Article: Go card shows disconnect between politicians and public

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Go card shows disconnect between politicians and public

Go card shows disconnect between politicians and public
Article from: The Courier-Mail

By Mike O'Connor

October 25, 2009 11:00pm

IT'S an article of faith held dear by our elected representatives that the grubby masses must get back on the buses, trains and ferries.

Politicians never catch public transport themselves. What's the point in having a lovely new taxpayer-funded car in the garage or, in the case of ministers, a chauffeur as well, if you're going to catch the bus?

No point at all, obviously. The rest of us, however, are upbraided for our fondness for private transport and exhorted to be environmentally responsible by joining the commuter strap-hangers.

In a bid to encourage this, the Queensland Government has provided a limited, sub-standard rail service while the Brisbane City Council operates a bus service that regularly leaves would-be patrons stranded at the roadside waving forlornly to their fellow commuters as they roar past, faces flattened against the window by the press of humanity within.

We could, of course, build a proper rail network of the kind that operates in most major cities in developed countries but that would require money and property resumptions which could cost votes. Best not to go there, obviously.

The trains may be late and the buses full but what matters is that we get the technology right.

And so it was that after the stuff-ups and slapstick routines, which are an integral part of the implementation of any State Government policy, Transport Minister Rachel Nolan announced the end of paper ticketing and the wholesale adoption of the go card.

Features positively aglow with joy and artfully applied make-up and jaw aching from hours of practising her camera-ready smile, the minister announced the wondrous news.

As part of her strategy to lure people away from their cars and put a go card in the wallet of every Greater Brisbane commuter, the minister hit on a unique strategy ? a massive increase in fares that would cost many commuters thousands of extra dollars a year to get to work.

Brilliant! Why hasn't anyone else thought of this? It just works on so many levels.

To begin with, because of the zone system, you pay more the further you live from the CBD. This ensures that people living in distant, less-affluent suburbs and least able to afford to pay more will be hit harder hit than well-heeled, inner-city dwellers.

Serves them right for being poor. What was that about the Labor Party looking out for the Aussie battler?

Cameron Prout, local CEO of the Heart Foundation, all but suffered a coronary on hearing of the Government's move. It flew, he said, in the face of everything the foundation was trying to achieve, which was to get people to walk to the bus stop or train station. "This will send them back to their cars," he said as he headed off to have his blood pressure checked.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas, chauffeur-driven car parked discreetly around the corner and displaying an empathy with the working class of which Louis XIV would have been proud, said that people weren't terribly worried about how much public transport cost as long as they got better service.

How he came to this view is unclear, but it would be reasonable to presume that it wasn't by conducting a poll of commuters on the peak-hour rattler from Darra to Central.

Then again, as an MP he gets free rail travel, which may account for his Magoo-like view of the electorate's attitude to the cost of living.

In an entertaining attempt to deflect attention away from the fare increases and trumpet go card, Lucas said: "World-class public transport systems have world-class ticketing systems."

Agreed, dear boy, but Brisbane doesn't have a world-class public transport system.

In another sadly flawed attempt to justify the move by quoting overseas best practice, the Government attempted to say that the move put Brisbane in line with cities such as London, New York and Paris.

This showed that even when overseas on taxpayer-funded junkets, Bligh and company don't use public transport. If they did, they'd know that you can buy electronic cards that allow for unlimited travel for extended periods rather than being subjected to the rapacious zone system.

Transport Minister Nolan then attempted to justify the system by saying travellers could qualify for a discount if they made more than 10 journeys. But what if I want to make nine journeys? Or eight? Why should I be penalised?

As people wait for a bus or train, which may or may not turn up and may or may not be full, they could be excused for wondering just what it is they get for their taxes, given that they are now expected to redraw their household budgets to pay for the cost of government transport services.

This is a cash grab by a desperate political machine but what is curious is that, according to Lucas, no one in the Government thought of putting up the fares before the March election, which was why Bligh hadn't mentioned it during the campaign.

Then again, as election slogans go "Vote for me and I'll double your train fares" isn't one of the better ones.

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