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| A lesser popular CityCat |
This is of course not really news to regular BrizCommuter readers. It is well known that the current go card pricing structure, which is now essentially pay per journey, discourages the frequent use of public transport. The lack of daily ticketing options is not only deterring tourists from using public transport, but also many students (who have to travel to/from work and to/from university), and also deterring regular commuters than making more than the 2 daily commutes. Even BrizCommuter is attempting to get lifts home whenever he can, and is using public transport approximately 20% less than 2 years ago. Just when is the Queensland Government going to come around to the fact that they are discouraging public transport use with their failing fare structure? A cynic would think that this stifling of demand is to avoid having to spend more money on improving public transport infrastructure to cope with increasing demand. Is the cynic correct?
It should be noted that the much needed daily fares should be capped go card fares only. As any bus user knows there is nothing worse than paper ticket buyers holding up buses. The return of paper daily would only encourage people who wish to buy their fares with 5c coins.
I wish there was a weekly GoCard option. I don't have a car but I do need to do a lot of travelling throughout the week. When GoCards were first introduced and touted as (correct me if wrong)30% cheaper I kept using my weekly paper ticket until they were phased out because even at an increased price it still ended up a cheaper option for me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with my old weekly ticket I would usually do a few extra trips every week because it was of course at no extra cost. This meant that I was out there spending that bit extra at Brisbane shops and services every week. I'm not saying I don't go out any more, far from it, but the price of travel does factor in and definitely does have me staying at home that little more often. If there are 100s or even 1000s of other residents in this category across Brisbane I'd imagine the net effect wouldn't be making a positive impact on the depressed state of the retail sector at the moment.
Dave
Thanks Dave - BrizCommuter agrees that due t the demise of the weekly, the "extra" charge for using public transport on weekends could be reducing spending in the CBD. When BrizCommuter used a weekly, he would shop in the city at least every 1 in 3 weekends. Now it's not even 1 in 10 weekends.
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