Greens policy - free transport on BCC buses for Seniors

[ozbob]

Greens --> Free Transport for Seniors and Pensioners

To this end, Your Green Team has committed to funding Translink to provide FREE transport for seniors and pensioners on all Brisbane buses at off-peak times.   

Living on a tight budget makes it very difficult for many Brisbane seniors and pensioners to see their friends and family, look after their health and live their life the way they want to. Through this measure we can support seniors and pensioners to keep their independence, bring some much needed budget relief, and provide better access to vital services.

Based on the long-running Perth scheme, our $15 million per year plan encourages seniors and pensioners to use our bus system at off-peak times when there is spare capacity, lessening crowding in peak times. Everyone wins! ...

[ozbob]

Greens --> Free Transport for Seniors and Pensioners

To this end, Your Green Team has committed to funding Translink to provide FREE transport for seniors and pensioners on all Brisbane buses at off-peak times.   

Living on a tight budget makes it very difficult for many Brisbane seniors and pensioners to see their friends and family, look after their health and live their life the way they want to. Through this measure we can support seniors and pensioners to keep their independence, bring some much needed budget relief, and provide better access to vital services.

Based on the long-running Perth scheme, our $15 million per year plan encourages seniors and pensioners to use our bus system at off-peak times when there is spare capacity, lessening crowding in peak times. Everyone wins! ...

Two minds about this.  It further reinforces BT (by inference BCC) as a system operating by itself without regard to the overall network.  Relief for Seniors is welcome, but there really needs to be system wide fare reform.  Lets see how the fare review proceeds.

[SurfRail]

^ Which is exactly why I am opposed to the seniors free travel on the Gold Coast, which is unavailable on trams or trains.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Greens promise free Brisbane bus travel for pensioners and seniors

... The Greens have modelled the policy on Perth's Seniors SmartRider scheme, which had been in place for about a decade ...

errr ... Smartrider applies on ALL MODES.  Perth has a proper integrated public transport network  not the ' them and us ' shambolic approach from BCC and TransLink/State Government ...

[Old Northern Road]

Why only pensioners? Other groups (unemployed, students etc.) are struggling far more than they are. Every old fart I know is rolling in money

[STB]

I strongly disagree with the above promise by the Greens, the realm of ticketing, fare structures etc, needs to stay within the bounds of the State Government, BCC needs to keep their noses out of it.  Once BCC stick their noses in, it just complicates the process even more and makes it even more difficult to implement changes, we've seen that already with the BT network.

Have the Greens forgotten who is supposed to run the PT show? 

[#Metro]

I think we should say no to this. This goes against network integration, and if all councils in the TL network did this, we'd have a big fare system mess on our hands. There has been enough tinkering with local fiefdoms (refusal to reform network, CityGlider fiasco) in the PT network (i.e. 9-then waste rorting), we don't need more.

If anything, it highlights PT needs to be removed from BCC.

[STB]

I tend to agree with LD, it could potentially lead to a have/have not situation, depending on if you live within the boundaries of BCC or not, leading to an overly complicated ticketing structure and it loses integration, it also weakens the State Government and what they are meant to be doing, ie: legislating and planning for public transport.

[#Metro]

Does pensioner = poor?

Also,

Holders of a red seniors' Go Card who are Gold Coast residents enjoy free travel on Surfside buses from 8.30 to 3.30 Monday to Friday. This is an initiative of the Gold Coast City Council who issue a sticker which is attached to the Go Card. BCC take note.
Commenter
John
Location
Bayside
Date and time
January 15, 2016, 6:58PM

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/greens-promise-free-brisbane-bus-travel-for-pensioners-and-seniors-20160115-gm71i3.html

[#Metro]

The GC has something already initiated:

http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/thegoldcoast/free-bus-travel-for-gold-coast-seniors-17698.html

[techblitz]

gold coast have it right.....enticing them to travel offpeak...so doesnt add to peak hour numbers....out of holiday season and in the offpeak many buses on the coast run empty eg:700 so yes its a fairly reasonable move.....but brisbane is vastly different to the gold coast...in uni periods...brisbane buses can run full all times of the day...so there should definitely be no pensioner free travel on routes such as 66/444/100/120/111 etc which can add to bus loadings in a negative fashion.....

[#Metro]

I think if you had an all-round reasonable fare system, without the gimmicks, there would be no need for pensioner freebies. Just like there would not be no need for 9-then waste freebies.

What evidence is there that this program increases travel, rather than just subsidise people who would travel anyway?

I think just having decent and frequent buses would help more than making a bad product, free.

[#Metro]

People need to think about what they mean when they say the big word FAIRNESS.

How is this idea fair? There are still unemployed people and newstart payment people going around on the network paying FULL FARE. Arguably, those people should be served first before pensioners.

[SurfRail]

If you are going to do it, it should be intermodal and system wide - that or not at all.

Likewise, I am bemused by why it's OK to be able to go from Brisbane to Nambour for free by train if you are going to the cricket, but you can't go from Heritage Park to Browns Plains to transfer onto a BCC bus without having to pay a fare.

[Stillwater]

Seniors = bloody big voting bloc. 

Greens don't seem to think beyond that.  But who believes they will gain power to implement this promise?  They are making this election promise in complete ignorance of any fare structure review coming from the state government.

Greens are demonstrating, yet again, they are the political fairies at the bottom of the garden.

[ozbob]

Interesting.  But lets wait for the fare review process to play out.  It is a political promise, ignoring the reality of the overall network dynamics, actual usage patterns and the need for a truly integrated fare structure.   I don't support it as it is anti-network in the end, and would just further entrench BCC as a stand alone destroyer of better public transport for all of SEQ.  Regions outside Brisbane are suffering because of BCC's intransigence, such a move as proposed by the Greens would only worsen it.

[James]

Ridiculous proposal. Free bus travel worked on the GC at the point of introduction because bus was the only intra-GC mode of transport. The rail tends to be used by people bound for Brisbane, and the few who wanted free travel could always travel between stations via bus safari routes. Now with the LRT, it doesn't work so well.

It won't work in Brisbane due to differing demand profiles, less separation between networks and a quite dominant rail network. Such a move would actually encourage people off trains and on to buses - on the inner Ipswich and Beenleigh line in particular, even though bus is a less effective mode of transit.

BCC needs to butt out of transit planning.

[#Metro]

The only place where I can see it possibly working is on the ferry system. That's isolated from most of the network.

I agree that it would be strange for a pensioner to catch a bus, then hop on a train - bang - they have to pay the usual fare because they performed a transfer, and QR isn't part of BCC.

The Greens didn't include the ferries - so that same issue would crop up, unless they also declared ferries to be free for pensioners also.

Also a number of non-BCC buses running in the BCC area - such as the 555. If pensioners catch that bus - bang - hit with fares, or they would have to let it pass by and wait for the next bus.

[ozbob]

Adelaide metro also has free travel for Seniors off peak and weekends but for ALL modes.

> https://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/Tickets/Fares

Adelaide does have a true integrated network not the shambolic setup in Brisbane and SEQ.

[ozbob]

PT integration in Brisbane ..

[#Metro]

A way BCC could do it is (a) work out which pensioners are living in Brisbane, (b) calculate "reasonable" costs for a pensioner each year and (c) top-up their go card with an amount equal to that value.

That would work perfectly with whatever fare system was available. More work would have to be done to ensure it wasn't rorted, but it would be possible. BCC would need to chat to Centrelink to see if this top-up would be classified as "income" for means-testing purposes.

[ozbob]

Any concessions or free travel needs to be system wide and implemented as part of the fare structure.

This is not going to fly as such, but it is good that at least fare affordability generally is being highlighted.

[STB]

The Greens Lord Mayor Candidate responded to me on Facebook.

Ben Pennings

The Greens plan is to include this in the next BCC contribution to Translink. A small but important contribution to fixing what is the most expensive public transport system in the country.

Excuse me...since when did BCC become the State Government? 

[SurfRail]

^ Apart from the fact this is all moot because the Greens are Buckley's chance of winning, that is exactly how the GCCC version works.

[ozbob]

Interesting research article: University of SA --> Free public transport critical for seniors' wellbeing

>> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11890.0

[#Metro]

It would be good if we had some idea of the policy before it was released, rather than having it released and then seeing the holes in it after the fact. I guess that's how policy is made - make it in house and then take feedback, rather than have formulation from the start.