Thursday, January 5, 2012

Can I have a refund please?

In the last week, BrizCommuter has ascertained that Brisbane probably has the 3rd most expensive train system in the world. If your train journey is delayed or cancelled in Brisbane, there is no refund policy. It is possible to cancel your journey within 20 minutes, but that doesn't help getting to your destination, and you still have to pay to use alternative transport options. Thats right, we pay through our teeth to travel around SE Queensland, but if your train is delayed, neither QR or TransLink officially offer a refund. How do more expensive London Underground/Overground and Oslo compare?

London Underground - If you are delayed more than 15 minutes on London Underground (including the DLR), or more than 30 minutes on London Overground, you get a full fare refund for that journey. Delays outside of London Underground/Overground's control (such as bad weather and rioting poms) are not covered. In fact all UK train services offer a refund policy. Refund forms (online or by post) must be completed within 14 days, and refunds take up to 21 days.

Oslo - If the delay is more than 20 minutes, you can take a taxi instead, and get a refund on the taxi fare. Delays outside of Ruter's control (such as stray polar bears) cannot be refunded.  The refund form has to be completed after the taxi ride.

To conclude, Brisbane is likely to have the world's most expensive train system without a delay refund policy. Yet another reason why Brisbane does not have a "world class" public transport system!

2 comments:

  1. This is so bad and unfair to all commuters! I had delays on all four days that I used the trains last week! You should start a Facebook group, I'd say you'd get a huge following!

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  2. I think you should check out http://thepeoplehavegottolearn.blogspot.com - I have had issues with the process that Translink uses, and some of the attitudes that Translink applies so that really your feedback isn't listened to.

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