4 Jan 2012: SEQ: Strong correlation between rail off peak frequency and cost ...

[ozbob]

Media release 4 January 2012

SEQ: Strong correlation between rail off peak frequency and cost recovery

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 says that there is every reason to think that the farebox recovery ratio would be improved by operating more off peak rail services.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Comparable cities to Brisbane in terms of population, geography and income such as Vancouver can achieve 51% farebox recovery ratio (1), and in high income Asia and Europe even higher ratios can be found, whereas ratios lower than Brisbane within the developed world aren't known to RAIL Back on Track except for Auckland's badly run down and over manned rail system which is in the process of being revitalised. There is a strong correlation between frequency of rail services and good farebox recoveries."

"While Brisbane's bus system might have the lowest cost per vehicle km in Australia, this matters little if few people are using the services.  New South Wale's State Transit can achieve roughly 38 boardings per bus trip (2).  It is thought that the Brisbane Transport figure would be less than two thirds of this.  A large part of the reason for this is no doubt the way that a number of buses leave the CBD either from a different place to where intending passengers are (3). Sydney can't get their fares policy integrated properly, Brisbane can't get its city stop locations right!"

"The policy of fare increases but not addressing the rail frequency has done little to improve farebox recovery ratio as well.  It is unclear where the money is going, as most of the problems listed above have always applied.  This is concerning but it seems that there is little visibility of this problem (4).  The increase in the subsidy seems completely out of proportion from what you might expect with the service expansions and inflation. The way to turn this around is to increase out of peak service frequency on the rail network."

"Base fares should really have been reduced as there is little point in charging above what the market will accept, but if that was not be done then better to hold at 2011 levels in nominal terms with the off peak discount increased."

References:

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio

2.  http://www.statetransit.info/global_files/performance_information_09_10.pdf

3.  Note:

For example the PM peak most people bound for the 130 corridor wait at Queen St Bus Station for the 130 and ignore the faster 129, 131, 133 and 137 services which leave from Adelaide St. This is the reason why the 130 needs to operate at a base 5 minute headway in the PM peak, but manages with a 10 minute headway in the AM peak.  In the off peak people bound for the via Indooroopilly corridor generally head to King George Square and ignore Queen St Bus Station which has half the services and also ignore the Adelaide St services.  Even those which head to Queen St Bus Station only a few can use the 454 as it comes 2 minutes after the 460, every half hour weekday daytimes.  The latter is repeated with the 88 and 444 at King George Square.  The divided city stop locations problem also affects Old Cleveland Rd, Kelvin Grove Rd, Ipswich Rd, Logan Rd, the Stanley Bridge and to a lesser degree Wynnum Rd and Cavendish Rd.

4.  http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2011-12-quarterly-report-jul-to-sep.pdf

Contact:

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