7 Dec 2014: Brisbane Bus Reform: How to fund concessions for the disadvantaged

[ozbob]

Brisbane Bus Reform: How to fund concessions for the disadvantaged with bus reform

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers again calls for bipartisan bus reform support.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Bus reform will allow major upgrades to bus services across the entire city of Brisbane while keeping a lid on fares.

"RAIL Back on Track has released its New Bus Network Proposal and blueprints for bus and rail reform in the electorates of Ipswich, Bundamba, Everton, Bulimba and Ashgrove in time for the 2015 Queensland Election (1).

"Under bus reform, residents of these electorates will enjoy unprecedented freedom to use public transport to travel to more places, more often, without a car.

"Bus reform savings can also fund extending concessions to the most vulnerable and needy in our society.

"Brisbane is not the first city to undertake bus reform. New Zealand is doing it now and Perth did it in the 1990s. Bus reform means both competitive contracting and bus route network reform."

WA Auditor General documents detailing Perth's bus reforms (2, 3, 4) to contracting show:

* The former monopoly public bus authority in Perth, the Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT), was operating inefficiently and failing to meet changing commuter needs. Transperth's bus system was thus split into contract franchise areas and put to competitive tender.

* The cost of providing a similar level of Transperth bus services was estimated, in real terms, to be $30.9 million less in 1996-97 than it was in 1992-93. This represented a cost reduction of about 20% in four years as a result of bus reform.

* Transperth provided more bus services, for less cost, in financial year 1998-99 than it did prior to Bus Reform in financial year 1992-93. Bus Reform halted a long-term trend of increasing annual bus expenditure.

* A 40% increase in patronage was achieved using existing resources on three bus routes in the Rockingham area. A modest redesigning of existing  bus services, using freed-up resources, achieved this.

* The efficiency of delivering a bus service per kilometre remained steady for the first four years of Bus Reform, but improved significantly when the services were contracted to the private sector.

"Every dollar saved from bus reform should fund concession public transport for the unemployed and those on centrelink payments as well as fund more services, more often for residents stuck in the black hole areas of Centenary, Yeronga, Albany Creek and Bulimba."

"If the opposition does not support bus reform, in our opinion, it risks repeating the same failure that caused it to lose office last election after they were forced to raise fares by 15% and 20%, slamming minimum wage workers, refugees, the unemployed and Centrelink recipients, because they were engulfed by Brisbane City Council's bus cost explosion."

"What is the Government's and Opposition parties' policy? Rising, unaffordable fare increases and a broken fare structure or genuine bus network reform and fixing the fare failure for the longer term?  Knee-jerk fare cuts and fare freeze gimmicks do not sort the underlying systemic issues. Just means more massive fare cost increases and bus service cuts down the track after the election."

"Only genuine reform of rail and bus networks, together with fare reform will guarantee abundant and low cost public transport for all."

References:

1. http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11099.0

2. Competition Reform of Transperth Bus Services Report No 3 – June 1997 Performance Examination https://audit.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/report97_03.pdf

3. Bus Reform: Further down the road A follow-on examination into competition reform of Transperth bus services Performance Examination Report No. 6 June 2000 https://audit.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/report2000_06.pdf

4. Bus Reform: Competition Reform of Transperth Bus Services, Report 3 – June 1997 https://audit.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/1997-Insert-BusReform.pdf

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

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