With 78 comments to date, I did not attempt to read them all. They ranged from sensible to loopy - replace half the network with buses to make more trains available to the other half!

Regards,

Travellers vent dissatisfaction over public transport
Daryl Passmore, The Courier-Mail
December 5, 2018 12:00am
COMMUTERS’ dissatisfaction with high public transport fares is rising as poor service frequency continues to frustrate travellers in the wake of Rail Fail.

Almost two-thirds of people say go-card fares on the TransLink network are too high, according to the latest annual passenger survey by public transport advocates Rail Back On Track, to be published today.

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Rail Back On Track spokesman Robert Dow says the results supported the group’s calls for fares to be frozen for the next two years.

Brisbane commuter Maryam Fallah. Picture: Annette Dew
“People just don’t think they are getting value for money,” he said.

Those rating fares as fair tumbled from 47 per cent to 36 per cent this year after a 1.5 per cent increase in prices.

Mr Dow said passenger sentiment was linked to irritation over low frequencies and poor on-time reliability.

Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow. File picture
“People would pay more if they thought they were getting a good service.”

Half of rail passengers rated the frequency of trains poor or very poor, along with four in 10 bus commuters.

“We are stuck with archaic frequencies and poor connections and you see the results here,” Mr Dow said.

“Anything less than 15-minute services is not good enough. Low frequency is the killer of our network.”

The overall satisfaction with Queensland Rail services is now 65 per cent, compared with 83 per cent before 2016’s Rail Fail fiasco of cancelled services and curtailed timetables due to a prolonged driver shortage.

It rose in this year’s survey — up 13 per cent — but Mr Dow said he believed that rather than indicating an improvement in performance, it reflected a more resigned attitude by travellers.

“We have not seen additional services. I think people are just becoming more tolerant of the situation,” he said.

A drop in overall satisfaction for buses from 84 per cent to 74 per cent in the past year was concerning.

And the success and strong public support for light rail on the Gold Coast sent a clear message that Brisbane should also be looking at building a network, he said.

Only 5 per cent of passengers were unhappy with light rail, with 86 per cent rating them good or outstanding.

“Light rail is the gold standard for public transport in southeast Queensland,” Mr Dow said.

The 287 survey responses this year were the highest number ever received.