Fare Review for TransLink South-East Queensland now! - Petition

[ozbob]

Rippa Rita!  Onwards,

Thanks folks for signing our petition, 1000 +,  it's time all right ...

[Fares_Fair]

1000 barrier looms ...

..and is left behind, now 1070.

[ozbob]

Our strong position on fare review vindicated ..

====================

From the Couriermail click here!

Fare prices have been blamed for falling numbers of bus travellers and the subsequent loss of services

Fare prices have been blamed for falling numbers of bus travellers and the subsequent loss of services

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    March 11, 2013 12:00AM

THE State Government has released new figures on falling off-peak bus usage as it enters the last two weeks of consultation on its bus network review.

Released last week, the review proposes to reduce the number of bus routes in southeast Queensland from 446 to 335, but increase high frequency runs from 19 to 26.

Transport Minister Scott Emerson said during the past three years, off-peak trips typically dominated by pensioners and students, had slipped from 12.9 per cent of all journeys, to 12.7.

He said it was clear ongoing 15 per cent fare hikes were to blame.

"Students, pensioners and the elderly have been priced out of public transport," Mr Emerson said.

"Fares went up 15 to 20 per cent in 2010; those that couldn't afford it stopped travelling; revenue fell short; Labor had to keep putting up fares; and more people couldn't afford to travel.

"We are determined to break that cycle."

He said any money saved from the network review would go towards reducing next year's planned 7.5 per cent fare hike.

Funding for bus services increased 22 per cent to $580 million in the last three years but in the same period, patronage grew just 0.5 per cent.

However the Rail, Tram and Bus Union has condemned the proposed cutbacks to bus routes as a "criminal act against the people of Brisbane".

RTBU bus organiser Dave Matters said a lot of work had been done building up the (Brisbane City) Council network.

"We have a very good public transport network where the only issue we've got is the pricing," Mr Matters said.

"It now looks like they're going to bastardise the system, so nobody wants to use it. "

He said the changes indicated more people would be "thrown on to train services" or forced to switch services throughout their journey.

"Once you start expecting people to swap from bus to train, to bus to get where they want to go, they say 'this is too hard, I'll just use my car'," Mr Matters said.

"We don't think that's a wise way to run public transport services."

Feedback on the changes is being sought from today until March 24 at translink.com.au

SEQ Bus review discussion here --> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9045.msg121524#msg121524

[ozbob]

Anyone who is rail based and in the RTBU should resign.  The RTBU obviously don't care much for rail do they ..

[ozbob]

This week on 7.30 Queensland

This week the program looks at putting the pain of public transport under State Government review, and also at Katter's Australian Party in turmoil.

7.30pm ABC 15th March 2013 - on ABC One

Promo --> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-14/730-qld-promo/4574086?section=qld

[ozbob]

612 ABC Brisbane Mornings with Steve Austin

Concerns about loss of bus routes

15 March 2013 , 10:29 AM by Sally Rope

Over the last few week there have been many proposed changes to Brisbane's public transport.

Bus routes and fares have been the main focus, with many people concerned about the loss of services

Robert Dow from 'Rail Back on Track' is heading into a meeting this morning as part of the Government's Public Transport advisory group. Steve Austin spoke to him this morning...

Click --> here!

[ozbob]

This week on 7.30 Queensland

This week the program looks at putting the pain of public transport under State Government review, and also at Katter's Australian Party in turmoil.

7.30pm ABC 15th March 2013 - on ABC One

Promo --> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-14/730-qld-promo/4574086?section=qld

Hopefully segment on public transport fares will be available in due course ...

--> http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/qld/

[ozbob]

ABC News

SE Qld public transport among the most expensive in the world

A State Government review of public transport in South East Qld wants input on the future of fares.

--> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-16/se-qld-public-transport-among-the-most-expensive/4577694

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

28th March 2013

Greetings,

Have a look at the data on the TransLink web site for February 2013.

Bus reliability continues to be worse than rail, no surprise.

Fare affordability worsens significantly.

http://translink.com.au/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/patronage-and-customer-satisfaction


http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/public-transport-performance/2013-feb/2013-02-affordability.png


http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/public-transport-performance/2013-feb/2013-02-reliability-frequency.png

Nothing broken ...  lol

Ho hummm

Best wishes
Robert

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

[ozbob]

Media release 31st March 2013



SEQ: TransLink fare review now off the rails?

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 is very concerned that the failure to drive the bus network in principle as proposed properly by TransLink, will now lead to a stalemate to sort out the fare system for TransLink south-east Queensland (1, 2).

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"An important premise of the TransLink bus review was that it was to be revenue neutral, because the better overall frequency and increased number of services and frequent routes particularly in the high demand period between 7am to 7pm, the improved legibility and simplification, as well as better integration with rail would have lead to increased patronage and fare box. This would have supported the intent to address the high cost of fares in south-east Queensland."

"The vacillation by the Minister for Transport and Main Roads with respect to the bus review has now put reform of the fares at serious risk.  The Brisbane City Council bus review is not likely to achieve the same results.  They have created a bus system that is broken, are in a state of denial and are struggling to see the need to adopt best practise public transport planning principles. They are locked into a 1970s high cost, poor frequency, isolated, inefficient direct service network model."

"We call on a committment by the Minister to the public of south-east Queensland that the fare review process is to continue."

"We do not accept that the rest of south-east Queensland should suffer public transport mediocrity because of the intransigence and incompetence of Brisbane City Council with respect to the failure to understand that their bus system is broken, and their obvious lack of understanding of the steps needed to position it for a sustainable transport future!"

Contact:

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

References:

1. SE Qld public transport among the most expensive in the world
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-16/se-qld-public-transport-among-the-most-expensive/4577694

2. Translink Fare Modelling - Brisbane's Transport - we just can't afford
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=9783.0

3. Brisbane City Council's "not broken" bus network
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/brisbane-city-council.html

4. More on Brisbane City Council's "not broken" bus network
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/more-of-brisbane-city-councils-not.html

5. Is the Qld government missing the bus?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/03/25/is-the-qld-government-missing-the-bus/

6. SEQ bus network review http://translink.com.au/travel-information/service-updates/seq-bus-network-review

7. BCC Bus Review
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-transport/public-transport/buses/index.htm

[ozbob]

Twitter

mXBrisbane ‏@mXBrisbane 1h

Brisbane commuters are shunning trains, with passengers rating the affordability of rail fares at a record low. More in @mXBrisbane today.

[freman]

Got my signature, at $4300 per year for a service that (Especially after the timetable review) is less than convenient - isn't right.

We're switching to carpooling after Australia day.

If you ring up the Minister for transport, one of his aids will tell you that labor was doing 15% and we're better off with their 7.5%.

I thought they were doing 15% for 4 years?
Didn't they get through 3 rises before being turfed?
Doesn't that make this our 5th year of massive price rises (I sure as hell haven't received a 7.5% pay rise)

If I'm right then the rises look something like this
+15%, +15%, +15%, +7.5%, +7.5%

this results in us paying more than if they'd stuck with Labours plan of
+15%, +15%, +15%, +15%

[aldonius]

2008 to 2010 was a big jump, but I'm not sure specifically how much it was.

2011 through 2014 were the planned 15% rises - so two were at 15% and two at 7.5%.

Goodness only knows what's coming for next year.

[#Metro]

I fed my GoCard $10 yesterday and now it is in NEGATIVE balance today!! 
This is NUTS!!

[SurfRail]

2008 to 2010 was a big jump, but I'm not sure specifically how much it was.

2011 through 2014 were the planned 15% rises - so two were at 15% and two at 7.5%.

Goodness only knows what's coming for next year.

15% rises in 2010, 2011 and 2012 - 7.5% rises in 2013 and 2014 (which was originally to be 15% in 2013 and who-knows-what this year).

[ozbob]

2009 election year, no increase

2010, go card increased 20%, paper 40%

2011 and 2012 15%

2013 and 2014 7.5%

Real terms since 2010 go card 83%, paper 114%.

[SurfRail]

December 2004 quarter Brisbane CPI number - 80.0
December 2013 quarter Brisbane CPI number - 104.6

CPI increase in that period = 30.75% over 9 years

Zone 1 single as at 2005 - $2.00
Zone 1 single as at 2014 - $5.20 paper, $3.53 go card

Price increase in that period - 160% paper, 76.5% go card

Patronage increase - approx 50% over same period
Budget increase - not sure

[ozbob]

Price increase in that period - 160% paper, 76.5% go card

Simple increase, in compound terms >>

Fares barely kept pace with CPI (bit less) 2005 - 2009, hence the savage impost from 2010.  It is the sustained increases during the five year fare fail that has backfired badly ..

[ozbob]

Also the loss of periodicals has further magnified the cost increases for punters. Hard to factor that in  ..  but in some cases adds over a 100% or more ...  this is another reason why the public has had it ..

[Fares_Fair]

^ agree.

My whole public transport 'career' started with the what I then thought were savage fare increases back in 2008, when the go card was first introduced.
I prepared a table showing the increases for all zones and had it published in mX as an advertisement (cost was almost $1500 from memory).

From a post of mine from February 2008
"Helensvale ( Zone 12 ) cops a 14.29% hike and Nerang - Robina ( Zones 13 + ) receive a 23.08% rise
Sadly they suffer the same imposts as Sunshine Coast commuters for a 5 day week ( 10 trips )."

It showed increases ranging up to just over 23% from Glass House Mountains station zone onwards and shocked a lot of people - so much so that the increases proposed never eventuated.

Anyway, I wonder what the fares would be today based upon just CPI increases since then ... would make for an interesting comparison.

[transwatch]

^ agree.

My whole public transport 'career' started with the what I then thought were savage fare increases back in 2008, when the go card was first introduced.
I prepared a table showing the increases for all zones and had it published in mX as an advertisement (cost was almost $1500 from memory).

From a post of mine from February 2008
"Helensvale ( Zone 12 ) cops a 14.29% hike and Nerang - Robina ( Zones 13 + ) receive a 23.08% rise
Sadly they suffer the same imposts as Sunshine Coast commuters for a 5 day week ( 10 trips )."

It showed increases ranging up to just over 23% from Glass House Mountains station zone onwards and shocked a lot of people - so much so that the increases proposed never eventuated.

Anyway, I wonder what the fares would be today based upon just CPI increases since then ... would make for an interesting comparison.

Pity the only 5% reduction in fares in 2015 doesn't makes up for the very poor service that Translink is allowed to continue to give the travelling public including gocard machines not working, call centre giving out wrong information or information they wanted to give rather then what the caller wanted, journey planner not working or giving out silly suggestion like catch a bus and stay on for 2 minutes etc etc