TransLink Tracker Q4 2011-12

[ozbob]

Where are you?

[BrizCommuter]

Add TransLink's 2012/13 network plan to the list as well.

[somebody]

Add TransLink's 2012/13 network plan to the list as well.

I imagine that is not coming with the imminent repeal of the TTA Act.

[SurfRail]

Add TransLink's 2012/13 network plan to the list as well.

I imagine that is not coming with the imminent repeal of the TTA Act.

They have existed in one form or another since 2004 (when it was still part of TMR).  There will have to be one eventually.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

16th October 2012

Greetings,

Has anyone seen the TransLink Tracker for Quarter 4 (April - June), 2011/12.  The quarter concluded 3 and a half months ago ..

More bad news being buried?

Guess this is the new ' openness and transparency ' paradigm ... 

What a joke ..

Best wishes

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

[ozbob]

Transport in estimates tomorrow, late appearance of the TransLink tracker Q4 2011/12, just a coincidence?

Must be  ' open data ' ....   

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

18th October 2012

Transport

Greetings,

Following some serious questioning in the peoples house, Parliament, the Minister for Transport and Main Roads must be pleased that the Q4 TransLink Tracker has mysteriously appeared on the TransLink Website.
http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2010-11-quarterly-report-apr-to-jun.pdf

To treat the public with contempt will come back and bite you.

A quick scan of the Tracker confirms the diabolical situation with the fares ...

There are answers:  Check out our petition .. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/fare-review-for-translink-south-east-queensland-now.html

Major Newman (Ret'd) RAE, you have a major disgrace on your hands ...

Best wishes

Robert

Captain R B Dow (Ret'd) RAAMC

[ozbob]

Ease springs, year out  ... LOL

Sent to all outlets:

18th October 2012

Transport

Greetings,

Following some serious questioning in the peoples house, Parliament, the Minister for Transport and Main Roads must be pleased that the Q4 TransLink Tracker has mysteriously appeared on the TransLink Website.
http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2010-11-quarterly-report-apr-to-jun.pdf

To treat the public with contempt will come back and bite you.

A quick scan of the Tracker confirms the diabolical situation with the fares ...

There are answers:  Check out our petition .. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/fare-review-for-translink-south-east-queensland-now.html

Major Newman (Ret'd) RAE, you have a major disgrace on your hands ...

Best wishes

Robert

Captain R B Dow (Ret'd) RAAMC

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

18th October 2012

Re: Transport

Greetings,

Apologies, I was a year out ... fancy that?

Openness and transparency is a hall mark of the new state Government .. LOLOL

Don't wet yourself ...

Cheers
Robert

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

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland looks to chip away at smartcard driver licence



Couriermail --> Main Roads Director-General Michael Caltabiano defends Ben Gommer's carpark allocation as standard for A08 position

[ozbob]

The performance of the Minister for Transport and Main Roads in the Parliament estimates was concerning.  All he had to say was the ' Q4 TransLink Tracker has not been published ' ..

But why has it not been published?  Must be because of the data within.  As we know, there are two versions of the Tracker, a sanitised version for public consumption, and a more detailed version for the insiders. 

[ozbob]

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2012/2012_10_18_Estimates.pdf

Ms TRAD: Thank you very much. We will come back to that. Minister, welcome to your first
estimates as a minister. It has been 3½ months since the end of quarter 4, 2011-12. On Monday you
quoted patronage figures in your media release from quarter 1 of this year. Why has the Q4 tracker, the
first snapshot of public transport usage in your time as minister, not yet been released?

Mr EMERSON: I am a bit surprised by this question, I have to say, because I know that the
member for South Brisbane is the shadow minister for transport. I know that the Leader of the
Opposition, the former minister for transport, has now left the room, but she has admitted in interviews
that she is doing a lot more work now than she was doing when she was a minister. I would have
thought that the shadow minister for transport would be interested in her portfolio and would bother to
read reports that come out. If she had bothered to read the TransLink annual report she would have
seen that published. The report was not only published; it was also tabled in parliament. It not only
contains the figures for the year but also details the figure for the fourth quarter.
What it did show, of course, was that, in the final year of the previous government, 178 million
trips were taken in 2011-12. That was eight million fewer than the former transport minister, now Leader
of the Opposition, said would occur. It also showed that it was the fourth year in a row in which the
number of trips being taken on our public transport system fell—year after year after year after year—
under Labor's failed policies. Under the failed policies of the now Leader of the Opposition as transport
minister, public transport declined.
Going back to the question, the data that the shadow minister refers to has been published and
was tabled in parliament. I would urge her to look at page 65 of the TransLink annual report. If she does,
she will see quarter 4. I did interviews in the media about that TransLink annual report, and I would urge
her to go to that.
In the most recent quarter—I am glad that the member for South Brisbane has referred to it—after
year after year after year after year of decline in public transport usage under the previous Labor
government, we saw finally an encouraging start: an increase of more than one per cent, of more than
600,000, in that first quarter of July, August and September. There is a lot more work to be done but,
given we saw such an appalling record by Labor on public transport—year after year of decline—it is an
encouraging start to see the number of trips being taken on public transport finally starting to increase,
despite the abysmal record of Labor policies that drove people away from public transport year after
year.

CHAIR: Thank you, director-general. Member for South Brisbane.    
Ms TRAD: Thank you very much, Mr Chair. Thank you for your response to my previous answer regarding quarter 4. The figures that are in the annual report for TransLink are not comprehensive figures. I put it to you, minister, that in the actual quarterly report that is published by TransLink there area whole range of measures that are represented that the public can refer to, including customer satisfaction et cetera. This report has not been put on the website. It has not been made publicly available. Every other quarter for the last year has and the first quarter for this year has. Why are you hiding the fourth quarter? I seek leave to table a snapshot of the TransLink website which does not havethe report. Minister. What are you hiding?    
CHAIR: Leave granted.    
Ms TRAD: You are not going to answer?    
Mr EMERSON: The question the member for South Brisbane asked is why have we not published the quarter 4 results. That question was very clear. In fact, she claimed in her question that we had not published it. I made it very clear that, if she did her job properly, bothered to read the TransLink annual report—you would think that as the shadow minister for transport she would bother toread the TransLink annual report; I can only assume from the comments that she has made that she did not to read the TransLink annual report, or maybe she only looks at the glossy front page and the first couple of pages and does not get to page 65. But I would have thought that any hardworking transport shadow would have looked through the TransLink annual report. It is a pretty significant document. It isa pretty significant part, I would have assumed, of the member's shadow portfolio. But obviously—    
Ms TRAD: Okay, we are not going to get a straight answer from you, minister. It is clear that you    
are—    
CHAIR: Order! The minister is answering the question.    
Ms TRAD: He is not. With all due respect, he is not. He is filibustering.    
Mr EMERSON: I answered the question she asked. Her question was, why had not we publish edit. As I pointed out—and I point out again to the member for South Brisbane—if she bothered to read the TransLink annual report, which we published and which was tabled in parliament, she would have been aware that the Q 4 figure was contained in that document. If she had bothered to read the document—    
Ms TRAD: Minister, we are talking about one page compared to 20. Minister, you have not published quarter 4 figures. What are you hiding?    
CHAIR: Order. Let the minister finish and then you can have another go.    
Mr EMERSON: As I said, Mr Chair, again, the member for South Brisbane is wrong. We have published those figures. Not only were they published; they were tabled in parliament. I suspect that those people who are interested in public transport, who are interested in improving public transport,who are interested in getting an increase in patronage, would have looked at those figures with interest.Can I say that when it was published and when it was tabled in parliament I did several interviews with the media, who were interested in transport, about those figures—about the figures contained in the TransLink annual report. Clearly, the member for South Brisbane was not interested in public transport,was not interested in seeing the figures. But to be honest, I am not surprised given Labor's record of declines in public transport every year for the last four years, given that in the budget estimates hearing last year, when Labor was in power, their budget claimed that there would be 186 million trips being taken in 2011-12 and there were 178 million as a reality—eight million fewer than what Labor forecast would happen. I can only assume that either the member for South Brisbane was too lazy or too embarrassed to read the TransLink annual report, which detailed Labor's failure on public transport.    
Ms TRAD: Minister, I get back to my point about quarter 4. TransLink publishes a 20-page reportat the end of every quarter detailing all of the factors contributing to public transport and consumer satisfaction. I seek leave to table that.    
CHAIR: Leave granted.    
Ms TRAD: What you are referring to in the annual report is one page. So, Minister, you can only be hiding something. Let us get back to your rationale or your discussion around patronage which youso eloquently ended your previous answer on. I refer you to page 48 of the SDS. On page 48 of the SDS rail patronage sits at 55.1 million trips. We know from the corrected figure, which Mr Scales has confirmed, that this is not accurate. A correction was put out late last year and that figure should be51 million. Minister, why do the figures not add up?    
Mr EMERSON: Can I thank the member for South Brisbane. I will get on to the second part of her question, but let me refer to the first part of her question again. She was wrong. She has been caught out claiming that the Q4 figure was not published. It was published. It was tabled in parliament. She should do her work and not be a lazy shadow transport minister.    
Ms TRAD: It is absorbed in the annual report in a truncated form. You have not published all of the data and all of the information and that is a fact, Minister. When will it go up on the website?    

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/annual-and-quarterly-reports

6.50am 19th October 2012

Quarterly report (TransLink Tracker)

As part of our commitment to being an open and transparent organisation, this report shows how we are performing in a range of areas. It includes data and statistics on:

    on-time performance of our bus, train and ferry services
    customer satisfaction
    number of trips across the TransLink network
    and much, much more.

The TransLink Tracker is published four times a year.

[Jonno]

Based on the estimates exchange it is no wonder our state is stuck in the 1960's.  That was the last time a member of parliament had a constructive thought!

[Stillwater]

It is disappointing to see that Translink, either on its own or under ministerial direction, delayed publication of the Translink Tracker Q4 so that its content could not be scrutinised in time for questions to be asked in Estimates.  Neil Scales is duty bound to obey ministerial directions, but we are left wondering how he feels personally about the Tammany Hall rules applying to politics in Queensland.  May he continue to provide 'frank and fearless' advice to government.

[ozbob]

Extremely poor show by the Minister.  A Minister in a Government that claims to be 'open and transparent' ...

Actions speak louder than rhetoric.   

I have heard that there is some discontent within the LNP ranks at some of the Ministerial standards and performance.   Not hard to understand why?

[SurfRail]

Not for the first time this year, I am getting increasingly sick of living in this State.

[ozbob]

OFFICE OF THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER 2012

Transport Minister Hides Behind Out-Of-Date Patronage Figures

Transport Minister Scott Emerson has today fudged South East Queensland public transport patronage figures in a cynical attempt to prove his discredited point that commuters are turning away from rail and bus networks.

Shadow Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the Minister had, during today's Estimates hearings, used out-of-date, inaccurate figures from Translink's annual report to show that patronage had dropped on the network when in fact it has increased.

"If you compare TransLink's own accurate patronage data from 2010-11 to 2011-12, it shows that patronage increased by almost 4 million - not a decrease of 300,000 as this Minister is falsely trying to show," Ms Trad said.

"Even the Translink CEO admitted in today's hearings that TransLink has more accurate data that was not used in the annual report.

"He is doing this in a deeply cynical attempt to back up his argument that commuters are losing faith in our bus and train networks when in fact the opposite is true.

"To try and push this barrow is insulting to not only commuters but to our bus and train drivers and to the thousands of people who work behind the scenes on our public transport network – especially those who have already lost their jobs or whose jobs are on the line.

"It's the Minister himself who has no faith in the network he has been charged to manage and grow – not the hundreds of thousands of people who use it every week."

Ms Trad said the government was hiding behind out-dated patronage figures because it was obsessed with talking down Queensland and its transport network.

"He has refused to release the detailed TransLink Tracker for Quarter 4 (April-June) of 2011-12 which is the first snapshot of the performance of the public transport network in his time as Minister.

"The former Labor Government released this data four times each year but he has refused to release it because it paints the true picture.

"He has refused to release it because the tracker contains a range of measures such as detailed breakdowns of customer satisfaction that are not reported in the TransLink annual report.

"Just as he has refused to release the report he relied on when deciding to cap the Taxi Subsidy Scheme, instead today handing out just one page – the executive summary - of a 36 page report.

"He is misleading everyone who uses that scheme and everyone who uses public transport and that is a disgrace."

[techblitz]

calls to customer service center up 13 % on same time quarter 3 last year.Complaints also on the rise.No doubt majority about gocard adjustments.

fines/warnings graph is interesting...... definitely shows attempted fare evasion on the increase.

[ozbob]

Very confusing with patronage figures not clear.  A falling fare box subsidy which I guess has worsened dramatically with the nine and free, which is possibly the reason for the reluctance to come clean.  What is the point of denial?

It is really difficult to understand the LNP's logic.  They did not bring in the free travel after x journeys.  They could simply state that the evidence is mounting that the fares need a review and do it.

For a Government fixated on 'Labor's waste' you would reasonably expect that they would want to stop the slide ...

[ozbob]

...
"Even the Translink CEO admitted in today's hearings that TransLink has more accurate data that was not used in the annual report.

[SurfRail]

It is really difficult to understand the LNP's logic.

Hint: You are already starting from a false premise.

[mufreight]

It is really difficult to understand the LNP's logic.

Hint: You are already starting from a false premise.

Well perhaps you should start with the premise that it is LNP policy to disuade as many commuters as possible from using public transport (or fudged figures to justify their actions) so they can justify even less expendature on public transport infrastructure and re direct those funds to pat for Mr Newmans new Tajmahal office block.   

[somebody]

Well perhaps you should start with the premise that it is LNP policy to disuade as many commuters as possible from using public transport (or fudged figures to justify their actions) so they can justify even less expendature on public transport infrastructure and re direct those funds to pat for Mr Newmans new Tajmahal office block.   

That would be somewhat misguided.  Presumably new roads would be built to cater for the deterred public transport patronage at a far higher cost than PT improvements.

[mufreight]

Well perhaps you should start with the premise that it is LNP policy to disuade as many commuters as possible from using public transport (or fudged figures to justify their actions) so they can justify even less expendature on public transport infrastructure and re direct those funds to pat for Mr Newmans new Tajmahal office block.   

That would be somewhat misguided.  Presumably new roads would be built to cater for the deterred public transport patronage at a far higher cost than PT improvements.

Actions and or the lack of them speaks far louder than empty words.

[SurfRail]

Well perhaps you should start with the premise that it is LNP policy to disuade as many commuters as possible from using public transport (or fudged figures to justify their actions) so they can justify even less expendature on public transport infrastructure and re direct those funds to pat for Mr Newmans new Tajmahal office block.   

You know the really astonishing thing about that?  The government was already working on plans to develop and let out the old District and Supreme Court complex.  The 1 William Street business basically wrecked all of that planning.  Can't even build monuments to themselves competently.

[ozbob]

[Golliwog]

Well perhaps you should start with the premise that it is LNP policy to disuade as many commuters as possible from using public transport (or fudged figures to justify their actions) so they can justify even less expendature on public transport infrastructure and re direct those funds to pat for Mr Newmans new Tajmahal office block.   

That would be somewhat misguided.  Presumably new roads would be built to cater for the deterred public transport patronage at a far higher cost than PT improvements.

Nah, just release a statement about how the previous 20 years of Labor government are to blame for their failure to invest in the road network. Then add on something about how you'd like to fix it, but hasn't everyone heard about how tight the current budget is?

[mufreight]

You got it in one Gollywog,  blame someone else for the problem then espouse a lot of hot air promises, cry poor and make more promises to do something after the next election they then repeat the process of in fact doing nothing 

[Stillwater]

Don't worry, be happy.  Everything will be right by 2031.

[ozbob]

Twitter

10h Jackie Trad ‏@jackietrad

@scottemersonmp still no 11/12 Q4 report. Why are you hiding the report from the public? #qldpol

[ozbob]

http://translink.com.au/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/annual-and-quarterly-reports

4am 21st October 2012

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

21st October 2012

Interesting reading ...

Greetings,

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/unfair-evasion-is-not-on-says-lnp-20110804-1idjm.html

Mr Emerson told State Parliament yesterday he had concerns about the state government "evading" its responsibilities.

He said brisbanetimes.com.au's queries about how many customers were affected by the fault and the cause of the problem were "straightforward and appropriate questions".

"The government and its agencies need to be open, transparent and accountable, not evading responsibility and hiding the truth," he said.

How about practicing what you preach Minister?

Where is the 2011/12 Quarter 4 TransLink Tracker?  It has not been published, despite your assertions that data is in the TransLink Annual Report.

See  http://translink.com.au/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/annual-and-quarterly-reports

Quarterly report (TransLink Tracker)

As part of our commitment to being an open and transparent organisation, this report shows how we are performing in a range of areas. It includes data and statistics on:

     on-time performance of our bus, train and ferry services
     customer satisfaction
     number of trips across the TransLink network
     and much, much more.

The TransLink Tracker is published four times a year.

During the Parliamentary Estimates hearings last week, the Minister for Transport and Main Roads Hon Scott Emerson MP was unable to answer why the fourth quarter year 2011/12 TransLink Tracker had not been published.  What was extremely concerning was the fact that the Minister suggested that the data had been published in the TransLink 2012 Annual Report. That is not the case.  The non-disclosure so far of the fourth quarter TransLink Tracker does not sit well with the LNP's stated committment to 'openness and transparency'.  In fact, it suggests that the Minister is trying to hide data, data that has been publicly available until now.  See --> http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2012/2012_10_18_Estimates.pdf

Say one thing in opposition, do the opposite in Government.  No wonder Queenslanders are becoming very disenchanted with our ' open and transparent ' Government.

Best wishes
Robert

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

[ozbob]

2434 Private Members' Statements 04 Aug 2011

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2011/2011_08_04_WEEKLY.pdf

Go Card
Mr EMERSON (Indooroopilly—LNP) (2.47 pm): The public expects to be told the truth by this
state government and its agencies. But in recent days, once again, we have seen a lack of openness
and transparency from this tired, long-term Labor government. Today, there are reports that raise
significant questions about both the accuracy of information and evasion by the state government and
its transit authority, TransLink, with regard to its go card system. Internal emails suggest that TransLink
failed to answer media questions about a go card fault after intervention from the body's chief executive,
Peter Strachan.
Straightforward and appropriate questions were asked by the Brisbane Times of TransLink about
how many people were incorrectly issued with a fixed fare of $5 due to a glitch in the system earlier this
year. The internal emails released under right to information laws to Channel 7 show that the Brisbane
Times received no written response on the issue and was never told how many people had been
affected, apparently after the TransLink chief executive replied to the media manager with a short email
saying, 'I think this should be a simple it's all fixed. No story. Move along.' This comes after the same
right to information search revealed that three years after go cards were introduced into South-East
Queensland the system is still wracked with unreliability, with almost one in 10 card readers, or about
2,000, malfunctioning every month. Despite this malfunction rate, detailed in these internal TransLink
documents, the TransLink CEO continues to publicly claim that the system has a reliability rate of 99 per
cent.
Although the go card is a well-regarded product, it should not be represented as perfect and free
from errors. The government and its agencies need to be open, transparent and accountable, not
evading responsibility and hiding the truth.

... The government and its agencies need to be open, transparent and accountable, not
evading responsibility and hiding the truth ....

[#Metro]

Looks like a rapid decay from 'Passenger focused government' to 'Denial, Spin and Filibuster obsessed focused government'.

The first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that there IS a problem in the first place. Unfortunately these days governments cannot admit to making a mistake EVER about ANYTHING even when the proverbial house is on fire - as we have seen with the fare leakeage and deplorable lack of arrangements to modernise the rail timetables or even advertise the improvements.

The responses to the member for Wellington on the Sunshine Coast with regards to the Sunshine Coast Line upgrade are deplorable, disgusting and despicable. People are allowed to choose who represents them in QLD Parliament and stand behind their choices.

[ozbob]

The TransLink Annual Report 2012 has some summary data derived from quarterly data eg. OTP but the bulk of the data of various measures and detail in the Tracker is NOT in the Annual Report.  To suggest it is just more delusion ...

[#Metro]

'delusion-centered government'

[Stillwater]

The delusion is that we believe politicians.  We get duped at every election.  Come in spinner.

[#Metro]

Maybe we will find the Tracker on WikiLeaks?  

[Stillwater]