Article: Transport fares outstrip penalties

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Transport fares outstrip penalties

Transport fares outstrip penalties

    * Jason Dowling
    * June 2, 2008

MELBOURNE's public transport operators are being paid more money to provide worse service, analysis by the Public Transport Users Association shows.

Booming patronage on the city's trains and trams has led to a surge in ticket payments to transport operators Connex and Yarra Trams - far outstripping the increase in penalties they are being forced to pay for more late or cancelled services.

Connex received $174 million in revenue from ticket sales in 2005. The figure jumped to $225 million in 2007, while fines increased from $22.5 million to $28.4 million.

Yarra Trams had a similar increase in revenue that far outstripped a big increase in fines between 2005 and 2007.

Daniel Bowen, of the Public Transport Users Association, said more of the increased revenue had to be invested back into improving the system and not paid as profits to the privatised public transport companies.

"It's clear the private operators are profiting from recent increases in public transport usage, even though it is the Government that is responsible for paying for things like expansion of the fleet and removal of single-track bottlenecks, as well as paying additional money as extra services are provided," he said.

He said new public transport contracts soon to be awarded had to ensure more of the profits went back into making a better public transport system.

"With patronage continuing to climb as petrol prices spiral out of control, the Government should move to a simpler and fairer "fee-for-service" arrangement for the new contracts, to ensure that increased revenue can be put straight back into continued upgrades to rail and tram infrastructure and services, rather than boosting the profits of the private companies," he said.

Mr Bowen said the Government should even consider a "fare-increase freeze" to encourage more public transport use. "All this money is pouring in from increased patronage; maybe they don't need an increase," he said.

"If we hold prices for a few years, that could encourage more people to shift from cars to public transport and bring the fares into line with other Australian cities that generally have lower public transport fares."

Bernie Carolan, chief executive of Metlink, said it was a "cheap shot" to say public transport providers were being paid more to provide a worse service.

He said part of the reason that they were getting more fines was because of the big increase in patronage.

He said if there were more people attempting to board or leave a train or tram, it meant more time at the stop.

Mr Carolan said every extra passenger did not necessarily mean more profits for operators. "The operators' franchise agreement is more complex than assuming that they just get a percentage share of the ticket sales; they don't."

He said the higher the fare revenue, the less the private operators received.

"There are some gain-sharing mechanisms in place, which means the Government also benefits from the extra revenue," he said.