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ALP: Labor lobbies for Brisbane public transport reform

Started by ozbob, January 28, 2016, 03:13:57 AM

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ozbob

Brisbanetimes --> Labor lobbies for Brisbane public transport reform (#bccvotes)

QuoteLabor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding will lobby his party colleagues in the state government to completely overhaul south-east Queensland's public transport fare structure.

Mr Harding said while fare reform was a state issue, he hoped his submission to the government's Fare Review Taskforce would be favourably considered.

Among Mr Harding's proposals were:


    The consolidation of Translink zones within the greater Brisbane area;
    A flat fee for travel on Brisbane's CityCat and ferry network, which would see all users pay one peak hour and one off-peak fare, irrespective of the distance of travel; and
    A discounted fare for all-stop services running into the CBD during peak hours.

The zone consolidation would see the city divided into two zones. The existing zones one and two would be merged, as would zones three, four and five.

That, Mr Harding said, would make public transport cheaper for commuters, which was important because the cost of public transport was a "real factor" in many residents' decision to avoid the city's buses, trains and ferries.

"To tackle congestion in Brisbane we need affordable, reliable and efficient public transport," he said.

"We need to entice people out of their cars and onto public transport.

"Making public transport more affordable is obviously one of the ways to get people to leave their cars at home.

"More than 1 million extra people will call Brisbane home in the next 15 years."

Public transport advocate Robert Dow, of Rail Back on Track, said there was some merit in Mr Harding's suggestions, but would wait to see the outcome of the taskforce's fare review before passing judgement.

"I think there possibly is a case for zonal rationalisation, but I think we're pre-empting the outcomes of the fare review," he said.

"But it's good that candidates are putting forward these ideas because the system is broken."

A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the expert-led review into public transport fares would hand down its findings in the first half of 2016, with a public consultation period to follow.

She said the government would not be in a position to comment further until that had occurred.

Patronage on Brisbane City Council buses dropped 2.2 million year-on-year between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Mr Harding repeated his assertion that was due to council budget cuts of $20 million.

"It is clear that Graham Quirk, after 30 years in council, has lost focus on public transport," he said. 

"Brisbane needs a lord mayor who takes public transport seriously if we're to tackle traffic congestion and plan for our future as a modern, growing city."

Cr Quirk, who led a Liberal National Party-dominated city council, said it was up to the Palaszczuk Labor government to reduce public transport fares to an affordable level and called for the introduction of a capped daily fare.

"Increasing public transport fares determined by the state government is directly responsible for falls in bus patronage," he said.

"Team Quirk is keeping Brisbane's public transport on the right track with the country's most modern and accessible bus fleet and a modern CityCat fleet, but at the end of the day the state government needs to act on fares to make public transport more affordable and encourage more users."

Cr Quirk said he would make his own public transport policy announcements in coming weeks.

Greens lord mayoral candidate Ben Pennings said Brisbane public transport had become the most expensive in Australia under both Labor and the LNP.

"The Greens welcome any initiatives to reduce the cost of public transport but ask the old parties to follow our lead and provide the full cost to ratepayers over the next council term," he said.

"The Greens have a fully costed comprehensive plan on the way that will claw back the prices rises of both the ALP and LNP over the last few years.

"Brisbane residents deserve value for money on top of cheaper public transport."

Half baked projects, have long term consequences ...
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kaykayt


ozbob

Half baked projects, have long term consequences ...
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kaykayt

Quote from: ozbob on January 28, 2016, 16:48:44 PM
Quote from: kaykayt on January 28, 2016, 16:39:34 PM
Melbourne's two zone transport is pretty cool.

Nope.  It is actually a bit silly.

At least they have $8 capped fares. But its not good for the inner city commuters I guess...?

ozbob

Melbourne fares are cheap as chips.

The real issue with the system as it was this.  The myki could not cope, so they went simple.  The free tram zone is a symptom.  Melbourne almost had it right with the 3 zones. But because of the degraded system (myki) they had little alternative.

I think you will find, with the next generation system a much more balanced and sensible fare structure.

;)
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#Metro

I think all this last few weeks has show is just how steeped and ingrained BCC is in the whole process. Not only network planning is a de-facto BCC task, but now the fares are going to be set by BCC de facto as well? That's what all these concession proposals etc are going to do - break fare integration.

Now there are proposals to play around with the zones, and make a change here, change there, change over there - cumulatively over time, you will have an enormous mess develop.

BCC needs to stay out of the fares. The way to affordability is to stop wasting existing resources.
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SurfRail

Melbourne is a basket case for the opposite reason to us - not enough cost recovery because of cheap fares, and patronage which would not be materially adversely affected by reasonable increases because the elasticity is lower than in Brisbane.

That said, Yarra Trams has generally recovered above 90% of its budget in recent years, although the free tram zone may affect that a bit now.
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