SEQ Annual Patronage FY 09/10 to 18/19 - all modes

[ozbob]

Spreadsheet > https://backontrack.org/docs/patronage/2018_19/annualgraphs9_10to18_19.ods

[ozbob]

Bus, rail, are finally starting to recover.  Ferry bounces around a bit, but slight positive trend over the decade.

Light rail a steady increase as to be expected.

Been a poor decade overall. 

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

27th September 2019

SEQ Annual Patronage FY 09/10 to 18/19 - all modes

Good Morning,

For your information. DTMR and Queensland Rail Annual and Financial Reports for 2018-19 have now been tabled. They can be found here - Queensland Parliament: Online Tabled Papers https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/tabled-papers/online-tabled-papers

We have updated our yearly patronage data from the annual reports.





Bus and heavy rail, are finally starting to recover patronage. Ferry patronage bounces around a bit, but slight positive trend over the decade.
Light rail shows a steady increase as to be expected.

Been a poor decade overall as evidenced in the fall in trips/capita. A way of looking at patronage with respect to population changes.

More detailed data analysis can be found here on our forum > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=91.0

It is important to focus on constant bus and rail network improvements to make the next decade a much better one in terms of SEQ public transport patronage.

Best wishes,

Robert

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

References:

1.   https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=91.0

2.   https://www.facebook.com/RAILBackOnTrack/posts/2882007791813389

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> As SEQ's population grows, per capita public transport usage falls

South-east Queenslanders are making fewer trips by public transport and returning to their cars as the region's population grows and new suburbs appear on Brisbane's outer fringes.

Information from annual reports from the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail show the total number of public transport trips has increased from 181.9 million in 2009-10 to 189.7 million in 2018-19.

Much of the increase comes from increased patronage on both buses and trains between 2017-8 and 2018-2019.

But population growth in greater Brisbane has masked a trend showing the number of public transport trips per person declining markedly.

Public transport lobby Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the population of greater Brisbane had increased from 3.01 million in 2010-11 to 3.6 million in 2017-18.

At the same time the average number of public transport trips per person dropped from 59.26 per year (2010-11) to 52.45 (2017-18).

"Now that is actually an 11 per cent reduction," Mr Dow said.

"So you can see that there has really been a real fall in public transport patronage.

"It actually shows that public transport has not kept pace with the population increase."

Mr Dow said Greater Brisbane's increased population shone a fresh light on how well public transport was used by commuters.

"If you take in account the population increase it is not performing that well," Mr Dow said.

"If you've got a flat line in south-east Queensland for your public transport usage and the population has increased from 3.0 million to 3.5 million over that time essentially – and you still have a flat line in passengers – they are not going to public transport are they?

"They are going to the roads and that's the problem.

"We are getting more congestion on the roads."

Mr Dow said much of the new residential growth areas were in Brisbane's outer ring.

"These areas are public transport-poor. They don't have access to public transport so they tend to drive," he said.

Transport studies show many European countries have far higher rates of public transport usage than Australia.

International transport data collected by the Auckland Council in New Zealand shows the Canadian city of Vancouver is a standout achiever in encouraging people to use public transport.

Mr Dow said Queensland planners needed to concentrate on further improving the bus services.


Graph shows how Brisbane's per capita public transport use is sliding among a cities of similar sizes.

Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey highlighted the headline figure of 189 public transport trips in south-east Queensland in 2018-19, an increase of 6.9 million on the previous year.

"That included more than 117 million trips on buses, more than 55 million trips on rail, more than 10 million on light rail and more than 6.5 million trips on ferries," he said.

"The Palaszczuk government has invested in public transport to support that growth, including Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 2, the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula rail line and the continued expansion of park-and-ride locations around south-east Queensland.

"We've made public transport accessible for more Queenslanders, with our government's concession schemes saving commuters $320.44 million in the 2018-19 financial year.

Mr Dow – who has been a public transport lobbyist for more than 15 years – said improving bus connections with local rail services was was essential to improve "per capita" rail trips.


Greater Brisbane public transport usage 2009-10 to 2017-128. Figures compiled from Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail annual reports

"As soon as you get outside inner Brisbane – out towards Redlands and Ipswich – these connections become very important," he said.

He said having a local bus miss a local train connection could force an hour-long wait for a commuter.

Mr Dow said that commuter was likely to drive the next time they needed to travel.

In 2013, TransLink proposed closing poorly used bus routes and concentrating on providing extra buses on major feeder routes, using shopping centres as hubs.

But overall the Transport and Main Roads figures showed patronage returning to buses and trains after a dip in patronage following large fare increases in 2013.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1177973121770373123

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

29th September 2019

How to improve public transport outcomes

Good Morning,

Thanks to Tony Moore and Brisbanetimes for today's article on the past decade of the real public transport patronage decline.

Brisbanetimes --> As SEQ's population grows, per capita public transport usage falls https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/as-seq-s-population-grows-per-capita-public-transport-usage-falls-20190927-p52vm9.html

Public patronage has not kept up with population increases.  In trips / capita terms it has gone down around 11% over the decade.

What has gone wrong?

From our perspective two great failures standout.

1.  The failed bus network review in 2013.

2.  Almost concurrently the failed 5 year fare path ( 2010-2015) which corresponded to the increasing uptake of the go card.  The go card system itself was fine, it was the fare structure that delivered year on year very significant fare cost increases.  In same cases well over 100%. A loss of periodical ticketing options was also a factor.  It is little wonder that patronage declined.  The new fare structure ' Fairer Fares ' introduced in December 2016 in the midst of railfail has helped to turn around the patronage loss.  This was a very welcome move by the State Government.

What is now needed is improvements to the bus network particularly.  Frequency, span and routes need review and improvement.  New routes need to be introduced and operated 7 days a week, not only weekdays.  Rail needs much better support from the bus network.  The buses are the spider web, the glue, of our public transport network.  They provide the vital connections to and between the fixed route heavy and light rail, and also our ferry network to a more limited extent.  Parts of the Citytrain network need urgent service improvement. First priority should be the Sunshine Coast line.

The new smart ticketing system ( https://translink.com.au/about-translink/projects-and-initiatives/smartticketing ) soon to be trialed provides the opportunity to bring in some innovative ticketing products.

The State Government needs to go back and again review how public transport is organised in Queensland.  Our view is that unless there is organisational reform we will still be stuck in the past with the present day silos of blunder.  What is needed is a standalone public transport authority, with the staff, resources and authority to deliver reform and improvements. An excellent model is the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia ( https://www.pta.wa.gov.au ).

As they say ' It is not rocket science ... '.  Just do it please ...

Regards
Robert

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

Sent to all outlets:

27th September 2019

SEQ Annual Patronage FY 09/10 to 18/19 - all modes

Good Morning,

For your information. DTMR and Queensland Rail Annual and Financial Reports for 2018-19 have now been tabled. They can be found here - Queensland Parliament: Online Tabled Papers https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/tabled-papers/online-tabled-papers

We have updated our yearly patronage data from the annual reports.





Bus and heavy rail, are finally starting to recover patronage. Ferry patronage bounces around a bit, but slight positive trend over the decade.
Light rail shows a steady increase as to be expected.

Been a poor decade overall as evidenced in the fall in trips/capita. A way of looking at patronage with respect to population changes.

More detailed data analysis can be found here on our forum > https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=91.0

It is important to focus on constant bus and rail network improvements to make the next decade a much better one in terms of SEQ public transport patronage.

Best wishes,

Robert

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

References:

1.   https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=91.0

2.   https://www.facebook.com/RAILBackOnTrack/posts/2882007791813389

[ozbob]

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How to improve public transport outcomeshttps://t.co/SLOCu7p7Wa#qldpol pic.twitter.com/swBKvF7n6f

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