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

[Arnz]

You get charged by the highest zone number you leave from, it will know if you travel through zone 1 (even without breaking journey), as most machines are programmed to their specific regions and zones.

For example, Start from Zone 3 (Moorooka), and end up in Zone 15 (Caloundra) via a transfer at Landsborough (Zone 13), you get charged with Zone 1-15.

[Gazza]

Not quite.  In his first trip, zone 2 was also charged for.

$1.57 is a 3 zone off peak concession right? So 3 to 5?

[somebody]

Not quite.  In his first trip, zone 2 was also charged for.

$1.57 is a 3 zone off peak concession right? So 3 to 5?

$1.76 was the charge for the 8:20am Birkdale to 10:09am Zillmere trip, which is the one which was incorrectly charged.

[STB]

The incorrect charge was the inbound trip to Zillmere.

Birkdale - Zillmere: Zone 1 to 5, correct charge is $2.01
For some reason I got charged a zone 1 to 4 fare which is $1.76

http://www.translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/fares/current-fares

[Gazza]

Ah, forgive my misreading. In that case, I haven't the slightest idea 

[ozbob]

The incorrect charge was the inbound trip to Zillmere.

Birkdale - Zillmere: Zone 1 to 5, correct charge is $2.01
For some reason I got charged a zone 1 to 4 fare which is $1.76

http://www.translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/fares/current-fares

  looks like still a few zone boundary issues with the code?

Huurrmph!

[ozbob]

Twitter

612brisbane
 
Good morning from 612 Breakfast. Tuesday trivia: Translink expects the 200 millionth go card trip will touch off somewhere this morning.
about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck

[Golliwog]

Actually, I meant to post this the other day, Friday morning both legs of my bus trip to UQ were free due to failed readers. What are the odds on that? Wouldn't have bothered me if I had had to pay though, I had already done over 10 journeys that week so the 3 Zone trip would have been something less than $1, IIRC $0.66?

On another note, apparently theres some coding issues with trips not involving touching off in zone 1. I've previously mentioned it with regards to route 77 and it not charging for going through zone 1 like it says it does, but I was told the other day of a trip on the train from the Gold Coast to Ferny Grove only charging for travel through Zones 3-16. Has anyone here had something similar happen?

[Otto]

The incorrect charge was the inbound trip to Zillmere.

Birkdale - Zillmere: Zone 1 to 5, correct charge is $2.01
For some reason I got charged a zone 1 to 4 fare which is $1.76

http://www.translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/fares/current-fares

Thanks for the post...

I just looked up the history for my OH who travels from Cleveland to Roma St and Roma Street to Toowong for work each day.. She is getting charged $4.72 each time ( 5 zones )... Bargain !!

[somebody]

I've noticed the same thing for Indooroopilly-Park Rd trips.  I was wondering if the clock was incorrect (1 zone peak fare = 2 zone off peak fare).

[Otto]

Just been on the phone to Translink..

Seems that you cannot update expiry dates for Student IDs online or over the phone.. I have to take my son to a GoCard agent to get his expiry updated...

Strange thing is, at the beginning of the school year when I set up his Student concession card ( as child Go had expired ), I was able to transfer funds from his expired card to his new concession card and enter in his expiry date from his student card..

So, why can I set up a new card and enter the ID expiry date without any checks from 3rd parties, but I am unable to update an existing Student Concession without a 3rd party to verify the ID card.. ??

[ClintonL94]

Just been on the phone to Translink..

Seems that you cannot update expiry dates for Student IDs online or over the phone.. I have to take my son to a GoCard agent to get his expiry updated...

Strange thing is, at the beginning of the school year when I set up his Student concession card ( as child Go had expired ), I was able to transfer funds from his expired card to his new concession card and enter in his expiry date from his student card..

So, why can I set up a new card and enter the ID expiry date without any checks from 3rd parties, but I am unable to update an existing Student Concession without a 3rd party to verify the ID card.. ??

Yeah there isn't exactly any proof of your child being a enrolled student over the phone. They need to see their student ID.

That's another reason why only adult go cards can be bought from ticket machines because there's no for proof for a adult go card.

My student ID card and go card expires 31st March 2011 and I'm a year 12 enrolled student until 31st December 2011.. Student IDs don't get updated until May! I may have to get my school to write a letter to confirm I'm enrolled to update my expiry date.

[STB]

Back from oblivion for this one post (aka new career/new uni/new life) as I've noticed something new and figured I'd better share it with all here.

I caught the route 66 from Normanby to QUT Kelvin Grove and noticed when I touched on (a touch on transfer), instead of the usual $***available, continuation, it appeared with the message "TRANSFER ACCEPTED", with one beep as if it was an Adult Go Card.

Obviously this seems like a recent thing of the software upgrades?

Must admit, I like the KISS measure of the message.

Now back to oblivion I go!

PS: Life is going well, I haven't had a day off in the past 4 weeks, so my Go Card is getting a Go Workout .  Behave yourselves .

[ozbob]

Thanks for dropping by STB, great to hear you are well.  Thanks for the message ..

[colinw]

Just had my first ever go card error, resulting in a free trip.

On Monday afternoon I caught the bus home from work.  Route 554, Eight Mile Plains busway station to Kuraby, due at EMP at 5:50PM.

Transaction history for Monday shows:

11-Apr-11 06:07:24 PM    Cancel touch on    Logan Central Plaza [52123]        
11-Apr-11 05:51:53 PM    Touch on    Logan Central Plaza [52123]        

I went nowhere near Logan Central Plaza, although the 554 does pass through there somewhat later on its very convoluted run from Garden City Interchange to Springwood via numerous back streets.

Touch on & off times appear correct, rest of details are dead wrong.  GPS error?

I'm treating it as a refund for the overcharge on my airtrain trip a couple of weeks ago, as I didn't have time to do the touch on/off shuffle at Eagle Jct.  Actually managed to talk my wife onto the airport train.  She is not impressed, we witnessed an assault on a transit officer at Bowen Hills.  As usual the Brisbane end of the trip managed to throw up problems and irritations, and the Sydney end was seamless until we left CityRail and hit HillsBus at Pennant Hills.

At least the whole family now has Go Cards at last.

[ozbob]

Due to a change of circumstances Mrs Ozbob required a new Go Card, ordered Monday night online.  Arrived in the mail yesterday, auto topup set up.  Excellent delivery time!  Mrs Ozbob is using it today.

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks ...

I thought I'd make some comments about the Go-Card system. A few days ago I saw a couple of dodgy young guys get off my train at Fortitude Valley, one with a go-card and one a paper ticket. It was morning peak hour so the station mezzine floor was fairly busy and the go-card guy tailgated another person through a turnstile, swiping his card which threw up the red "x" invalid mark, but the turnstile doors/flaps had not closed behind the previous person and so he got through no problems. I wouldn't be surprised if the other guy had an invalid paper ticket and just flashed it up as quickly moved past the QR staffer at the wide-open gates where other paper ticket holders have to go.

So it seems that not only is the go-card system fundamentally the worst implementation of a ticket system I have ever seen, it doesn't even do the job effectively that it replacing the manual paper ticket system was supposed to achieve!

As an engineer, I would have expected to have been soundly criticised or even sacked over the development and/or approval of such a ridiculous system as this Go-card implementation. The plinths that we must swipe on/off at the suburban stations are the worst piece of engineering I have ever seen, with extremely poor, non-intuitive sounds and unhelpful messages on an amazingly hard-to-read lcd screen that is totally unreadable when it is wet/raining or while wearing polarised sunglasses and with their high chance of read errors that are also confusing (one "Seek assistance" message I got, it did actually swipe on and I got a fine for not swiping off as had assumed the card didn't work and the following time the "Seek assistance" did not swipe me on, so got another fine) and this is on top of the 60% increase in cost of transport compared to the 12 month season pass I was using until the end of last year!
Whatever company it was that designed and built this system, I would make it my goal to never do business with such an organisation and if I was in management within QR it would seem the logical move would be to end the responsibilities of the client representative who signed off on the implementation. 

[ozbob]

Platform 2/3 Roma St reader is signed, there has been some confusion with this in the past.





Photographs R Dow 18th April 2011

[colinw]

Bus to work again today, 554 from Kuraby as usual.

The go card reader next to the driver packed up, and as a result several people got free rides because they were unable to do a cash top-up.

The reader on the far side of the door was working fine, so no problems for me (as I use auto top-up).

This was also the first bus I've been on which had spoken door warnings ("Doors opening, stand clear please", "Doors closing, stand clear please"). 

[#Metro]

Oh, I find those announcements annoying.

[Otto]

This was also the first bus I've been on which had spoken door warnings ("Doors opening, stand clear please", "Doors closing, stand clear please"). 

I'm glad we don't have that on BT buses.. That would drive me mad !! It's annoying enough being a passenger on a Veolia bus listening to that at every stop.. Funny thing is, the doors are usually shut by the time the 'Doors Closing' announcement is made..

[colinw]

Forgot to mention, the number of people who boarded the bus on its run along Stiller Dr, Kuraby, easily exceeded the number of people I saw waiting on the station for the next City & Ferny Grove train.  The 554 service from Kuraby is really starting to catch on, I'd say probably due to the number of Griffith Uni students who live in the area.  It is quite noticeable that on this route, fewer than 1 in 3 touch ons are of the "green light / full fare" variety - most are concessions.  During school term it is even more skewed, as it is very heavily used by Macgregor High students.

[Arnz]

On most of those Bustech bodied buses, those announcements can usually be turned off (or switched to the *BURR BEEP BURR BEEP* every time a door opens or close).  On most buses, it usually set to the *BURR BEEP BURR BEEP* by default.

Just some drivers don't bother to turn either system off.

On a on-topic note, had a bus yesturday that had the main reader not working, but side readers working.  He wasn't able to top up.

[colinw]

Has Clarks Logan City been renewing its fleet of late?  I'm getting an increasing number of these very new / modern looking Bustech bodied buses.

[ozbob]

This is interesting.  I was contacted by a punter who was rather confused about his go card.  He received a fixed fare when he touched on at Goodna rail recently.  He only travels on FlexiLink and then rail to Brisbane for a medical appointment, at regular intervals.   A 'phantom' touch appeared on his history.  He was no where at the location on the date and time (weeks between travel), this gave rise to the fixed fare because it was an isolated 'touch on'.  He contacted TransLink at my suggestion and after reviewing his travel history they did eventually agree to adjust.  The following comment was also made  by the operator "with the introduction of the $10 non touch off fee -  in future they will not be allowed to give a refund – except after viewing your history and checking that you are not in the habit of making touch off / touch on errors" ....

It does raise the question though, how on earth did he receive his phantom transaction?  The only explanations I can come up with is a database error somehow, or a misread for whatever reason of another card.

[Gazza]

Just noticed this today, if there is a 'bad read' the screen now says "Remove card and retouch"...Much more understandable 

[Derwan]

It does raise the question though, how on earth did he receive his phantom transaction?  The only explanations I can come up with is a database error somehow, or a misread for whatever reason of another card.

If I understand it correctly, the trip details are actually stored on the card itself.  (Otherwise the the independent readers such as the ones on buses and ferries wouldn't be able to determine the fare.)  The results of trips are then uploaded to the database to display online.

Somehow that card has registered the "phantom" touch.

[ClintonL94]

Has Clarks Logan City been renewing its fleet of late?  I'm getting an increasing number of these very new / modern looking Bustech bodied buses.

I know that their old coaches that normally get used for school routes are getting sold and getting replaced with new buses. There is capacity for about 150 buses at their Loganlea depot(only depot) and no room for expansion at this stage - the depot is full. They were offered the land beside them years ago but declined.

[Golliwog]

It does raise the question though, how on earth did he receive his phantom transaction?  The only explanations I can come up with is a database error somehow, or a misread for whatever reason of another card.

If I understand it correctly, the trip details are actually stored on the card itself.  (Otherwise the the independent readers such as the ones on buses and ferries wouldn't be able to determine the fare.)  The results of trips are then uploaded to the database to display online.

Somehow that card has registered the "phantom" touch.

I'm not so sure about that. Unless they've changed it. I remember once I somehow managed to touch off, touch on and touch off again all at the rear door of a bus due to a garbled screen and beeps. I called Translink later that day and they believed me and took my details but told me they couldn't see it yet as the bus hadn't yet gone back to the depot. I did get the refund btw.

[Derwan]

I'm not so sure about that. Unless they've changed it.

The information is uploaded from the card to the machine on the bus, which is uploaded to the database when the bus goes to the depot.

I'll explain what I mean.  Let's say you catch a train somewhere and then transfer to a bus.  How does the bus's machine know that it's a transfer?  All it knows is what's on the card.

Likewise if you do a top-up online, it stays in "limbo" until you touch on somewhere, at which time it's added to the card.

The card is the point of truth.  The online database is merely a copy of what the card has done and the current balance on the card.

[Gazza]

Further experimentation...I did a deliberate bad touch, and the red light stays on, perhaps to make it more obvious that there has been an error.

[Golliwog]

Ahhk, thanks Derwan. That makes sense. I would assume the card has limited memory though. I wonder how many trips before it resets? Or does it just keep the details of the current journey?

[ClintonL94]

I went nowhere near Logan Central Plaza, although the 554 does pass through there somewhat later on its very convoluted run from Garden City Interchange to Springwood via numerous back streets.

Touch on & off times appear correct, rest of details are dead wrong.  GPS error?

Sometimes drivers forget to tell the system what route they are doing and if it's inbound or outbound! 

Having said that, the driver can push the GPS button anywhere and tell the system that this stop is: In this case, Logan Central Plaza..

I once got charged a zone I didn't even travel in! I got on at South Bank and got off at Buranda. I checked my statement and it said I touched off at Mt Gravatt instead of Buranda. That'd be the driver telling the system we're at Mt Gravatt when we were really at Buranda...

[ozbob]

Short opinion piece by Terry Sweetman in Sunday Mail

From the Sunday Mail 5th June 2011 page 61

Fares fair but only way it seems

[Derwan]

The douche was obviously checking his balance online and hadn't actually touched on!

(One needs to touch on before the balance is added to the card.)

[ozbob]

I am sure TransLink have now contacted Mr Sweetman to suggest that is the case ...

Still it does beg the question of making that clearer to users ...

[Gazza]

Lol, what a knob.

[Fares_Fair]

The douche was obviously checking his balance online and hadn't actually touched on!

(One needs to touch on before the balance is added to the card.)

Does any of their documentation tell the customer that one needs to touch on for it to take effect ?
I confess, I do not use the auto top up feature so I am not familiar with its idiosyncrases.
If not - I think you are being extraordinarliy harsh with the name calling / criticism.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[somebody]

Yes, why is he a "douche" and a "knob"?

[Gazza]

http://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/go-card/auto-top-up

Because he could have just read the website.  Obviously to set  up auto top up he would've had to go via the website in order to do it. If he was having problems then, again, the website should be the first port of call....Which took longer? Writing the newspaper article complaining, or spending a minute using google to get an answer.

Things you need to know
To check your auto top-up transaction, click the 'summary' tab. The transaction appears in pending top up amounts.
When you set up auto top-up for the first time, your top up amount will be charged to your credit card immediately. It make take up to 48 hours for the initial top up to be loaded onto your go card. The next time your balance falls below $5, your auto top-up will be loaded onto your go card immediately.
You must touch on to a card reader within 180 days or the top up will be returned to your credit card.If you experience difficulties in setting up auto top-up, call 13 12 30.

So my point still stands, he is a knob.