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Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc. |
Sydney ferry commuters are disappointed with today's "painting by numbers" review of private ferry fares by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
Action for Public Transport (APT) spokesman, Allan Miles, said that IPART had its chance to consider or even to recommend that private ferry fares be included in the MyZone ticket system, but failed to do so.
"IPART has seen the Review as an accounting exercise, dealing in tiny fractions of dollars," Mr Miles said, "instead of trying to see the broader picture."
Mr Miles said that all public transport within about 200 km of Sydney is now covered by the MyZone tickets, except for the monorail, light rail, and half-a-dozen private ferries.
"Of the 590 million passengers carried annually in this region," Mr Miles said, "private ferries carry half a million, or 0.08 percent." "It is difficult to imagine," he said, "how bringing this small percentage of passengers aboard the MyZone fold would have the Revenue Implications that Treasury dreads so much. Heaven forbid, it might even increase patronage," he said.
IPART's review says: "All three submissions argued that the most important issue for private ferry passengers is the inclusion of private ferries in the NSW Government’s plans to integrate ticketing across public and private buses, rail and public ferries. This issue is outside the terms of reference for our fare review."
Mr Miles said that this is not quite correct. "Rather than referring to the Government's FUTURE plans," he said, "all three submissions either explicitly stated or implied that private ferry fares should be included in the EXISTING MyZone system.
"IPART is maybe correct in relying on its restrictive terms of reference," Mr Miles said, "but the interpretation of these terms could have been stretched."
Mr Miles pointed out that Section 4.2 of the report (Implications for Passengers) fails to mention the discrimination against private ferry users who are forced to buy two tickets to travel to Circular Quay and then by bus or train, as against government ferry passengers, who can do the same thing on one ticket.
"The very least that IPART could have done," Mr Miles said, "was to recommend to the Minister that a change should be considered." Mr Miles said that such suggestions have been made in IPART reports in the past, especially concerning bus fares.
"The government placed a high priority on harmonisation and equality in bus fares," Mr Miles said, "and successfully completed a rather difficult task." "It should not be too hard to let a few private ferry passengers in on the same deal," he said.
http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/investigation_content.asp?industry=4§or=19&inquiry=238 (private ferry fares review - general)
http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/investigation_submissions.asp?industry=4§or=19&inquiry=238 (submissions - only three)
Mr Miles said that IPART is also due to soon announce maximim fares for trains and buses from January 2011. "There has been no public consultation," he said, "because fares are following a pre-set four-year path."
However, he said that the MyZone fares introduced in April 2010 had disregarded much of IPART's carefully calculated costs and fares scenarios.
"It will be interesting to see," Mr Miles said, "what new maximum fares IPART recommends, and also whether, in the current political climate, the Premier and the Minister take any notice of them.
Reviews of government ferry fares have been put on hold since 1997 pending resolution of the privatisation debate.
| Contact: | Allan Miles | 9516-1906 |
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| Graeme Taylor | 8754-3866 (W), 9909-1260 (H) |
