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

NEWS RELEASE: CityRail Concealing Fare Rise Details

posted Wednesday 8 March 2006
CityRail has failed to provide the public with details of the fare rises proposed in its application to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), according to the consumer group, Action for Public Transport.

A spokesman for APT, Allan Miles, said that the submission lodged by CityRail with IPART on 2nd March talked about the rise in vague generalities, such as “a fare increase of 2.9%” (page 3 and page 36 of CityRail submission).

“It is impossible to know,” Mr Miles said, “just what the 2.9% means. Does it include the proposed rise in off-peak return tickets? Does it include other tickets such as DayTrippers and TravelPasses?”

According to Mr Miles, the CityRail document says (page 43) “RailCorp has proposed to IPART a detailed list of its first choice of fare rises for each individual product it operates”.

“This detailed list has yet to see the light of day,” Mr Miles said. “IPART hasn’t seen it, and the public certainly hasn’t seen it.”

Mr Miles said that stakeholder groups need to know the proposed rises for each individual distance band, and for each product such as TravelPasses and DayTrippers, to be able to make an informed response.

“Statements such as ‘the proposed 2.9% average across the fare structure’ (page 43) is meaningless to a user,” he said. “One is reminded of the man with his head in the fridge and his feet in the oven who is, on average, comfortable.”

“We are mystified as to what the Minister actually signed his name to on 24th February,” Mr Miles said, “as the submission wasn’t released until 2nd March, and the fine print has still to emerge.”

Mr Miles said that unless CityRail released its detailed proposals for individual tickets immediately, Action for Public Transport would ask IPART to postpone the Review dates so that stakeholders have adequate time to respond.

Contact: Allan Miles 9516-1906

See also IPART web site http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/.



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