Our Meeting with the new Transport Minister and Setting the Agenda

On March the 6th we met with new Transport Minister Jackie Trad. We thank her for taking time to meet us, a grass-roots protest group, and hear our concerns. We told her public transport in South East Queensland is woefully inadequate and needs major reform. This won’t be easy and requires vision and commitment.

We strongly reiterated our key concerns which included concessions for low income Health Care Card (HCC) holders, abolishing the Tertiary Transport Concession Card (TTCC), fare and zone reform, organisational reform of the three existing bureaucracies (Queensland Rail, Brisbane Transport and Translink), and removal of existing public transport planning powers from Brisbane City Council.

The minister reconfirmed her stated election position, including fare reform, abolishing the TTCC and concessions for HCC holders, but she could not yet provide specific time frames. She took our views on board regarding the parlous state of SEQ PT and the need for reform. Importantly, she agreed to meet us again in six months.

A week later we were pleased to find our opinion piece based on our briefing to the minister had been published in the Courier Mail, the first time our name has ever been mentioned in that paper. We feel the response has been positive and that some more engaging conversations will happen in the coming months.

We understand that this Labor government has it's work cut out, but we feel that much can be done by our new transport minister to engage with the court of public opinion. This is where we will be drumming up some visions for the future based on what the people want and asking Jackie Trad to share more about how our system really works so that the public can make an informed contribution.

Top 3 Go Card loopholes

We have been interrogating the Go Card system and have found it to be incredibly complex. We put this complexity down to attempting to integrate the ancient no-returns rule that has existed on Brisbane Transport buses since they begun 46 years ago. It is also a product of the enormous size of the Translink network and the need to accommodate very long and short trips under the same system of transfer rules.

After speaking with a wide range of Translink users we have discovered some of the loopholes that are being exploited by ordinary people trying to make public transport more affordable. They involve choosing when and where it is better to ignore the advice from Translink on when touch on or touch off at un-gated train stations, and how the no-returns rule is not enforced through the Go Card system. These loopholes are not being policed by Translink in any way and it is next to impossible to be caught using them.

1. The return journey to the shops
   Bus drivers and QR ticket inspectors are instructed to enforce the ancient no-returns rules on paper tickets but the Go Card system does not recognise a return journey. This is great news for those on a budget who have only one bus route in their area. If you are able to touch on for your return trip within an hour of touching off you can affect a return journey. If you follow the instructions on the Translink website you would be charged twice. If you had a paper ticket you may be asked to buy another ticket.
   
   
2. The half day journey (this loophole has been closed)
   Every time you touch off with your Go Card the clock starts ticking and after an hour your journey will expire. The Translink website specifies that all journeys on the Go Card are to be one way but allows up to 6 hours from when you first touch on to complete your journey . Because the Go Card system does not police return journeys, by using the train you can make a return journey of up to 6 hours simply by touching on again before leaving the station after your first trip (does not apply at gated stations). Under the Go Card transfer rules you must touch on for your last trip within 3.5 hours of first touching on, so if your first trip has taken 30 minutes, simply touch back on, leave the station and return in time to touch off at your final destination before the 6 hours has expired.
   
   
3. The trip stretch
   This is similar to the half day journey except it involves delaying touching off at non-gated stations. If you have an appointment that will last more than an hour, then by simply not touching off when you exit the station and then touching off when you return to the station you can delay the start of the 1 hour transfer window. After you have touched off you then touch on for your return trip. The Go Card system thinks your first trip has been longer than it actually was and you save yourself from being charged twice. 
   
   
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New government, same Translink! So we're ramping up our notching up service!

The LNP is in! They made the least promises and who knows if they're going to keep any of them. Translink is still shabby and unaffordable. So we're ramping up our notching up service. It's the same idea that we launched our campaign with back in January, except we've got some new strategies to notch up in bulk!   

Here's how our notching up service works. 

• I provide the service to people who work in or around the Brisbane CBD on Monday mornings so as to optimize the benefits for the rest of the week. Ideally you will have notched one journey getting to work. 
• You need to provide me with an unregistered go-card as this protects both of us from infringement of Translink rules as anyone can be the bearer of an unregistered go-card.
• I charge $1 per notch and the go-card needs to be charged with enough credit to cover the cost of 9-1 zone (off peak) journeys $21.96 or the cost of 10-1 zone (off peak) journeys $24.40 if you have not notched up a journey that morning.
• Text me your workplace address or a meeting place, I'll meet you around 9am, grab your go-card and $9 or $10, and return it before you finish work. 

The cost of each journey will be $3.44 which is a significant saving! I am eager to get as many go-cards as I can as I have a new strategy that will allow me to notch up go-cards in bulk. This may interest your co-workers?

Michael Swifte

0414 215 288