Article: Bus travel salary packaging for ACT PS

[colinw]

The Canberra Times -> click here

Territory public servants and their immediate families will be able to use salary packaging to pay for their bus fares under a scheme announced yesterday.

Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said the measure would reduce workers' travel costs by $300 to $400 a year and would take effect from tomorrow.

If every employee took up the scheme, it would cost at least $6million, not including the cost of employees' families.

''As the second biggest employer in Canberra with a workforce of nearly 20,000 this is a significant commitment to our employees and the community,'' Ms Gallagher said.

''In addition to providing savings to ACT public servants and their families, the introduction of this initiative will also hopefully see greater patronage on our buses which in turn will lessen the carbon footprint of the ACT.''

She said the commitment was made as part of the 2010-11 enterprise bargaining discussions between the Government and the ACTPS.

In 2009 the Government agreed in principle to allow Canberra's public servants to have a bike and bus pass included in their salary package, if the tax office supported it.

Greens leader Meredith Hunter said the party would like to also see bicycles included in salary packages.

[Fares_Fair]

Now that is how to encourage public transport ! 
 
Regards,
Fares_Fair.

[Jonno]

Smart indeed!!!!

[somebody]

I'm sure I've mentioned before that we already have such a system in Qld.  Some people can't use it because they already claim the full benefit through non-PT though.

[WTN]

The QLD claim limit isn't a lot given how much the costs have risen over the years. From memory, it's just over $1330. Not much even if you use PT just for work every day. The choice of operators is also limited - Brisbane Transport and Queensland Rail. Bad luck if you live in a place served by a private operator (or even on the busway where you're denied extra services).

I'd like to see how the ACT implementation stacks up against ours. Their claimed savings look promising.

[Golliwog]

The QLD claim limit isn't a lot given how much the costs have risen over the years. From memory, it's just over $1330. Not much even if you use PT just for work every day. The choice of operators is also limited - Brisbane Transport and Queensland Rail. Bad luck if you live in a place served by a private operator (or even on the busway where you're denied extra services).

I'd like to see how the ACT implementation stacks up against ours. Their claimed savings look promising.

Post go card, how do they know who you're traveling with unless they get detailed (and translated) go card histories from Translink for every individual claiming it? Something that would be costly and time consuming to check for everyone.

[somebody]

The QLD claim limit isn't a lot given how much the costs have risen over the years. From memory, it's just over $1330. Not much even if you use PT just for work every day. The choice of operators is also limited - Brisbane Transport and Queensland Rail. Bad luck if you live in a place served by a private operator (or even on the busway where you're denied extra services).

I'd like to see how the ACT implementation stacks up against ours. Their claimed savings look promising.

Post go card, how do they know who you're traveling with unless they get detailed (and translated) go card histories from Translink for every individual claiming it? Something that would be costly and time consuming to check for everyone.

Relies on a (statutory?) declaration by the public servant.

[WTN]

Found some info here:
http://www.remserv.com.au/publicTransport.cfm
http://qld.smartsalary.com.au/tContent.aspx?id=68

Limitations on QLD's scheme:
-Above example omits fees and makes assumptions. Savings may be comparable to ACT, but vary.
-The $1333 limit is shared with electricity. Simon is right, it can be claimed up already. That makes the limit a bit low for today's standards.
-There seems to be an operator limitation clause + requirement of go card histories from Translink. Looks like private operator trips have to be on a separate card.

I wonder what limitations do ACT have.