Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Early Start to IPART Fares Review

posted Monday 27 January 2003

APT has again opened the batting in the annual discussion about fares and tickets between the commuter organisations, the transport authorities and the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). Instead of waiting to comment on proposals from CityRail and State Transit, APT has already issued its own detailed proposals, to which the government authorities will have to respond, and argue their way out of. Details of our proposals can be seen on our web site at http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/ipart2003.html.

The main points are large increases in single bus fares, no increases in TravelTens and TravelPasses, and minimal increases in rail tickets. We have proposed this strategy to try to halt the increasing proportion of passengers buying single bus tickets, a factor which contributes to slow boarding and travel times. The price of multi-ride tickets has risen excessively in recent years. A moratorium on further increases in these tickets coupled with a rise in cash fares should encourage more people to use prepaid tickets.

A separate proposal from APT concerning Newcastle fares will be added to our web site soon.

Because of the state election on 22nd March, the tribunal process, which normally starts in January each year, has been deferred, and any changes to fares will apply from 1st September, not 1st July as usual. This is likely to affect revenue predictions by the authorities, resulting in requests for even higher fares to recover twelve months' revenue in ten months. See the IPART web site at http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au.

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