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

NEWS RELEASE: Train Fares Increased from 2nd July

posted Friday 30 June 2006
A transit consumer group has reminded train travellers to be prepared for higher fares from Sunday 2nd July.

Allan Miles, spokesman for Action for Public Transport, said that all fares will increase – single and return tickets, weeklies, DayTrippers, CityHopper tickets and TravelPasses but the biggest rise will be in off-peak return tickets. “While other tickets prices increase by around 2 or 3 per cent,” Mr Miles said, “the price of most off-peak return tickets will increase by about 18% and some by as much as 31%.”

Mr Miles said that the new higher fares allowed by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) are not justified by CityRail’s recent performance.

“CityRail was denied fare rises over the past two years because of a failure to meet reasonable service standards,” Mr Miles said. “While the service has improved recently,” he said, “ it is still not good enough, and CityRail has yet to show that the improvements are permanent. Sydney's slow trains compare very poorly with the fast, easy to use services in sophisticated, civilised cities like Singapore, Hong Kong and London".

Mr Miles said that the on-time running figures used by CityRail to justify its claim were selective. “Only peak-hour arrival times are measured”, he said. “Many off-peak travellers, or people travelling the opposite direction in peak hour, would doubt CityRail’s claims of improved reliability and punctuality.”

Under the new fares, an off-peak return trip from Bowral to the city, now $15.80, would cost $18.40, an increase of $2.60 or 16%. An off-peak return for short distances such as Casula to Liverpool will increase by 31% from $2.60 to $3.40.

The flat $1.00 increase on all rail weeklies (up to 135 km) also hits the shortest distance hardest, said Mr Miles. “The average increase in the price of weeklies is less than three per cent,” said Mr Miles, “but for the shortest distance it is 5.6%.”

Mr Miles said that instead of increasing the price of the DayTripper ticket, it should have been reduced. “The new price of $15.40 is too high for general use,” he said, “because it factors in the cost of a return ferry trip for tourists.” “A Ten Dollar DayTripper would encourage more use,” he said, “and reduce delays caused by people buying tickets from bus drivers”. Mr Miles said that this action would not need IPART’s approval. “IPART only sets a maximum fare. The government is free to charge less,” said Mr Miles.

“Changes to ticket types should not be put on hold waiting for the smart card,” Mr Miles said. “Tcard’s arrival continually recedes into the distance like the end of the rainbow,” he said, “and if it ever comes, it won’t be the promised pot of gold.”

Contact: Allan Miles 9516-1906 or Kevin Eadie 9819-6052





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