TransLink’s website traffic increased two-fold during southern Queensland’s severe wet weather
February 3, 2012
More south-east Queenslanders than ever are taking to the internet to stay informed during severe weather events, with TransLink website’s daily traffic increasing by 50 per cent at the peak of last week’s flooding.
TransLink Acting CEO Matt Longland says at the height of last week’s flooding just over 164,000 visitors used the TransLink website.
“We experienced a similar trend during last year’s flood event when our website recorded just over 1.2 million weekly visits, up from the average of just over 670,000 weekly hits prior,” Longland says.
“Since that spike last year we’ve noticed traffic on the TransLink web and mobile sites have continued to climb with around 760,000 people now visiting the sites each week,” he says.
“Following the floods there seems to be a shift in how people access up-to-date information, with many more visitors logging on to our site during instances of bad weather.”
Longland says TransLink’s data showed that a greater number of people were now turning to social media to gain and share information since last year’s floods.
“During extreme weather and particularly during storms, activity on TransLink’s Twitter account, @TransLinkSEQ, tends to spike,” he says.
“In the two week period during the floods last year our Twitter account received an extra 999 followers, with followers opting in to receive service updates and transport information.
“This year’s shorter flood event saw an additional 352 Twitter followers join, bringing our total followers to almost 10,000.”
Longland attributed some of the increase in website visitors to the use of TransLink’s mobile website.
“TransLink’s website has been optimised to run on mobile devices, and there are a growing number of people now turning to mobile phone and tablets to access our mobile site,” he says.
“There are more than half a million people already using TransLink’s mobile site each month, almost 80 per cent using the site’s journey planner to plan their trip, check timetables or look up services.”
TransLink’s web and mobile site remains the most visited government website in Queensland.
For the latest service and timetable information visit the TransLink web or mobile site, www.translink.com.au.