Fringe Benefits Tax & Go Card Corporate

[#Metro]

http://www.ttf.org.au/DisplayFile.aspx?FileID=991

Interesting...

Over two million vehicles are subject to FBT claims2 every year costing the federal government approximately $1.7 billion.3 With the statutory formula providing an incentive for driving vehicles further, the regime actively encourages car dependency, increasing urban traffic congestion ‐ which will cost Australia $12.9 billion in 2010 4 ‐ and contravenes the federal government's policy objective of fostering a sustainable population.

$1.7 BILLION! That's a 70km Mandurah-Perth line every year!

I don't want to add to the subsidy burden that the gov already carries by subsidising a potential "Go Card Corporate" off federal tax dollars. IMHO Cars should not be favoured over PT. There should be a level playing field. Mode neutral taxation on this one IMHO.

[somebody]

Good on them for highlighting this issue.  A few moves have been made to reduce the subsidy over the last 20 years, probably more with an emphasis on increasing the tax take than remove the sheer stupidity of subsidising people driving to work in peak hour.

[#Metro]

I think a lot of public transport during peak hour might be running at a profit. If you have a full bus with 65 people in it, each paying $2.50, that's $160 for that run, and that run might take 30 minutes at the most (maybe an hour or so).

Same with trains. A full train carrying 1000 pax at crush load with everyone paying $2.50 is raking in $2500 dollars, and you might have 150 trains arrive in peak am hour and the same leave at pm peak hour... so that's $750 000 dollars in daily total peak hours right there.

The real problem is in the off peak when services are empty- building patronage on that.
But it can be done, BUZ did it; if the bus routes were more 'general purpose' coupled with a GoCard fare structure that supports off-peak travel, then they might see some all day use, which would pull in more $$$.

[dwb]

The real problem is in the off peak when services are empty- building patronage on that.
But it can be done, BUZ did it; if the bus routes were more 'general purpose' coupled with a GoCard fare structure that supports off-peak travel, then they might see some all day use, which would pull in more $$$.

Absolutely... the transport network needs to be more about enabling various people to live without a car or without two cars so that they walk more, catch pt more and ride more. This is good for the roads, for the PT system, for the environment, for their health, their stress, their family budget etc.

The current approach is to consistently prioritise service improvements and routes for CBD bound (or peak direction) traffic and this is a problem, and a big one.

I'm not claiming that CBD bound traffic isn't important, or that we should simply operate higher frequencies on the same routes out of peak period. But I tend to think out of peak trips have a rather different origin-destination pattern and should have different services but also operating at higher frequencies. I also think it is incredibly important to drastically reduce the price of PT in offpeak times to encourage people to switch modes, as often in off peak periods there is (at least perceived) capacity on the roads (ie less time-cost, no ticket, door to door, more convenient in using car). This is also why I think taxis need to be much better regulated and to be able to be paid for by Go Card (I'm not saying a zonal fare, I'm saying more or less just enable them to charge the fare for the taxi to your go card).... although I have travelled to many places that have a central area flat fee... which may be a very valuable idea for both PT and taxis in Brisbane/ Gold Coast/ Ipswich etc centres.

I think a lot of public transport during peak hour might be running at a profit. If you have a full bus with 65 people in it, each paying $2.50, that's $160 for that run, and that run might take 30 minutes at the most (maybe an hour or so).

Same with trains. A full train carrying 1000 pax at crush load with everyone paying $2.50 is raking in $2500 dollars, and you might have 150 trains arrive in peak am hour and the same leave at pm peak hour... so that's $750 000 dollars in daily total peak hours right there.

Of course!!