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

In his summary of the 5 May IPART public hearing into proposed increases in train fares, Dr. Keating noted that CityRail's cost-recovery has been falling over recent years and is lower than other comparable railways. About 50 people attended the hearing. APT was one of six transport consumer groups represented. All opposed RailCorp's claim to a fare rise for its CityRail services. RailCorp was represented by its CEO Vince Graham, who argued that he had to work within a budget, and that while fares had been frozen by the government for 3 years due to poor service quality, his costs had risen. He said that labour costs were rising at the rate of $150M each year and that the price of steel rails was compounding at 13%, due largely to the demand for steel from a booming China. He said the revenue increase from the fare rise sought would amount to $30M per year, half from peak ticket sales and half from off-peak.

In his address about the potential sources of RailCorp revenue, Mr. Graham argued that it was somehow unfair to expect ordinary taxpayers, which he referred to as “non-users”, to pay for Sydney's rail system. It seems he has yet to realise that “non-users” also benefit from the railway system, partly because those using trains might otherwise be adding to the congestion on the city’s roads.

A number of speakers' complaints were rejected by the Tribunal as being outside its terms of reference. The day's proceedings had been further constrained by IPART's agenda, which, for manageability, had been restricted to five issues – Service quality, Costs and revenue, Peak fares, Off-peak fares, and TravelPass fares. Only at the end of proceedings was the meeting opened to wider comment. Dr. Keating acknowledged the expressed public desire for a wider ranging inquiry into the setting of public transport fares.

IPART had received a record number of more than 250 written submissions in response to RailCorp's claim for an average increase in fares of 2.9% and an increase in off-peak fares of 23%. All the submissions are on IPART’s website at http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/.