Suggestions for improving the Go Card!

[ozbob]

It might be worthwhile if folks posted ideas for improving the go card  in a thread.  That way it could be sent to Go HQ for their pontification.

I think the fare structure deficiencies have been well identified already.

A few others to get going so to speak 

1. Static touch devices (same as the railway stations) be placed in the major underground bus stations and perhaps key bus stations on the busways.  This would over come the present difficulties with the GPS issues and would allow very fast loading for go enabled bus passengers.  Similarly would facilitate touching off as well.

2. The online card history default to the last 20 transactions on login. Easy to program.

3. The beep noise when touching off / on at railway stations be made louder.

[Mozz]

All good suggestions may I also add:

1. gates at large stations which work much more quickly to open and close (if the intent is to let only a single person using a gocard through at a time)

2. authentication storage eg gocard number and password rather than re-authenticating each and every time (opt in of course)

3. email advice on the 1st of each month regarding gocard transactions completed the previous month

4. email and sms advice when balance drops below $10

5. additional devices on the platforms/buses/ferry stations to allow users to check their balance

6. immediate email and sms advice of any penalty received to allow users to take the appropriate action

Will probably think of more but I am on my third glass of red

7. Promote the gocard with another hook eg all registered gocard users will be emailed/sms with details of delays/incidents etc on their usual respective lines

[ozbob]

I think the email advices are a great idea, particularly when a penalty is registered on an user's account.

Keep them coming!



The new 6.30am Oxley to City service is rumoured  to have a dining car ..

[Huggies]

1. Static touch devices (same as the railway stations) be placed in the major underground bus stations and perhaps key bus stations on the busways.  This would over come the present difficulties with the GPS issues and would allow very fast loading for go enabled bus passengers.  Similarly would facilitate touching off as well.

How would bus drivers verify that people have touched on ? Could lead to people not touching on at the station and thus maybe lead to fair evasion.

* Need A.V.V.M.'s at major bus interchanges and stations which can make it easier for people to top up their Go Card before boarding the bus.

* A.V.V.M.'s need to except coinage as form of payment for Go Card top up.

[ozbob]

Fair comment Huggies, but I think we need to just accept that the majority will touch on.  Railway stations are essentially on an honour system, I see the major bus stations as no different.  There will always be the possibility of TTO check anyway.

If the super buses 150 pax come into being I think touching before boarding at the key stations will be essential.

Agree strongly with your point about AVVMs at major bus stations, critical.

[dwb]

Here's a bunch of ideas for things that Translink could do to improve the Go card implementation that I was mulling over when I was designing the survey at http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=948743

Not all these ideas made it into the survey as I wanted to keep it simple. Sorry for any duplication.


1. Maintaining paper tickets until smart card is broadly accepted by the community, functioning at the required level and offering a suite of products that match current and future user demands)

2. Developing and offering for sale a larger range of fare packages on smart card

3. Developing and implementing post-paid monthly 'caps' (based on mobile phone caps where a user selects their cap value and receives a bigger discount the bigger the value, this could be based on use not zones)

4. Providing significant discounts for smart card users to promote cashless boarding

5. Providing discounts for higher-use passengers to promote an increasing mode-share to PT and ensure equitable charges for those who travel long distances

6. Providing an off-peak travel discount on smart card to manage travel demand and to ensure Go is not more expensive than paper tickets

7. Implementing a daily travel cap on smart card based on the zones and journeys travelled that day

8. Maintaining paper ticket price increases close to or below CPI

9. Monitoring travel demand data and implementing service improvements

10. Focusing smart card distribution at major destinations such as universities and large organizations

11. Expanding smart card payment to include services such as candy machines, bike lockers and carparking

12. Investigating the potential for Go card to function as an electronic ticket to major major sporting venues such as Suncorp Stadium, the Gabba and Skilled Park

13. Installing smart card top-up and balance machines at all busway stations and major interchanges

14. Selling smart card to passengers waiting for afternoon peak hour bus services in the city

15. Introducing smart card (Go) payment for metered taxis in the Translink coverage area

16. Publishing a quarterly Translink newsletter which informs readers about Translink?s plans, current projects and service improvements

17. Adjust timetables for accuracy on a regular (6-12 month) basis

18. Expand and improve the accuracy of real time info signs

19. Launch a ?next bus? service via sms so passengers can text to find when their next bus is due

20. Measuring and publishing quarterly service quality indicators specific to operators and routes (eg reliability of on time running, proportion of scheduled services run, customer satisfaction levels)

21. Improving the graphical user interface of the 'value adding and ticket machines' especially for use by bus passengers

22. Allowing the sale of weekly paper tickets via the 'value adding and ticket machines'

23. Rewarding early Go card adopters (those who register and use before end June 08) with a $50 credit to their account (forfeited if the card is not swiped for any journeys in June

24. Integrating Airtrain payment with Go card (either at existing cost or preferably renegotiate contracts to allow integration with the zonal system ? perhaps at zone 17 or 18)

25. Promoting the Go card and Translink to visitors through a sales and info kiosk at the airport

26. Upgrading the BCC Queen St mall info kiosk to a full service kiosk (ie sell, register and value add on Go card)

27. Allowing an offset to be claimed for travel costs incurred by Go card against car registration fees for cars registered under the same name as the cardholder and with a registered address within the Translink service coverage area (this will promote more car users to use PT more often) ? upon the success of such a policy QT may even look to raise car registration costs within SEQ to further the incentive

28. Running a series of television advertisements to educate the community about Go card

29. Improving the Go card registration process for example remove the need to telephone the contact centre to set the password

30. Implementing a refund and contact process via the web portal and ensure all valid refunds are processed within 15 business days

31. Exploring future options for automatic fare refunds where the service is significantly delayed or a free fare where the service is significantly late
32. Exploring opportunities for a city fleet of cars for hire by payment with Go (ie based on the concept of rentable city bikes)

[dwb]

oh and I forgot a really simple one!

CLEAR AND CONCISE COMMUNICATION FROM THE GO CARD TEAM - we need to know about bugs, we need to know timetables for updates, we need to know expected cost increases and new fare structures, etc etc.

[GOody]

1. Airtrain and Surfside bus integration.
2. Allow the history of unregistered cards be viewable online, but no topups allowed via the creation of an anonymous account.
3. Ensure that all stops have names registered against them (I believe there are still Bus Stops that have no name in the TL system).
4. Allow for prepaid type tickets (such as the books of Airtrain x10 tickets) or CitySights to be stored on the card.
5. Some more rewards for people who are early adopters, eg free travel day or a 75% off day or something similar.
6. Competitions based on usage (eg 1 entry for each $ spent on registered cards) drawn each month for $50 credit or some other travel type of prize.
7. The implementation of a travel delay compensation package for Go card users (eg refund of journey cost if train/bus/ferry delayed for more than x minutes)
8. Make the smartcard readers on the Ticket Vending machines stronger so you don't have to move the card around as much for it to be read.

I'm sure there is more, but that's what I've come up with relatively quickly.

[ozbob]

   ....

Thanks for the suggestions!  Keep them coming, and we can then parcel them all up and send them into go HQ!

[#Metro]

Melbourne Knows what it is doing.
http://www.myki.com.au/use-myki_best-fare-free-metro.aspx

myki options

myki gives you the best fare for the way that you travel, and there are two kinds of 'stored value' you can have on your myki. They are myki money and myki pass.

myki money is a dollar amount you specify that's stored on your card. You don't have to think about zones or times, myki does it all for you and gives you the best fare for your journey. Fares are calculated according to where and when you travel - and capped to the applicable 2 hour, daily or weekly (Monday - Sunday) fare, so myki pass is great for commuters and occasional travellers.

myki pass is a stored travel pass valid for a certain period (7 days or 28-365 days). You specify the exact duration of your myki pass - either 7 days or anywhere between 28 and 365 consecutive travel days. So if you know you'll be travelling regularly, you can store a myki pass on your myki.

[stephenk]

7. The implementation of a travel delay compensation package for Go card users (eg refund of journey cost if train/bus/ferry delayed for more than x minutes)

This should be implemented for all users. In the UK, if you are delayed by more than 15mins on the Tube, or 30mins on National Rail, you can get the whole cost of the single journey back.

[Zoiks]

This could go under a few headings... but
On the busway open day, I asked one of the ladies handing out go cards (I have not once seen them handing out student cards btw) if she knew anything on a new fare system coming. She pointed to me to another lady who said expect june/july and similar to current ticketing options.

Hopefully this is the truth and they have finally awoken to the fact that its rare to find someone who likes the current system or uses their cards more then a few times.

[ozbob]

The online top up period is now 60 days (was 28 days) see --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=486.msg3712#msg3712

[dwb]

they don't hand out student ones cos they don't want people abusing a concession discount.

[Zoiks]

Thats crap. Students are the ones that are on a lower budget then adults generally and as such could do with the handout more. The excuse that they dont want people abusing the concession would easily be fixed by having ticket checkers that actually had card readers

[ozbob]

It should be an easy matter for Translink to hand out concession cards, but programmed such that they cannot be used until activated via Go card HQ and verification by user with appropriate entitlement (Full Time Tertiary Student, Aged Pensioner, DVA pensioners and so forth).  On the surface the very people that could be benefit from a 'free card' are not afforded the same opportunity with the mass giveaway of normal adult cards but no concession cards.

This way more equitable.  Just some ideas.

Cheers
Ozbob

[ozbob]

If view of the ever escalating delays in go card users in getting refunds of excess fares and penalties there must be attempts at expediting the whole process. All refunds should be processed (credited back) within two working days . Some people are waiting 20 days or more now, and this is not satisfactory at all.  Particularly if copping an incorrect penalty, phantom fare, double touch, wrong zones and so forth, virtually daily or more often.
This is just forcing people to stop using the card.

[ozbob]

If you have any more suggestions please post here or send in via our feedback mailer --> http://backontrack.org/contact/ by the weekend.

Hopefully I will have time to compile all the suggestions in this thread so far and send into Translink for consideration early next week.  No harm in trying.

Cheers
Ozbob

[dwb]

Considering the way fares are refunded, ie the whole fare not the difference, no wonder it takes them time - they would actually be losing money on it. I would suggest actually waiting until there are a few errors, report them all and just keep going about your business - no point stressing about $3, just remember to check back and see if they've credited you within 1-2 weeks.

[Mozz]

I see it more as situation whereby transaction errors should actually be a rare event. Smart card systems such as this one have been implemented many times in locations all around the world. GPS errors, software coding errors, all sorts of other errors should not be occuring.  GoCard commuters should continue to highlight each and every error to help sort out the situation sooner rather than later. As has been pointed out on this site, the majority of problems are occuring on the buses and the demise of the very popular 10 trip ticket is imminent, very soon.

I must admit I had a laugh at the traditionally poor student population flocking to the gocard for the simple reason that they know they will get free fares due to ongoing issues. If I was in a position of responsibility this single fact would cause a significant review of the whole rollout let alone the other issues which have been widely canvassed across the general media.

[ozbob]

Many people are copping double fares daily.  If they wait they cannot afford to keep using the card.

There is no reason why the refunds cannot be processed promptly, it is non-nonsensical at the moment.

The end result is they revert back to paper.  The crunch will be when the ten trippers are pulled on BT.

The other aspect is unregistered users MUST claim immediately as they only have  a very limited window to check transactions, and once that passed they have lost their money.

[dwb]

Perth has some interesting fare ideas, such as the 60min rule, and the free travel zone.
See here!

[dwb]

distribution of free cards and promoted uptake by groups such as pensioners and students would be achieved much more effectively by direct distribution to those groups via the following methods (rather than the random hand out of cards):

uni - mail out to all f/t students enrolled at QUT, GU, UQ (and other minors + TAFE)
       OR point of activity distribution, open days at uni, the UQ bus stations and 109,139, 169 and 209, 412 routes, and at KG busway and Mt Gravatt busway stations

pensioner - via direct mail to qld registered pensioners or handed out via pensioner groups/ support agencies etc

in fact, even the "general community" would benefit much more on a route by route concentrated distribution basis.  ie Translink officers could sell the cards with $10 credit on them for $10 in Adelaide St in the afternoon peak.  Passengers can then board their service and try that very afternoon using Go.  This would be concentrated on specific routes at a time ie 203,204/ 174/175, 199/196/197.  There could be cards without cash on them which are given out for free... however passengers wouldn't be able to use this on the first service they board as they'd have to charge up first.  Of course, you wouldn't really want Translink doing this until the bugs have been resolved!

[Baysider]

There needs to be a facility set up so that you can log a Go Card refund request without calling 13 12 30.  I have called this line twice over a period of 9 weeks trying to obtain a refund.  Each time the version of events that has been logged has not been what I have told the operator, and the refund has been refused for invalid reasons.  When you do try to put something in writing they respond by saying you must call 13 12 30.  Surely it wouldn't be too hard to set up an internet feedback page?

[ozbob]

Thanks for your comments.  We agree absolutely Baysider about the refunds. It is a farce of the highest order and we have constantly called for this be expedited. It should be instant or just a few hours. Goodness, it is just electronic transfer stuff.

We are going to suggest that at major stations and so forth that go card help booths be set up. Here, users could get issues resolved in a timely manner, and also they could act as user education for those people on the go card learning curve ....

[#Metro]

I've read the latest fares idea from the TTA. They are about as complex as mobile phone deals. It seems that we will be able to do everything with our go card, except for catch public transport!

Why is it so hard to just keep it simple?
Just have daily, weekly, monthly, and stored value. Pay once for a whole day's worth of travel, and then that is all you pay for.
Is that so hard? This is how the paper tickets work- pay once during the day, not every time you complete a touch on/off.

And put those big clunky ticket machines at busway stations. And actually put the zones and busway maps and ferry maps on the touch screens- currently you can only select rail stations by touch- a nightmare if you want to transfer to anything else.

I just don't understand why something so obvious is overlooked.

[Emmie]

And put those big clunky ticket machines at busway stations. And actually put the zones and busway maps and ferry maps on the touch screens- currently you can only select rail stations by touch- a nightmare if you want to transfer to anything else.

I just don't understand why something so obvious is overlooked.

I agree - I use the 2 bus stops at University of Queensland all the time.  They must be amongst the largest in Brisbane, yet there is no mechanism for people to purchase tickets, except from the bus driver.  During peak hour in term time, there is usually a ticket seller there, but at other times, it is a major cause of delay to the bus schedules.  It has got worse, probably, since the elimination of the 10 trip tickets, which at least could be purchased locally at newsagents on campus.

Emmie

[mufreight]

Suggestion made by a LOL on the train from Ipswich,
The best improvement that she could suggest is to cut it (the go card) up, the idea has merit.

[verbatim9]

Have the Go Card automatically cap the fare at Daily, Weekly or Monthly tickets. The Melbourne Myki system will do that from Stage 1. Taller readers at train stations with biggers screens, and turn the sound/beeps back on at readers on the busses.

[verbatim9]

Have Full service ticket machines at Major busway stops especially Kelvin Grove, King George Square, South Bank, Woollongabba  Bus Station, that aacept credit card payments with pin numbers. Why isnt the credit card function working on the tickets machines at stations?

[ozbob]

Thanks for your suggestions Verbatim9.  All excellent and ones we have pushed relentlessly, and will continue to do so.

I am hopeful that we might get some capped fare structures on the go card this year.

Regards
Bob

[dwb]

Problem: some readers don't function correctly at a high frequency and some people are too stupid to try to use the left rather than right reader, even if it didn't work for the three people in front of them

Eg: one rear reader on my bus this morning wasn't working, all others were fine but ppl kept shuffling off trying the same reader two or three times, never switching to the other reader, getting really frustrated with all the errors then giving up, even when people successfully used the other reader - and I'm talking about 5 people one after the other!

Suggested solution: Drivers should do a test on each reader each morning, if a specific reader is malfunctioning, it should be covered with a canvas bag that says "use other reader". It should then be inspected by a technician and fixed at end of day/wk.  If the reader starts malfunctioning during the day at a high frequency it should also be covered.

[dwb]

Just a short note on my last post:

The bus I got this morning didn't have functioning equipment, the driver had written a note on the console and everyone boarded so quickly that he had to stop at two different stops so as not to get too far ahead of schedule.

I'm reasonably a fan of the idea of free PT and this just makes me want it even more! And yes of course nothing is free but seeing as the subsidy is already 2/3 it would seem to make sense from an efficiency perspective to make it entirely free - esp as use would be boosted so much as to be able to offset many of the very expensive road projects! But that is a reasonably radical idea and I'm getting off track!

[STB]

I'm reasonably a fan of the idea of free PT and this just makes me want it even more! And yes of course nothing is free but seeing as the subsidy is already 2/3 it would seem to make sense from an efficiency perspective to make it entirely free - esp as use would be boosted so much as to be able to offset many of the very expensive road projects! But that is a reasonably radical idea and I'm getting off track!

Yes, good idea...and you also find it's a good idea to paying huge amounts of tax to cover the free travel, then by all means, push your idea to get it to happen

You do realize it costs millions of dollars to run public transport, that includes paying the drivers, fuel, maintenance, depot maintenance, expanding the depot to hold more buses or trains, running the routes in the first place, electricity, gas, wages for all the staff at the depot and the list goes on...

Regarding your idea of covering up the faulty readers, I can happily say that I do find that idea a good genuine idea.

[verbatim9]

Was Recently in Melbourne and they have an Sunday Ticket for $3.10 that can be utilised for all, for unlimited Travel from 12am Sunday morning to last Service Sunday late, travelling within the whole of Greater Melbourne. Surely Translink could consider reprogramming the Go Card Terminals to charge everyone who makes more then one trip on a Sunday to cap the fare at $3.10 something similar to Melbourne. This would in turn encourage more use and maybe make some routes pay for themselves on a Sunday. 

[mark_from_briz]

Improved Gocard touch on /off machines (suburban post design)
The lcd screens are really small, easialy scratched and unreadable in sunlight

Central touch on /off gates, the response time for gates is to slow, I should be able to touch off and not have to slow my walking pace  to wait for the gate to open.

The Main ticket/gocard machines are completely not human friendly

The screen refreshes slowly, adn the overall response time to screen presses is way to clow
leading to queueing up of multiple  frustrated screen presses.

Only able to select by station name (alphabetically  Tough luck if you want Zilmeere) or by selecting the relevant rail line
and zooming in (very slowly).
If you have zoomed in and your station doesn't fit on the screen you cannot "grab and drag" the map to a new location you have to slowly zoom out and start again, causing much hilarity and joy for the 50 people queued behind you)

Why not have the ability to select your ticket by zone, wouldn't that make sense since the ticketing is zonal
ie a zone two, adult return, ticket, three presses, simple like the old tvm

The coin return/ticket dispenser is at shin height (are these things even designed for humans to use)??

[K_Nikora]

Understand your frustration Mark, they are a clunky bit of machinery... Why they ever thought touch screen would be a good idea is anyone's guess.
The shin height dispenser is to allow for disabled access so the story goes. The slow gates are also because of this. Understandable, but does ANYONE walk that slow?

[Fares_Fair]

it makes a great cup coaster ... actually is isn't even good for that ! 
I would suggest you use a paper-ticket - it puts the 'go' back into train travel.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Sunbus610]

For those who may be interested, here is a fairly recent photo of an iFare (Smartcard) ticketing machine inside a bus (Citybus ~ Custom Coaches 515, Mercedes Benz O405NH) at Polley's Coaches of Gympie . As you can see these are much smaller and less bulky in comparison to TRANSLink's Cubic ticketing machines onboard buses.

[dwb]

Great pic there! Gympie is covered by Qconnect yeah?
Did Polleys install the iFare system independent of Qconnect?
Given Cubic have a contractual period in SEQ we're unlikely to see a change for a while, however it seems extremely odd that a global player in the electronic ticketing business would have such clunky machinery as they do in the TL SEQ implementation!

I also wonder if iFare cards and Go card are technically compatible? I think it would be great if either card could be used on either system. In fact if Polleys already have iFare up and running I'm wondering if the State via Qconnect can purchase the same technology for all its regional services... that way, in a couple of years when Cubic's contract is up for renegotiation there will be two local players - competition is the best thing for innovation and service improvement!