Courier Mail Editorial - Mickel in the hot seat

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail editorial  29 April 2008 click here!

Mickel in the hot seat

Mickel in the hot seat
Article from: The Courier-Mail

April 29, 2008 12:00am

TRANSPORT Minister John Mickel has had a less-than-ideal run since he took over the portfolio from Paul Lucas.

The story of the introduction of the Go Card system for public transport commuters has only just managed to rise above the farcical and, in recent months, road congestion has gone from Queensland's major irritant to major culprit in the list of threats to the state's future economic health.

Dealing with policy problems of this magnitude means the minister and those paid to advise him should be sharp and focused.

The behaviour of the minister's office in relation to the taxpayer-funded jaunt on the Citytrain network by Labor Party members suggests that is far from the case.

[ozbob]

There was a letter to the editor in today's Courier Mail further highlighting the ongoing issues with the go card on buses.
It is beyond the farcical stage, there are major issues looming with the pending withdrawal of the 10 trippers from BT.

For our latest media release on the serious problems see --> 27 Apr 2008: Go card ? when will it be reliable? When will the fare be fair?

[bernied]

It should be noted that bus drivers have the ability to over ride the Go Card system. they can alter stop locations etc on their control panel.

I was talking to a bus driver the other day on an afternoon 136 service from Spring Hill and he made the comment that "bus drivers didn't feel like hassellig around overriding the system because they weren't paid enough"

The bus driver was more peeved off with his take home pay so he said the he couldn't be bothered doing any more

Yeah, bus drivers have it tough and may want more money, but don't we all feel the same way, that we don't get paid enough for the job that we do.

I think given my recent conversation with a BCC bus driver, i can see some validity in the Minister's statement, I more annoyed that he retracted it, only to please the BCC and Cr Newman who runs "TRANSLINk". That is quoted by a BCC Bus Driver

I am more interested in how a Lord Mayor has so much power in what is suppose to be a regional department.

[ozbob]

Minister Mickel withdrew his initial statement and apologised to the drivers for a very good reason.  The advice he had received on the time issue was incorrect.  The system had a time shift on the base time settings since April 6, and had nothing to do with the drivers. ( http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=743.0 )

Yes, bus drivers can manually locate the system when in GPS shadows and so forth.  The issue for many go card users is to one of alerting the drivers when problems (some folks touch and don't realise it is not working as well  ). This may be difficult in a full bus or an articulated bus.  All this adds to delays and frustration for passengers and drivers.

The Courier Mail has made a good point IMHO, that being the Minister's staff be sharp and focussed on these issues.  It is difficult for the Minister if his advice is not spot on.

The BCC are a major player in the go card.  They are facing some significant disruption on Brisbane Transport when the 10 trip tickets are withdrawn (scheduled for mid 2008) if the go card problems are not sorted, and at the moment they aren't.

Cheers
Ozbob