Media Statements re patronage

[ozbob]

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2018/10/8/public-transport-patronage-continues-to-rise

Media Statements
Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Mark Bailey

Monday, October 08, 2018

Public transport patronage continues to rise

More people are catching public transport in south east Queensland, taking millions of additional trips compared to the same time last year.

The latest TransLink SEQ data revealed 3.1 million more trips were taken between April to June 2018 when compared with the same period last year.

The data showed 47.52 million public transport trips were taken during the most recent reported quarter, increasing from the 44.42 million trips in the April to June 2017 quarter.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the increase in patronage had been supported by the Palaszczuk Government's action on fare prices.

"We are seeing the numbers of people using public transport continue to build and those numbers have gained momentum since the introduction of Fairer Fares in late 2016," Mr Bailey said.

"By reducing the average adult fare by about 13.5 per cent compared to January 2014 levels, Fairer Fares has encouraged more people to give public transport a go and saved families more than $117 million.

"We've also seen the opening the Redcliffe Peninsula Line and Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2 drive patronage higher too.

"These latest figures are especially positive given they do not include the extra 5.3 million event trips taken during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games."

Mr Bailey said the patronage figures from April to June capped off an outstanding 2017-18 financial year for patronage on the TransLink SEQ network, with 182.83 million taken.

"Comparing full-year numbers, this was an increase of 5.41 million trips, or 3.1 per cent, on the 2016-17 patronage figures," he said.

"Buses, trains, ferries and trams all showed an increase in patronage."

Mr Bailey said measures such as concession and discount schemes for asylum seekers, job seekers and veterans' concessions, as well as frequent travel incentives and off-peak discount, also supported passengers across the region.

Planning is underway for more projects to support patronage growth, including more than 2300 new Park 'n' Ride spaces across South East Queensland, the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail and improved bus routes via the Eastern and Northern Transitways.

ENDS

[red dragin]

Removing the increase driven purely by the Light Rail, what is the increase?

Also, with petrol prices soaring, patronage will increase.

[#Metro]

Can't trust any Qld Gov't media release or the numbers contained within.

Have to see a 10 year graph, broken down by mode.

[ozbob]

Our RTI request for 17/18 patronage data is due this week.

I have a feeling this was designed to be in place before we get the real data.  Just a hunch, could be wrong of course ...   

[red dragin]

I have a feeling this was designed to be in place before we get the real data.  Just a hunch, could be wrong of course ...   

Closest thing to a complement from your 'opponent' you could get 

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Queensland Rail passenger numbers increase, new report shows

AFTER a testing two weeks for Queensland Rail over its performance, Transport Minister Mark Bailey has revealed some more upbeat results for the state's public transport network.

Mr Bailey this morning said the latest public transport patronage results showed more people were using public transport in southeast Queensland compared to the same time last year.

TransLink data showed there were 3.1 million more trips taken between April and June 2018 when compared with the same period last year, he said.

That was an increase from 44.42 million public transport trips to 47.52 million trips - an increase Mr Bailey credited with Government cuts to fares.

"We've also seen the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula Line and Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2 drive patronage higher too," he said.

"The latest figures are especially positive given they do not include the extra 5.3 million event trips taken during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games."

Public transport advocacy Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the rise in trips was a positive sign but transport authorities had far to go to recover lost patronage.

The group, which advocates for better rail services, says QR was yet to announce when its rail timetable would be restored to full services following the October 2016 "Rail Fail."

QR has had a rocky two weeks: first revealing it could not guarantee services would run as planned for the annual Riverfire event, then being caught up in an executive bonuses scandal.

The political fall-out from revelations QR's board had approved more than $3 million in bonuses, despite not having fully recovered from the timetable collapse, triggered the resignation of three board members last week.

That included its high-profile chairman Phillip Strachan, who headed up an inquiry into the genesis of the rail problems and devised an action plan to fix the trains.

[ozbob]

I have a feeling this was designed to be in place before we get the real data.  Just a hunch, could be wrong of course ...   

Closest thing to a complement from your 'opponent' you could get 

Ha ha.  Received the RTI for the 17/18 patronage today, but they have only given me PDFs.  I did request a spreadsheet as per the previous RTI for patronage.  I have again requested a spreadsheet.  It is slow to transfer from a PDF into a spreadsheet.