Tracy Davis MP, Shadow Transport Minister, Is she on top of her portfolio ?

[Fares_Fair]

Hello All,

Tracy Davis MP, Shadow Transport Minister and Member for Aspley, is she on top of her portfolio ?
See for yourself ...

Transcript from yesterdays Hansard for the Queensland Parliament.
Ms Tracy Davis MP, is the LNP Member for Aspley and Shadow Public Transport Minister.
The real reason for the fare increases is as stated below and I have corroboration of same in Ministerial correspondence.

Why does TRANSLink perpetuate the myth that it is for extra seats on trains ?

Thank you to Ms Davis for highlighting our concerns in the Queensland Parliament.
Thanks also go to the Member for Gaven, Alex Douglas MP and the Member for Glass House, Andrew Powell MP.

TransLink, Fares
Ms DAVIS (Aspley—LNP) (9.33 pm): I rise to address an issue that has been of tremendous
concern to the commuting public and one that has generated considerable media attention in recent
weeks. I refer to the inflexible fare structure that has accompanied this Labor government's introduction
of the go card. Brisbane's public transport ranks among the most expensive in the world. We are now
paying more than commuters in New York, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Los Angeles and Tokyo, and the hikes
are set to continue until 2014. The Bligh government will more than double go card fares in just five
years. Just when Queenslanders are facing escalating cost-of-living pressures, this government has
slapped commuters with fare increases running at more than five times CPI. As it stands, only in London
will commuters pay more for a single adult fare, yet their smart card—the Oyster card—still offers
capped fare options.
This was an issue generating considerable concern amongst commuters before I was appointed
shadow minister for public transport. In the last couple of months I have been actively listening to public
transport users who feel they are being steamrolled by this government. They want to see a discernible
improvement in service provision. They expect reliability and comfort. They demand value for their
dollar. With congestion increasing on our roads, it is important that we aim to have a public transport
system that not only encourages more commuters but also ensures that those who currently use public
transport continue to do so.
In October 2009 the government announced that it would be increasing TransLink fares with a
view to reducing the subsidy per trip from 75 per cent to 70 per cent. The reality is that this was a
manoeuvre glossed over with Labor government rhetoric for months prior to its implementation. Shortly
after the 15 per cent increase was implemented following the devastation of the January floods, the
government stated that the fare increases would help build and restore the public transport network. The
fare increases were never intended as revenue raising for flood recovery, given that they had been
mapped out a considerable time before.
Devastating circumstances were being manipulated for political gain at a time when
Queenslanders needed compassion and assistance from their government. In question time this
morning the minister failed to outline how the federal government's carbon tax would further impact on
fares. Commuters are wanting improved frequency of services, more effective timetabling and extended
operating hours to justify the fare increases and make public transport a workable option for them.
The Leader of the Opposition and the LNP understand the importance of public transport. We
understand that, above all, when Queenslanders are struggling with increased power bills and
increased water bills they do not need another burden of increased public transport fares—increased
fares created by Labor ineptness. We will make delivering flexible public transport which delivers real
value for commuters a real priority.

Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[#Metro]

I have one word for Tracey Davis, it should be framed in every operator, and transport ministers office, the first and foremost thing above all else is:

F R E Q U E N C Y

If you sell rotten apples (and overprice them too!), don't expect many customers!!!
Economics and Business 101...

[#Metro]

And just so there is no disbelieveing --->
http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/6058/1/thredbo10-themeA-Warren.pdf

200 % plus increases in patronage on Sundays!

[Stillwater]

For Ms Davis to complete:

In Government, the LNP will restrict annual fare increases to ..... ?

In Government, the LNP ticketing and pricing structure will be ..........

In Government, the LNP will / will not introduce a daily price capping arrangement.

In Government, the LNP pledges that train frequency across the core rail network will be ... mins.

An LNP Government will / will not introduce  a light rail network to the inner city.

In Government, an LNP Government will fund these priority infrastructure projects over five years ..............

We will fund them by doing this ............

[#Metro]

The higher fares hit the long distance (Sunshine Coast, again) commuter the hardest.

There are two sides to value-for-money. The value side (frequency, connectivity, legibility, access, comfort, network structure, ease of transfer, station facilities and amenities) and the money side (unpriced waiting time costs/nominal fare costs).

When you catch public transport, you pay twice.

1. First when you wait for the service (if you wait half an hour, you have to multiply this by the value of time, say this might be I don't know $10 per hour, so 30 minute wait is equal to $5 surcharge on top of the fare). The value of time is justified as it is the money someone would pay to have the service now; it is a well established principle in engineering and feasibility studies.

2. Secondly when you actually pay for the service to use it
(so $4.80 or whatever the printed price on the ticket is).

So of course people feel ripped off- not only is the nominal price the same, by and large for rail commuters, the 'timewaste surcharge of $5' or so is also added on to that. Time is money as they say!

I don't mind paying more for better service- because what that does is increase the nominal price, but decrease the unpriced waiting time component- a 30 minute train going from 30 minutes to 15 minutes has effectively given me a discount of $2.50!

The problem is, I am paying more nominally, but I have seen no improvements at the station I use often!

[#Metro]

Time is the least renewable resource that people have... and our transport system is wasting it!
Wasted time is permanently irrecoverable.

Random video on YouTube-- the value of time.
Funnily enough-- (2:08 into the video) "To realise the value of one hour, ask a person who just missed a train".

[Fares_Fair]

Apologies Bob,

You beat me to the punch with this one, I just found your link and copy from Hansard (from 9am this morning).
Thank you for that.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[Gazza]

They want to see a discernible
improvement in service provision.

This is the big thing for me, as I've said in the past, I'm happy to pay more if the service is better...No different to anything else in life.

The thing is, they say that these fare increases are going towards service improvements, but it's pretty much lotto in terms of what we actually get and what we can expect.

The government might meet a lot less resistance if they were upfront about what we can expect over the next 5 years when these fare increases are taking place. Sure, we don't know how 2031 is going to pan out.
But at the same time, surely 5 years worth of service improvements isn't too volatile, and can be cleanly mapped out and published, people can give feedback, and then hold them to account.

Really bugs me when stuff like route 88 happens. Nobody actually asked for it, nor is it the #1 priority for improvements, it was sort of just like something that fell from the sky. I'd hate to think the next 5 years of improvements will just be in this manner, where stuff happens on a whim.

Really bugs me too when questions get posed to QR like "When can we get 4tph" and they respond "we need more rolling stock to ensure proper maintenance can be done etc etc".
But if they know how many trains on order they have, then why cant they just sit down and do the calculations....and say "We need XX trains to run a 15 minute service with XX% fleet availability"....Then once a train rolls down from Maryborough that tips this magic number, implement it!

[HappyTrainGuy]

In theory its okay to have more rollingstock but they do have to consider what impact the extra services have on other lines during peak and the crew available to run them. With more rollingstock do they have the appropriate facilities to house the new trains? Do they need a larger maintenance facility to keep them on track? What about where the trains terminate. Can they get them turned around/out of the way without impacting on other services?

[mufreight]

By the Members efforts to date I would think not, seemingly only moving when allowed to by her minders who were the same people who made it difficult for her predecessor Ms Fiona Simpson to make progress and frequently provided flawed advice.
If Ms Davis was on top of her portfolio, there would have been a statement that under the LNP fare increases would not exceed the CPI, a no brainer that would have put points on the board.
On the subject of the north coast line she would have raised question as to why there has been no infrastructure work carried out to enable an increase in frequency for commuter services.
On the subject of the CRR she would have challenged the deferal for two years (at this stage) of construction of this vital to both Brisbane and the South East of the State piece of commuter transport infrastructure.
She should also be challenging the recent announcement by Deputy Premier Lucas on the development of approval for Flagstone without immediate provision of public transport (and other services)
If the LNP wants the Government of this state they will need to be far more proactive rather than reactive in many areas, transport, particularly public transport being one of the key ones, so Ms Davis saddle up and produce some practical well considered policy on public transport and use those policies to force reaction from the government.