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

[colinw]

Had a red light and 'seek assistance' message at Kuraby station on the weekend.  The station was unattended, but the AVVM showed that I was in fact touched on, so I proceeded with my travel.

The history shows my touch on was indeed successful and no penalty fare was incurred.

If I wasn't familiar with the system and knew I could check my touch-in status with the AVVM, it could have been quite confusing.  Being a weekend there was nobody to seek assistance from.

[ozbob]

Rarely is there anyone to 'seek assistance from' ... lol

Mrs Ozbob and myself tempted fate and touched on at the reader western approach platform one Darra on Sunday morning. Bright sunlight it is virtually impossible to read the screen and see the colour flashes, or hear the beeps (inaudible) ...  the pilot reader trial at Oxley seems to have stalled as well. 

[colinw]

Even more than the dopey fare structure, the thing I hate about Go Card is how inappropriate the readers are for the outdoor environment at some stations.  They are fine indoors, or on overbridges at S2K Upgrade stations like Kuraby.  They are NOT OK anywhere they are exposed to the elements, and are basically unreadable in bright sunlight.

It amazes me how 3rd rate our installation of CUBIC's reader technology is compared to Oyster Card in London.  Did we buy the cut price option, or do we in Queensland just have a genius for stuffing up everything we touch?

[Golliwog]

Just going to put it out there that the 4 readers at the temporary platform at Ferny Grove are in no way at all covered and (so far) are doing fine. I suppose it'll be interesting to see how long they last.

[mufreight]

About time that the second reader on the main entrance/exit at Darra platform 1 was installed, quite a que there in the pm peak of people lineing up to touch off, perhaps they could install an upgraded version so that the screen is visible and the beeps are audible.

[ozbob]

Feedback received, thanks:

Three times recently (tonight is No. 3 incident) I've found that the outward-bound machine at Booval does not record 'touch offs' properly & have had to get Translink to provide a refund.  I keep asking when they are going to send someone to fix the machine - and of course - no answer.  It's a rubbish service by a rubbish company.  God only knows how many times they've cheated me out of my money because I didn't realise you have to check your account constantly.  It's theft, pure and simple.  I strongly advise other Ipswich travellers to be vigilant in checking their gocard balances, particularly the 'history' of the transactions.  I only found out accidentally.  Now I check it all the time.  Am sick to death of it.  Has anyone else had a problem there?

[Otto]

.
Reviewed my GoCard history from the last 2 months from the 3 GoCards my family use..

The GoCard that my wife uses to travel between Cleveland and Toowong each day had errors, Other 2 cards were spot on.

Have reclaimed back a total of $ 23.11 in incorrect fares and penalties .. On top of that was another $10 charge that TL had corrected from the incident on July 7 at Roma Street.

Made 2 calls to TransLink and found both operators to be most obliging ..

[STB]

The other day I got off the Glider at Donkin St and one of the rear readers had what looked like some sort of Asian language characters!  The other reader was fine.

[Otto]

It is now Aug 5th, and the GoCard adjustments ( refer to my above post ) have still not been made..

[somebody]

Had two incorrect fixed fares, which affected my FUD.  In one case it worked with me and one against.  Guess which one Translink factored in the effect on the FUD on the size of the correction?

[dwb]

I had issues topping up my card at one of the AVAMs today at Roma St, perhaps something to do with a bad card read (the EFTPOS machine said bad read but then continued on til eventually the machine just rejected me without explaining the reason). I've had a few issues recently with the magnetic strip, but mostly use chip in stores, it only seems to be ticket machines and on street carparking validators that use the strip any more.

Still, just got back from a long weekend in Melbourne where Myki was clumbsy at best, so I guess things aren't all that bad.

[Derwan]

I had issues topping up my card at one of the AVAMs today at Roma St

I never go NEAR the AVVM's... auto top-up is the way to go!  Don't even have to THINK about my card balance.

[SurfRail]

I prefer to have as few automated transactions go through my account as possible, so I still put $200 bucks on the card at an AVVM once a fortnight.

If we had an incentive to use auto top-up, like in Perth, that would probably be enough to shift me over, but then again in Perth the system is very heavily oriented towards that in more than just pricing incentives.  Most railway stations do not have add-value machines for instance.

[Otto]

I had issues topping up my card at one of the AVAMs today at Roma St

I never go NEAR the AVVM's... auto top-up is the way to go!  Don't even have to THINK about my card balance.

That's what I thought till I boarded a Surfside bus at Coolangatta and got the dreaded 'Insufficient Funds' message.. Totally shocked me.. How could this be with a $60 auto topup ?

When I got home, straight on the TL Go page and discovered TL had the wrong expiry date on my CC details...

Funny thing is, I have 3 active GoCards all using the same CC on auto topup and the other 2 were fine..  :conf

[ozbob]

Good instructions now for rail go card users platform 2 Roma St





Photographs R Dow 12th August 2011

[ozbob]

Receiving direct observer reports of many pax not scanning on/off on buses, particularly at peak.  A report of a pax on a 340 booked for not touching on.

[dwb]

Receiving direct observer reports of many pax not scanning on/off on buses, particularly at peak.  A report of a pax on a 340 booked for not touching on.

One report of one pax does not make "many"!

I catch LOTS of buses and I haven't seen any of this.

[Stillwater]

It may be that a bit of advertising campaign is needed -- a billboard with instructions on gocard use at city stations, a 'don't forget to touch off' message at the top of steps and escalators, and (at the main entrance/exit to stations) 'have you touched off?' message.

[somebody]

I've seen numerous people get off and not touch off, although nothing is to say that they didn't have a paper ticket, and I'm pretty sure I've seen people get on without successfully touching on on quite a few occasions.

[Stillwater]

The ticket nazis should do a stint at Nambour station.  I have observed young males (usually) getting off trains and either fumbling in their bags as they walk past go-card readers (not touching off), or waving their wallets at a distance from the reader so that a touch-off is not recorded (assuming there is a go-card in the wallet).  The only thing I can conclude is that they did not touch on in the first place, or they touched on and a wearing the fixed fare, because that is cheaper than the actual fare.

[STB]

I've seen numerous people get off and not touch off, although nothing is to say that they didn't have a paper ticket, and I'm pretty sure I've seen people get on without successfully touching on on quite a few occasions.

It's fairly common to see people ignore a red light and the loud beeps, especially when there is a lot of people boarding at the inner city stops.  I've noticed only a few drivers attempt to stop the passenger from continuing to board, to get them to re-touch their card.

I've also seen passengers touch their card to the reader and get the 'Insufficent $' message and then continue to board, the driver not bothering to step in.  Other instances include the driver just saying to continue to board even with that message, and in one instance that stunned me, a child touched her card to the reader and the 'Insufficent $' message came up with red lights, and the parent/carer with the child, told the child just to keep going, while the driver was busy selling a paper ticket to another passenger.  I gave them the 'I know you are fare evading' look!

[ozbob]

Receiving direct observer reports of many pax not scanning on/off on buses, particularly at peak.  A report of a pax on a 340 booked for not touching on.

One report of one pax does not make "many"!

I catch LOTS of buses and I haven't seen any of this.

It is not a report of one pax.  That was a separate issue.  The reports of many not actually touching are from prolonged periods of observations.

[STB]

I incurred a strange fixed fare today during my journey to QUT Kelvin Grove.  I touched onto route 333 as per normal (a touch on transfer) and touched off at the rear door where I noticed I got charged a fixed fare.  See below.
       
24-Aug-11 11:05:43 AM    Touch off    'QUT Kelvin Grove' Station (OB) - Platform 2 [BT000889]    -2.50    *
24-Aug-11 11:05:43 AM    Touch on    'QUT Kelvin Grove' Station (OB) - Platform 2 [BT000889]        
24-Aug-11 10:57:14 AM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]        
24-Aug-11 10:51:58 AM    Touch off    South Brisbane    -0.88

A touch on transfer then a touch on and touch off at the same time???

[HappyTrainGuy]

After a recent trip on the 130 from Turton Street to Cultural Centre.

27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]

Ummmm... Top notch GPS system you have there translink

[david]

Noticed this very strange record when I checked my Go Card transactions:

27-Aug-11 10:43:41 AM    Touch off    Deadhead Stop 2 [BTD00002]    -0.57    *
27-Aug-11 10:23:07 AM    Touch on    Deadhead Stop 2 [BTD00002]    

Was traveling on the 468. If only the bus was 45 seconds quicker into Indooroopilly, I might've had a Cancel Touch On recorded

[Fares_Fair]

After a recent trip on the 130 from Turton Street to Cultural Centre.

27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]

Ummmm... Top notch GPS system you have there translink

Noticed this very strange record when I checked my Go Card transactions:

27-Aug-11 10:43:41 AM    Touch off    Deadhead Stop 2 [BTD00002]    -0.57    *
27-Aug-11 10:23:07 AM    Touch on    Deadhead Stop 2 [BTD00002]    

Was traveling on the 468. If only the bus was 45 seconds quicker into Indooroopilly, I might've had a Cancel Touch On recorded

I incurred a strange fixed fare today during my journey to QUT Kelvin Grove.  I touched onto route 333 as per normal (a touch on transfer) and touched off at the rear door where I noticed I got charged a fixed fare.  See below.
       
24-Aug-11 11:05:43 AM    Touch off    'QUT Kelvin Grove' Station (OB) - Platform 2 [BT000889]    -2.50    *
24-Aug-11 11:05:43 AM    Touch on    'QUT Kelvin Grove' Station (OB) - Platform 2 [BT000889]        
24-Aug-11 10:57:14 AM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]        
24-Aug-11 10:51:58 AM    Touch off    South Brisbane    -0.88

A touch on transfer then a touch on and touch off at the same time???

I hope you all know what your country of origin is .. you may be heading back there !   

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[HappyTrainGuy]

No need to rely on the painfully slow translink bus services as I AM THE FLASH! ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27-Aug-11 02:46:22 PM    Touch off    Chermside Shopping Centre - Platform A [BT010173-3]    -0.19    *
27-Aug-11 02:11:55 PM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]       
27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]



edit: I sh%t you not. That's what it says according to translink. UQ to Cultural Centre in 61 seconds  

[somebody]

That's minus 61 seconds there.

[HappyTrainGuy]

The original.

27-Aug-11 02:46:22 PM    Touch off    Chermside Shopping Centre - Platform A [BT010173-3]    -0.19    *
27-Aug-11 02:11:55 PM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]        
27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]

[dwb]

The original.

27-Aug-11 02:46:22 PM    Touch off    Chermside Shopping Centre - Platform A [BT010173-3]    -0.19    *
27-Aug-11 02:11:55 PM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]        
27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]

Otto might be able to help out here, but when a driver has to do a manual stop select, does he/she then have to also press some key to finish using that stop, or when the bus moves forward is it meant to automatically recognise the next stop?

GPS is not always perfect and as such no system relying on it will ever be perfect but a couple of either bad times/locations does not a flawed system make.

[Fares_Fair]

.. it does make for an unreliable one then.

I wonder, at what error rate should it be considered 'flawed' ?
Given that people can be fined as fare evaders on its basis.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[somebody]

No system is perfect, and I don't ever want to go back to paper tickets.

[dwb]

.. it does make for an unreliable one then.

I wonder, at what error rate should it be considered 'flawed' ?
Given that people can be fined as fare evaders on its basis.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

I don't know. But at what rate should we consider you "flawed" and throw you out with the bathwater?  I presume you are typing on the forum using a computer, at what rate does that have issues? The world is imperfect, deal with it.

[Gazza]

Given that people can be fined as fare evaders on its basis.

Not really. When they check your card it shows the last few transactions, so it would be obvious if an error had occurred.

Agree with dwb anyway. Even technology you expect to behave itself 99.9% of the time, like iPhones, still act up and freeze and need resetting occasionally.

[STB]

The original.

27-Aug-11 02:46:22 PM    Touch off    Chermside Shopping Centre - Platform A [BT010173-3]    -0.19    *
27-Aug-11 02:11:55 PM    Touch on transfer    'Cultural Centre' Busway Station IB [BT010802]        
27-Aug-11 02:10:54 PM    Touch off    UQ Lakes [BT001882]    -1.57    *
27-Aug-11 01:45:15 PM    Touch on    'Eight Mile Plains' Busway Station [BT010824]

I'm a little bit confused here, how did you go from UQ Lakes to Chermside?  Seems to me that the driver put in the incorrect run and then didn't take much notice of which stops he manually put in, just thought it would work.

On another note, I've had another GPS issue again, this time I took a 222 from Stones Corner Busway Station to Langlands Park Busway Station.  No fixed fare since I touched off well within 20mins, but still....  Just waiting for the data to be uploaded to post.

[HappyTrainGuy]

I never went to UQ that day which is why I find it amusing. I got on the 130 (Which doesn't even stop at those two locations) on Mains Road approaching Turton Street (Showed up as getting on at Eight Mile Plains) and got off at the Cultural Centre (Showed up as getting off at UQ)  both of which are over a km away before transfering on to the 333 

[STB]

I never went to UQ that day which is why I find it amusing. I got on the 130 (Which doesn't even stop at those two locations) on Mains Road approaching Turton Street (Showed up as getting on at Eight Mile Plains) and got off at the Cultural Centre (Showed up as getting off at UQ)  both of which are over a km away before transfering on to the 333 

Sounds like a dopey driver putting in the wrong run into the DCU, then just manually overriding the system and putting in whatever stop in without taking notice of the highlighted stop on the DCU.

Or perhaps something more sinister...?

[Fares_Fair]

.. it does make for an unreliable one then.

I wonder, at what error rate should it be considered 'flawed' ?
Given that people can be fined as fare evaders on its basis.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

I don't know. But at what rate should we consider you "flawed" and throw you out with the bathwater?  I presume you are typing on the forum using a computer, at what rate does that have issues? The world is imperfect, deal with it.

Given that people can be fined as fare evaders on its basis actually makes it all the more important.
It's a salient point - and NOT one to be thrown out like bathwater.
The difference being that when this equipment fails (and yes nothing is perfect and they are possibly simpler than an iPhone for all we know)
but it's the users who are possibly fined for errors out of their control.
That is just plain wrong !

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Otto]

I never went to UQ that day which is why I find it amusing. I got on the 130 (Which doesn't even stop at those two locations) on Mains Road approaching Turton Street (Showed up as getting on at Eight Mile Plains) and got off at the Cultural Centre (Showed up as getting off at UQ)  both of which are over a km away before transfering on to the 333 

Sounds like a dopey driver putting in the wrong run into the DCU, then just manually overriding the system and putting in whatever stop in without taking notice of the highlighted stop on the DCU.

Or perhaps something more sinister...?

Or maybe a driver covering the run at short notice after his own work and does not have the relevant info for that trip, so has to make do with what he has access to..

[dwb]

Or maybe a driver covering the run at short notice after his own work and does not have the relevant info for that trip, so has to make do with what he has access to..

And as long as it is in the same zone, no biggie from my perspective.