Go Card loss a worry in tap and go world
Translink commuters will be forced to use smart phones and bank cards to pay for daily trips.
Opinion
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LAST weekend, a Sunday Mail story predicted the demise of the Go Card system as we know it presently.
Translink commuters will be forced to use smart phones and bank cards to pay for daily trips. Is this another scheme to save the state money?
Some of the elderly don't trust technology or even have or can use this with confidence. The Government assumes everyone has, and is, familiar with mobiles and cards.
This new-age assumption is arrogant and entirely dismisses whole demographics incapable of managing such a challenge.
On Go Cards' 10-year anniversary, two million patrons are familiar with its workings.
Visionaries want change for change sake, to a system which fails to show up anomalies and overcharges on the spot. Go Cards often overcharge. Presently, bank (debit or credit) card withdrawals have options for paper receipts to be issued by businesses.
Will buses be able to promptly issue receipts and balances? Many do not trust their account information to technology or online.
We'd want to know the cost of the trip, credit before and after, to check the account balance immediately. Smart phones cannot reveal immediately, or if at all, the cost of the trip and balances upon boarding or alighting, as the Go Card can.
The cash will simply be withdrawn.
People uncomfortable with technology, or who use only cash, will be excluded or pressurised to do this.
Community consultation is needed - those forced to use public transport, especially seniors, need consideration.
Democracy is "government for the people by the people". Dictatorships rule with autonomy.
E ROWE
Marcoola
Originally published as Go Card loss a worry in tap and go world
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