Article: Card that costs you $900 more to take the train

[ozbob]

Article Sunshine Coast Daily 16th Feb 2008

Card that costs you $900 more to take the train

Click here! PDF

Well done Sunshine Coast Daily and North Coast Commuters for highlighting the impacts.

[ozbob]

I am not sure if the majority of commuters (80%) are as stated in the article by the Translink spokesperson are Monday to Friday 10 trip commuters, in any case the article above and many more letters to the editor, feedback examples and so forth have confirmed the inequitable base for the frequent user scheme on the Go Card. 

If the fare was equitable it might actually encourage people to use public transport at the weekends too!

Other states do the right thing, of course they are  the dumb states, Queensland is the smart state.  How silly of me ... LOL

The minister of Transport Mr John Mickel said on 612 ABC Radio Brisbane that people "concoct stories" when pointing out the increase of cost of travel with Go Card relative to present ticketing.

Are the high zone rail commuters concocting stories?

You be the judge.

[Fares_Fair]

I really wonder if the Hon. John Mickel, Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Affairs
is on top of his many portfolios. If the reports of his comments are correct, about these increases being 'concocted' then I'd have serious cause for concern about either the advice he is receiving from his department or a deliberate and intentional obfuscation of the facts. Either scenario is extremely serious.

The price hikes are plain for all to see.

We should earnestly pursue the retention of the current paper ticket fares from QR for Weekly, Monthly, 3 Month, 6 Month and 12 Month tickets .. or their incorporation into the GoCard.
But not at the cost of TRANSLink's 'whammy', of a 23% price slug !

[ozbob]

Welcome Fares_Fair,

I heard the "concoct stories" comment myself on live radio on the Spencer Howson breakfast show.

Incredible!!

[ozbob]

The other thing that is spun too, is that commuters have a choice between the Go Card and the integrated paper ticketing.  Attempts to get a straight answer to the the question " will paper tickets be retained indefinitely or until such time as equivalent are available on the Go Card? " are unanswered.

We have been told paper tickets will be available for the time being, no guarantees at all for the longer term.  All the more reason why an equitable fare structure is required on the Go Card.

The Go Card could be a huge positive for public transport, if only the fare structure had the incentives and equity that other places have adopted, eg. Perth Western Australia, London.

Minister Mickel and Translink, it is time to move forwards and take the commuters of SEQ with you.

[Derwan]

Yes - all those Sunshine Coast residents concocted their stories.  I mean - who travels to and from the city 5 days a week?   

[ozbob]

Media Release 17 February 2008

SEQ:  Is Go Card spin ?concocted??

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport has again called for an urgent review of the Go Card frequent user fare scheme.

On the 16th February the Sunshine Coast Daily published an article on some of the cost impacts of the Go Card fare structure on north coast rail commuters' transport costs.  In that article it is reported that that a Translink spokesman said the Go Card was designed for 5 day a week commuters. The article was in fact highlighting the cost impacts on the very commuters that the Go Card was designed for according to Translink!

This again demonstrates the failure to properly understand the cost impacts of the frequent user scheme, and follows on from Minister Mickel?s comments on 612 ABC Brisbane 5th February. When the Minister was queried on the point that some would pay more using the Go Card than paper tickets his response was that you could always "concoct" stories!  It would actually appear that Government and Translink spin is ?concocted? and not the demonstrated fare impacts.

Robert Dow said:

?The Translink Go Card is progressively being rolled out north of Brisbane.?

?Commuters are waking up to the significance of the high cost frequent user fare scheme.  RAIL Back On Track has previously highlighted some of the impacts of this inequitable fare structure (1).?

?The commuters that will suffer significant fare increases using the Go Card are as follows:

    * school children on the school buses
    * weekly ticket and monthly ticket users
    * seasonal rail pass users
    * former ten trip ticket users
    * daily multiple trip users
    * off peak travellers
    * and many Monday to Friday commuters!

Clearly the bulk of public transport commuters in south-east Queensland.?

?Calls have been made previously for guarantees that no commuters would be worse off using the Go Card.  Clearly this is not the case and explains the non response to these calls.?

?We are also reminded by Translink and others that commuters have a choice between the Go Card and the integrated paper ticketing.  This is the case now, but attempts to get a straight answer to the question  ?Will paper tickets be retained indefinitely or until such time as equivalent are available on the Go Card??  remain unanswered.?

?We have been told paper tickets will be available for the time being, no guarantees at all for the longer term.  All the more reason why an equitable fare structure is required on the Go Card.?

?I have conducted a short trial using the Go Card on bus, rail and CityCat this past week (2). The Go Card could be a huge positive for public transport. Other smart card transport ticketing systems in use, for example London and Perth, provide real incentives for uptake which just reflect the improvements in the efficiency of public transport and cost savings that can be achieved by a high uptake of the card.?

?The Translink Go Card frequent user scheme is a failure.  Base fares on the card should be reduced by 25%, retain the broad principle of the frequent user scheme and this would then provide an equitable fare and incentive to uptake. This would be easy to implement and would make the Go Card cost neutral for most relative to the present paper integrated ticketing.?

?RAIL Back On Track strongly supports the Go Card but not the fare structure.  If uptake of the card was greater than 90% there would be great efficiency gains and savings for our public transport systems.?

?The Go Card is presently a wasted opportunity because of the bizarre fare structure on the card and is very disappointing to many because of this,? said Robert Dow, spokesman for RAIL Back On Track.

References:

1. Go Card users do your sums!  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=443.0

2. My Go Card Trial. http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=486.0

Contact:

Robert  Dow

Administration
admin@backontrack.org RAIL Back On Track
http://backontrack.org

[Fares_Fair]

The article in Saturday's Sunshine Coast Daily story (16 February, 2008) failed to mention the fact that these huge increases will also affect commuters to the south of the Brisbane CBD. Also commuters to the east and west if more than 10 trips are made.

Helensvale ( Zone 12 ) cops a 14.29% hike and Nerang - Robina ( Zones 13 + ) receive a 23.08% rise
Sadly they suffer the same imposts as Sunshine Coast commuters for a 5 day week ( 10 trips ).

Post Script
I have finally received a response from TRANSLink to my question of a 23% cost increase for myself as a commuter from Zone 16. "Yes, your calculations are correct" they said.

 

[ozbob]

You mean the cost impacts are not "concocted" ?



Yes, even folks travelling less than 10 zones who do the odd extra trip and use an extension ticket are whacked!

I am sure the Gold Coast commuters will also be far from amused when the penny drops.  There has been some letters in the Gold Coast bulletin but I don't think most of the GC commuters realise the impacts yet.

[Zoiks]

The article in Saturday's Sunshine Coast Daily story (16 February, 2008) failed to mention the fact that these huge increases will also affect commuters to the south of the Brisbane CBD. Also commuters to the east and west if more than 10 trips are made.

Helensvale ( Zone 12 ) cops a 14.29% hike and Nerang - Robina ( Zones 13 + ) receive a 23.08% rise
Sadly they suffer the same imposts as Sunshine Coast commuters for a 5 day week ( 10 trips ).

Post Script
I have finally received a response from TRANSLink to my question of a 23% cost increase for myself as a commuter from Zone 16. "Yes, your calculations are correct" they said.

 

At least they are acknowledging the fact its costing more and not denying it or making up some stupid excuse without answering the question