Scanner faults linked to 60,000 Go card trips

Queensland Shadow Transport Minister continued to attack the State's troubled Go transit smartcard system claiming 60,000 trips a week were hit by card scanner malfunctions.

Fiona Simpson said "transport sources were reporting that 5 percent of commuters could be experiencing difficulties with the Go card."

She said this equated to an estimated 60,000 of the 1.25 million commuter trips a week where users were overcharged, undercharged or not charged at all.

"If commuters are overcharged and can actually identify that they have been, they have to sit in a phone queue to claim a refund, an expensive exercise on a mobile phone," Simpson said.

"If the card is not read properly and they are not charged, or if they are undercharged, then they risk a substantial fine.

"[The Transport Minister] might try to dismiss this figure as insignificant but such a huge number of errors in what is supposed to be a hi-tech system is simply unacceptable," Simpson said.

Queensland's Go card project was beset by distribution issues and a security scare that saw two call centre agents stood down pending an investigation.

The Government has tried to counter criticism, saying last week that 34,000 cards were sold in nine days.

At the other end of the eastern seaboard, another new smartcard transit project has recently run into similar issues.

The Herald Sun reported earlier this month that 30,000 myki cards were recalled after not being activated correctly.