.  Inbound buses stop in Strathmore St over the road from the station near the pharmacy.  They then loop around the back of the school via Winifred St to a terminus in Donegal St near the service station, where they dwell briefly if running ahead of time.  They then depart outbound via Beenleigh Road, stopping at a newly constructed stop with shelter a stone's throw from the entrance to the station.  All buses leaving Kuraby, whether to Springwood, Woodridge or Garden City stop at the station.

cheers,
Colin

[#Metro]

RIP Go Card #3

Newest Go Card has now died!
 

Now have multiple dead GoCards.
Seriously, this is getting ridiculous now. What do I do if it dies out of hours and I can't get to a vendor?

[Golliwog]

How often do you use your card? Do you know whats killing them? I've had my card for over two years now and I havn't had a problem.

[#Metro]

Daily!
If I knew what was killing them, I would have done something to stop it by now.

"Bad tables".

[ozbob]

Were the failed cards kept in close contact with other RFID cards?  For example some organisational ID cards, that operate doors etc. are RFID.  I recall that this can cause problems.

I have never had a go card fail in our user (family) base (6 cards).  One card was replaced but that was the result of a fall on the escalator at Central.

I always keep my go card in the grey holder separate from everything else, like front shirt pocket away from wallet etc.

[STB]

Not saying that you do it, but one of the common problems I've seen for failed cards is from people sitting on them or bending them so the card ends up cracked.

I've had 4 Go Cards now over the years and have never had one fail on me.  I keep mine in my wallet and that's where it stays, even when the TOs want to check it.

[Golliwog]

I have heard of keeping other RFID cards near it as a problem, although I've never experienced it actually permanently breaking the card. UQ student cards as I understand are RFID and I have had some trouble when I have the go card too close to it and the card reader, but I have worked out I can have them in opposite sides of my wallet and it works fine.

[STB]

Something weird has happened to my Go Card.  Firstly I get a penalty fare after travelling from Griffith Uni to Queen St Bus Station for some unknown reason and now I cannot log into my account.

EDIT: Can now log in 

[STB]

Found out what went wrong.  Appears the driver failed to notice the GPS was incorrect (and failed), with the system thinking I'd touched on at 'Deadhead Stop' and touched off at 'Deadhead Stop' approx 20mins later.

05-Oct-10 03:35:57 PM     Touch off     Deadhead Stop [BTD00001]      -1.50     *
05-Oct-10 03:13:25 PM    Touch on    Deadhead Stop [BTD00001]

Must admit, I've never heard of 'Deadhead Stop' before.  I've now sent an adjustment request to TL.

[ozbob]

Thanks for sharing this experience STB.   Hope it doesn't happen too often!

[colinw]

I have heard of keeping other RFID cards near it as a problem, although I've never experienced it actually permanently breaking the card. UQ student cards as I understand are RFID and I have had some trouble when I have the go card too close to it and the card reader, but I have worked out I can have them in opposite sides of my wallet and it works fine.

I have my work RFID card in the same wallet as my Go Card.  So far no problems.

Colinw's dumb question of the day ... what would happen if I were to tag on to the system at my local RAIL station - Kuraby - then board a BUS at the stop outside without tagging on, and then tag off at the stop near work?  Idle minds want to know ...

[somebody]

Colinw's dumb question of the day ... what would happen if I were to tag on to the system at my local RAIL station - Kuraby - then board a BUS at the stop outside without tagging on, and then tag off at the stop near work?  Idle minds want to know ...

I'd say you'd receive two fixed fares: a $5 one for not tagging off the train trip, and then when you tagged off the bus it would consider it a tag on, and you would then imminently get a fixed fare for that.

[Jonno]

This is the bit I don't get.  The system should be able to work out the start and end zone and calculate the fare!!!!

[somebody]

This is the bit I don't get.  The system should be able to work out the start and end zone and calculate the fare!!!!

Buses do not have unidirectional gates.  So they cannot tell the difference between a tag on and a tag off.

This situation should never happen.  Wouldn't the bus driver say something if you don't tag on?  A better question is what happens if you don't tag off the train and then tag on & off on a bus.  In that case it has enough info to calculate the fare, but I am not sure it gets it right.

[Golliwog]

Buses do so have unidirectional readers. The rear readers are touch off only. Except for the one time it happened in error for me and I got charged extra but I talked to TL about it, they agreed and refunded me the extra I was charged. This was a year ago but you still aren't allowed to board from the rear door so I don't see why they would have changed this.

[somebody]

Buses do so have unidirectional readers. The rear readers are touch off only. Except for the one time it happened in error for me and I got charged extra but I talked to TL about it, they agreed and refunded me the extra I was charged. This was a year ago but you still aren't allowed to board from the rear door so I don't see why they would have changed this.

I haven't heard of that!  CityGlider would need to have 2 front door only type readers.  If you are correct, you would think they could disallow "cancel touch on" from the rear reader!

But it's irrelevant to the discussion at hand, unless you exit from the rear door.

[Golliwog]

I agree its irrelevant, just a random tidbit of information. I would agree that you wouldn't be able to get on the bus without having touched the front reader which should set off a flat fee, but would then start another journey for that trip so should charge you correctly for the bus portion.

Hypothetical here, but I think there is a way of getting on a bus without touching on. I've noticed that the readers with the broken beepers still flash the lights, but also on busy routes (in my case the 109) that the lights are usually still on from the person touching on before you. So could you not hold you card close enough to the reader to make it look like you touched and just keep walking? Of course theres no way to know if your bus is going to have a broken beeper or not, and I also think that theres a tally that shows on the drivers screen so they would notice that you weren't counted.

[Otto]

I also think that theres a tally that shows on the drivers screen so they would notice that you weren't counted.

That will remain my little secret !! 

[STB]

Have had something odd just happen to me.  I touched on at Southbank this evening and touched off at Wellington Pt this evening (I did see the amount remaining as $17.47), and I just logged into my account to check it out and it's got my amount remaining at $15.38 ie: It's got me touched on at Southbank but not me touching off at Wellington Pt. Hmm...

[ClintonL94]

Have had something odd just happen to me.  I touched on at Southbank this evening and touched off at Wellington Pt this evening (I did see the amount remaining as $17.47), and I just logged into my account to check it out and it's got my amount remaining at $15.38 ie: It's got me touched on at Southbank but not me touching off at Wellington Pt. Hmm...

Please wait up to 24 hours for a transaction to process, the bus needs to head back to a depot to sync the data I believe. Train stations are different as the readers are in a permanent place and get updated almost immediately.

[Otto]

Please wait up to 24 hours for a transaction to process, the bus needs to head back to a depot to sync the data I believe. Train stations are different as the readers are in a permanent place and get updated almost immediately.

Correct !

We do get passengers boarding buses and receiving 'Insufficient Funds' messages just after they have topped up. I just explain that it can take up to 24 hours to be loaded onto the bus systems and I just let them travel anyway, but to please keep in mind that they should try to recharge at least a day before their credit runs out... I also tell them about the auto topup option which many still do not know about.

[STB]

Have had something odd just happen to me.  I touched on at Southbank this evening and touched off at Wellington Pt this evening (I did see the amount remaining as $17.47), and I just logged into my account to check it out and it's got my amount remaining at $15.38 ie: It's got me touched on at Southbank but not me touching off at Wellington Pt. Hmm...

Please wait up to 24 hours for a transaction to process, the bus needs to head back to a depot to sync the data I believe. Train stations are different as the readers are in a permanent place and get updated almost immediately.

It was a train station, that's why I found it odd!  I already know about the 24hr rule with buses.

[ozbob]

Similar thing happened one day at Darra too STB.  The card appeared to work normally at the platform but online not recorded.

[p858snake]

Some train stuff sometimes take 24+ hrs (I've had a note topup on a AVM take that)

[Mobility]

I used Go Card for one week, because after that I realised it had cost more than paper tickets, even though paper ticket prices had been put up by 40% and in that week I traveled one zone to work each day instead of three zones as I normally do (I was working for the same company at a different location for that week).

The reason for this is that there are no weekly or daily tickets with Go Card, you pay full fare for each single trip (except now they have transfers within the same hour).

Another problem with Go Card is the gates. (1) The gate posts are so thick they take up about half the space the gates occupy, so the entry space is halved, since the entrances at the stations were not widened when they were installed. It was bad enough in peak times before the gates were installed. (2) EAch person has to swipe and wait for the gates to open. Add to that people who fumble the swipe or have a technical hitch. (3) People have to go through each gate single file in succession. They can't just walk through abreast. It also means slower people will hold up faster people,

Whatever Go Card is saving Translink in fare evasion must be far outweighed by the cost in time and money by users. This may reduce the number of customers and reduce revenue more than would fare evasion.

[Derwan]

Several gates on both sides of concourse at Central have been out of action for several days!  Not good!   

[Golliwog]

Oh? They're still out? I went through at like 7pm Tuesday evening and noticed that. I thought it was just a staff saving thing so they only needed one staff member to man the gates to let paper tickets through. I wonder whats up.

[STB]

I seem to be having quite a bit of trouble checking my Go Card account lately.  Everytime I log in (on multiple computers and different internet connections) all I get is either a blank screen (Firefox) or an error - 'Internet Explorer cannot reach this page' (IE8).

Has anyone else had this problem?

[Emmie]

I was at Central yesterday afternoon, waiting for the Shorncliffe train. Heaps of young people getting the train to the Boondall Entertainment Centre for a major event. Constant announcements from the speakers warning people that 'your ticket to the BEC does NOT include the cost of your ticket to Boondall, and you must by a separate railway ticket'. My thought was - well, why not?  It's standard these days that tickets to football matches include the cost of PT to Milton or Woollongabba, so why can't they have the same arrangement for Boondall, and encourage PT use?

[ozbob]

I think it is up to the organisers of the entertainment concert, event etc. to contribute a cost to TransLink so that public transport is part of the admission cost.  The organisers of the Ekka also refuse to integrate public transport as part of the admission (despite the free shuttle buses and hence railway patrons being slugged the extra fare to get to Exhibition station).  I guess the concert organisers haven't contributed either.  From a community view point I agree though that organisers should think it through a bit more.

[ozbob]

@STB  I have attempted to log in now, and it is hanging.  Seems as though might be some issues ...

[ozbob]

Sent them a tweet

Robert Dow   Robert_Dow
 
@TransLinkSEQ Go card log in is intermittently hanging. https://www.seqits.com.au/webtix/ when attempting to log in account. Thanks. less than 10 seconds ago via web in reply to TransLinkSEQ

[somebody]

I was at Central yesterday afternoon, waiting for the Shorncliffe train. Heaps of young people getting the train to the Boondall Entertainment Centre for a major event. Constant announcements from the speakers warning people that 'your ticket to the BEC does NOT include the cost of your ticket to Boondall, and you must by a separate railway ticket'. My thought was - well, why not?  It's standard these days that tickets to football matches include the cost of PT to Milton or Woollongabba, so why can't they have the same arrangement for Boondall, and encourage PT use?

I think that it is largely to encourage drivers to pay $10 each to park!

[ozbob]

Just tried again for the go card login, still no go! 

No response to my tweet.

[ozbob]

Appears to be working now.  Logged in and full functionality.

[STB]

Thanks for that.  It's working on my end now too.