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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 3236 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I thank the Standing Committee on Urban Services and its chair, Mr Hird, for the report on its inquiry into ACTION bus services for schoolchildren. The inquiry has provided students, schools and parents and citizens and school associations with the opportunity to express their views on the provision of these important services.

Mr Speaker, the report makes some sensible suggestions, and the Government has responded positively to many of them. I believe that the report shows that ACT students are well served by ACTION. On the whole, there are few problems with the current school services. Where problems have been identified, such as overcrowding on some services at the commencement of the school year, when student numbers are uncertain, ACTION has moved to resolve them quickly.

Mr Speaker, I have responded to the committee's report quickly because we need to have a number of issues settled well in advance of the new school year in order to provide certainty to parents, students, schools and ACTION as the provider of the school transport services.

Mr Speaker, ACTION, in consultation with Urban Services, the Department of Education and Community Services and the school transport liaison committee, will review school services to ensure that they continue to accommodate the needs of students.

The report has set out some interesting suggestions for student fares. You will see from the response that the Government has also addressed the Assembly's motion of 2 September 1998 that called on the Government to develop and introduce a new fare structure for students which removes the arbitrary zoning and applies the current one-zone student fare to student travel throughout Canberra until the Standing Committee on Urban Services has reported on the inquiry into school bus services and that report has been considered by the Assembly.

Mr Speaker, the Government has considered a number of student fare options in formulating its response. The Government is not able to support the committee's recommendation that fares for students travelling on dedicated school services should be phased in over three years while those students travelling across two zones on route services will have to pay the full fare. This would be discriminatory, and is therefore not acceptable to the Government.

Mr Speaker, the Government believes that the new student fares are fair and should be implemented at the beginning of the 1999 school year, in conjunction with the implementation of the new network. Additional concessions will be made available to existing students who travel by bus over two zones and whose families would be financially pressed by the increased fares.

The new student fares have been set at 35 per cent of the adult fare. This fare level is reasonable and compares favourably with that charged in most other jurisdictions. Fares recover less than 25 per cent of the cost of the services. In line with the Government's obligations under the competition principles agreements, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission will in the future determine ACTION fares.

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