[Art] SMH 4/6/99 'War on rich commuters '

[jkin1@students.latrobe.edu.au (Jason King)]

Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, June 4, 1999 

War on rich commuters 

By ROBERT WAINWRIGHT, Transport Writer 

The NSW Treasury has labelled public transport commuters as the
"affluent few" in its proposal to increase train, bus and ferry fares
by up to 30 per cent next month.

In a drive to boost revenue from fares, the Treasury has lodged a late
submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, which
begins public hearings on Monday.

Trade unions and social welfare, retiree and commuter organisations
have argued that fare increases should be small to encourage people
out of cars and onto public transport.

But Treasury said that fare constraint in the past three years had
failed to attract commuters, pointing to falling revenue since 1994-95
while service costs and improvements had risen dramatically. The
Treasury submission revealed that fare collection had dropped over the
past four years, from $431 million in 1994-95 to $426 million in
1998-99.

In the same period, taxpayer contributions had jumped by almost $250
million, from $428 million to $675 million.

This meant that taxpayers now contributed almost 62 per cent of the
funds required to run Sydney's public transport.

The submission claimed that the bulk of the urban transport subsidies
went to passengers using CityRail and State Transit Authority buses
and ferries.

"The two clienteles are skewed towards affluent households. CityRail
and STA catchment areas have disproportionately high numbers of
households in the upper middle to very high income range."

The submission made special mention of ferry users, commenting that a
30 per cent increase was justified "given the affluence of the
majority of people living in the STA ferry catchment area".

Political sources said yesterday that the push for fare rises was an
indication of a tough fiscal approach by the Carr Government, fresh
from its landslide election victory. The attitude was expected to be
evident in the Budget on June 22.

A disclaimer at the front of the Treasury document notes the
Treasurer, Mr Egan, was not involved in the submission.

"The Treasurer wishes to stress this is not his view. He neither
supports nor opposes the views expressed by Treasury in this
submission," a spokesman for Mr Egan said.

The Transport Minister, Mr Scully, refused to comment on the proposal
for fare increases.

The Treasury submission said ferry fares should rise by an average 30
per cent, though the STA has only sought a 12 per cent rise. Train
fares should rise by 20 per cent, it said, despite the State Rail
Authority applying for just 15 per cent.

Bus fares, Treasury said, should jump by 24 per cent over three years,
including an immediate 15 per cent rise.

The submission went on to argue that only 10 per cent of Sydney
residents were regular public transport users, claiming that low fares
were "not a solution for environmental or road congestion problems".

"The idea that constraining fare levels can be instrumental in
pursuing these objectives in Sydney is no longer tenable.

"Since 1996-97, a succession of rail service improvements have come on
stream. These service improvements have syphoned off to rail
clientele, at taxpayer expense, an amount exceeding the CityRail
efficiency savings ... called for in the major review
recommendations."