Case Study: Brisbane go card System
The go card system in South East Queensland demonstrates how Cubic’s products and services are used in public transportation to improve operations, provide better service to transit customers, and help transit providers put technical and operational innovations into practice.
Today, go card accounts for more than 80 percent of transport journeys in the region with more than two million cards issued. Approximately 700,000 trips are taken using a go card every day.
Under what is now an aggregate AU$$225m contract with the Queensland Government, overseen by the TransLink Transit Authority, Cubic designed, built, operates and maintains the go card system.
The go card links Queensland Rail regional rail services, Brisbane Transport buses, Brisbane City Council Ferries, 15 private bus operators and the Airtrain rail link to Brisbane International Airport.
Cubic is delivering all ticketing system operations to the region, including system maintenance, patron support, fare table maintenance, back office support, third party network services, card management, card distribution, cardholder support services, cash collection, and regional clearing and settlement. This full suite of managed services is being delivered under a ten-year service level agreement, with a five-year option to extend.
The Cubic-designed customer website allows customers to go online to order go cards, register their cards and check account balances. The website is currently being optimised for access by mobile phone users. With Cubic’s autoload service, go card users can top-up their cards via customer service and collect the designated amount when the card is presented to any fare payment device at their next ride on the transport system.
The Queensland Government has invested heavily in the go card distribution network, which has recently experienced more than 150 percent growth in the number of participating retail merchants.
Cubic and TransLink are also working closely to close the gap in fare evasion, which officials had previously estimated costs of about $18 million a year, prior to new policies designed to reduce it. Strategies include gating more stations and assigning Senior Network Officers equipped with go card scanners to roam buses and stations and ensure customers are using the system correctly.
Brisbane At-a-Glance:
- First smart card-based regional integrated ticketing system and managed services operations in South East Queensland, Australia
- System links public and private bus, ferry, Queensland Rail and AirTrain rail to Brisbane International Airport with seamless fare payments based on zones travelled
- The system includes more than 6,200 smart card-enabled devices, networked into a fully redundant central computer system
- The ten-year managed services contract includes operations and maintenance of Back-Office Data Systems and Reporting Services, Revenue Clearing and Settlement, Card Supply and Distribution, Cardholder Support, System Maintenance Services, managing the Retail Sales Network
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