Information and customer services

Information and customer service covers digital and physical information, products and services. It includes how customers access information, plan their journey and get around at stops and stations.

Information sources can include the Translink website, network mapping, the Translink app, as well as audio and visual aids at stops, stations and on-board.

Interactions with staff and other customers play a key role in providing information and delivering quality customer service.

What you have told us

“Awareness campaigns about the challenges people with disability face on public transport may assist in making other passengers more helpful/respectful.”

For people with disability to easily and fully use passenger transport, they need accurate and timely information to plan journeys, and understand and respond if things change.

Interactions with staff at stops, stations, and on-board, can make or break a trip.

Inconsistent travel experiences across different modes of transport can create barriers for people with disability. For example, ferries often provide a positive experience through supportive staff interactions. However, travelling by bus or train can vary significantly depending on the location, vehicle, service, and circumstances.

To help improve service quality and accessibility, we need to capture, incorporate and respond to customer input.

Good wayfinding, mapping and travel information at stations and on-board can reduce stress when planning and travelling.

What we are doing

Raising awareness and promotion

We are raising awareness about the importance of providing safe and accessible passenger transport for people with disability through campaigns and providing industry guidance material.

Move Together campaign

The Move Together campaign is a behaviour and social change series highlighting the vital role we all play in making passenger transport an inclusive environment for everyone. The campaign was co-designed with people disability and includes a series of videos.

The campaign started in 2020. Phases 1 and 2 developed awareness about practical things passenger transport customers can do to improve the experience for everyone. Phase 3 will continue to support the campaign goal of building a more inclusive transport network and increasing patronage.

By sharing real stories, the campaign challenges common assumptions and highlights the importance of being aware of your surroundings when travelling on passenger transport. It promotes public attitudes of kindness and respect.

Learn more about the Move Together campaign on the Translink website.

Industry partnerships

We are collaborating with passenger transport operators to help raise awareness about the importance of providing safe and accessible services for people with disability. It's important that customers receive safe services across their journey, regardless of who the operator is.

As an example, a new safety management framework for all road-based public passenger services will commence in 2025. The framework will introduce safety duties and mandatory safety management plans.

We are developing guidance materials for industry on how to develop and complete a safety management plan. It will incorporate specific guidance on the safety risks and hazards people with disability face.

These safety principles are further embedded in driver guidelines for safely transporting people with disability.

Learn more about the guidelines for safely transporting people with disability.

Enhancing journey planning tools

“The app is not always correct. There have been times my bus has not shown up at the time the app says (bus may have already left). I now have to walk further meaning I am late to my volunteer work. This causes anxiety and stress that is not a good start to the day.”

Translink app and journey planner

The new Translink app features travel information, additional planning options and has a modern look and feel.

The new app’s increased functionality includes:

• real time journey planning and live navigation to make it easier to plan and use passenger transport
• step-by-step journey guidance with live navigation
• increased personalisation
• the ability to save trips
• a new live map feature showing nearby transport, stops and points of interest.

The new journey planner includes alternative options for when there are service disruptions. You can also change filters for the mode of transport and the number of transfers, to limit long walks.

We will continue to develop and release new accessibility features with an ongoing focus to ensure the app provides accurate, timely and easy to access information for everyone.

Learn more about the Translink Journey Planner on the Translink website.

Improving the accessibility of information

We are ensuring that we provide information in a range of accessible formats to ensure more people can access information.

Providing information in multiple formats

We provide a range of tools to assist, accommodate and guide customers. This includes signage, tactiles and wayfinding at stations and stops to help with planning and navigating. On-board, it includes tools like announcements, signage, digital displays, visual cues and lighting.

In considering how travel information and alerts are provided, we work with a diverse range of stakeholders to identify solutions that support different sensory needs. This includes input from:

• project working groups
• people with disability
• representative disability groups
• technical experts.

Digitised and accessible formats

Our ongoing program to digitise information and forms will make content easier to access and available in accessible formats. This includes ensuring TMR and Translink websites meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines so everyone can access information and better understand the network and their options.

The co-designed Accessibility and Inclusive Forms Guideline and Easy Read Style Guide are examples of this work and support the development of easier-to-read documents and information.

The guidance aims to significantly increase customer comprehension of information and provide a greater sense of independence and trust.

This is especially helpful for customers:

• with low literacy
• who have intellectual disabilities
• for who English is an additional language
• who are time poor.

We used the guidance and conducted a test pilot with people with disability to develop and publish Easy Read versions of a range of communications including the TMR Complaints Management Policy.

Find the Easy to Read Complaints Management Policy.

Mapping legibility updates

We are progressing initiatives to help customers better understand the transport network, supporting a wide range of needs including those of people with disability.

Our simpler, more legible signage and new network map make it easier to understand, navigate and plan trips on the SEQ transport network.

The new network map was developed accessibly. The black look has a higher colour contrast, increasing readability for those with low vision. A black and white (high contrast) version of the map helps customers who are colour blind, and an electronic ‘clickable’ version links to station and timetable information.

The map is simplified through shared naming of some stops and stations, and clearly shows customers that they can easily transfer between modes. This feature helps customers navigate the network as it changes and evolves.

More services, and better signage at stops and stations help customers understand the frequency of services, reducing travel stress.

Clearer information about the network, mapping and timetables means customers can be more confident in their journey and its reliability.

For people with disability this can make the travel experience easier by helping them understand how the network operates.

Learn more about planning your journey on the Translink website.

Valuing customer feedback

Customer feedback helps us deliver better services, including safer and more accessible experiences for people with disability.

People can provide feedback or make a complaint:

• on the TMR website
• through the Translink app
• at TMR customer service centres
• by calling the Translink contact centre on 13 12 30.

Learn about how to give feedback or make a complaint.

What we will do next

1. Develop and promote accessibility education and promotional campaigns, including the Move Together campaign (Phase 3).
2. Raise awareness about passenger transport accessibility through regular social media posts.