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

NEWS RELEASE: Bus fare overcharge

posted Wednesday 1 November 2006
Bus users should be alert to a possible over-charging when new bus fares for 2007 are announced shortly, according to the consumer group Action for Public Transport (APTNSW).

A spokesman for APTNSW, Allan Miles, said passengers stood to be dudded out of nearly $3 million because of some creative arithmetic by the Ministry of Transport.

"In calculating the increase sought," Mr Miles said, "the Ministry has worked on last year's rounded-up fares instead of on the Master Fare scale."

Mr Miles said that, for instance, the 2005 fare for 1-2 sections was $1.60 and the percentage increase granted for 2006 raised the Master Fare scale to $1.66. "It is fair enough to round this up to $1.70 for the actual ticket price," Mr Miles said, "but future increases must be based on the master fare and not on the ticket price."

"This time the Ministry has added a standard 3.8% rise to the $1.70 ticket price, lifting the total to $1.76," Mr Miles said. "Then they have rounded it up again to get a ticket price of $1.80." Mr Miles said that this double-rounding goes against the principle of having a master fare scale in the first place.

The proper calculation, according to Mr Miles, should be to add 3.8% to $1.66, giving $1.72, which would be rounded down to $1.70, resulting in no increase in the ticket price.

Mr Miles said that the Ministry's method also over-charges on another ticket price, under-charges on another and make no difference on the remaining two.

"The net effect of this over a year," Mr Miles said, "is that fares paid by STA and private bus passengers would be $3 million more than they should be".

Mr Miles said that the price rises were touted as in line with inflation but the Ministry has come up with a series of rounded-up fares based on last year's rounded-up fares.

"The net effect is a 12.5 per cent rise over the past two years," he said, "instead of a rise in the order of 6 per cent."

Mr Miles called on the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to use the correct calculations for any fare increases.



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