Article: Thousands claim free bus rides

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Thousands claim free bus rides

Thousands claim free bus rides
November 9, 2012 - 3:00AM Tony Moore

More than 1300 southeast Queensland bus commuters get free rides every day due to broken down Go Card readers.

The error rate on the readers on buses has jumped 27 per cent in the past 12 months.

That means an average of 1349 commuters are getting a free bus trip in southeast Queensland each day, according to the latest figures from Translink, a jump from 984 12 months ago.

The figures have been calculated on an average of 328,000 bus trips each day.
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A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Scott Emerson said the free trips for bus commuters were still below the standard set in the Go Card contract held by Cubic.

"For the last four quarters go card equipment was operational 99.97 per cent (Quarter 1), 99.64 per cent (Quarter 2), 99.56 per cent (Quarter 3), and 99.59 per cent (Quarter 4) of the time," the spokeswoman said.

That translates to 984 free trips in the first quarter of 2011-12, increasing to 1180 free trips in second quarter 2011-12, then to 1443 free trips in the third quarter 2011-12, before dropping slightly to 1349 free trips per day in the last quarter of 2011-12.

Mr Emerson's spokeswoman said the department was aware of the situation.

"TransLink monitors the reliability of Go Card equipment very closely," she said.

TransLink did not answer questions about whether specific routes had more frequent problems with Go Card readers.

However, Mr Emerson's spokeswoman said the error rate was above standards set in Cubic's contract.

"The key performance indicator of Go Card equipment failure rate continues to remain above the required standard," she said.

Cubic hold the contract to provide Go Card and integrated ticketing technology to Queensland Transport until 2016.

Mr Emerson's spokeswoman said bus drivers could correct some faults during a journey.

"Bus drivers can re-boot Go Card equipment while en route to resolve a number of fault issues," she said.

"Bus companies can also swap faulty units at the depot."

Opposition transport spokeswoman Jackie Trad could not be contacted last night, but public transport lobbyist Robert Dow the Go Card readers on buses were more complex than the same technology on trains.

"I think there is a problem with these smart card technologies on buses because of the mobile technology," he said.

"The error rate on buses is much more significant on buses than the error rate on trains because the system on rail are hard-wired into the system, where the bus system is a mobile technology and there is a lot more that can go wrong with it."

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/thousands-claim-free-bus-rides-20121108-290y3.html

[ozbob]

When I was in Melbourne last week, scored a free ride myki on a bus at Dandenong.

Smart card systems have more issues on buses ...

[somebody]

"If it bleeds, it reads."  Not much to see here, 0.4% error isn't high.

[ozbob]

0.4% is not the error rate, it is the percentage of time go card equipment not operating.  Overall error rate would be a lot higher than that.

Of more concern ...

Fixed fares rate 2.1%.  Adjustments 11 per 10,000 trips = 0.11%

So 2.1/0.11 = 19.1  so only about 1 in 19 fixed fares is adjusted ...

[techblitz]

Well its about time translink have at least adknowledged the problem.
Now to get the ball rolling and start getting on top of it.

[somebody]

0.4% is not the error rate, it is the percentage of time go card equipment not operating.  Overall error rate would be a lot higher than that.

Of more concern ...

Fixed fares rate 2.1%.  Adjustments 11 per 10,000 trips = 0.11%

So 2.1/0.11 = 19.1  so only about 1 in 19 fixed fares is adjusted ...

yes, but the article wasn't about the fixed fares.

[ozbob]

0.4% is NOT the error rate, article says clearly it is the non-operational rate, an entirely different thing to error rate ...

Equipment is not working 0.4% of the time, hence free rides ... it adds to the overall error rate though.