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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1276 ..
Mr Hargreaves
asked the Minister for Urban Services, upon notice:Noting the figures in the Urban Services Output Progress Report for December 1998 specifically, Output 2.1 - Transport Services and Regulation, which shows that public boarding for 1998/99 was 11.1 million with achievement from December 1998 to year to date being 8.4 million and a further 5.55 million projected for the rest of the year -
(1) Do you believe that there will be a 555,000 reduction in boardings in the first year given your statement in an answer to a question without notice to me on 17 February 1999, in which you state 'if you are interested in terms of 20% increased services' (Hansard, 17 February 1999), and if so, what is the revenue shortfall from this reduction.
Mr Smyth
: The answer to the member's question is as follows:(1) No. There will be more people using ACTION services following the introduction of the new network. However estimates of passenger boardings are affected by the implementation of the new network and the associated increase of through routing of services.
The 1998-99 target for public bus transport boardings (Output 2.1), as outlined in the Urban Services Output Progress Report for December 1998, was 11.1 million. The pro rata target for the period July to December 1998 was 5.55 million.
These targets were based on 'journeys', not 'boardings'. They were also based on the assumption that the new network would be implemented early in 1998-99. The number of journeys will be lower than a count of passenger boardings since a journey could involve multiple boardings. The new network provides for through routing of services. The through routing of services has the effect of reducing the number of passenger boardings because passengers on these services remain on the bus for the entire journey and are not forced to re-board at the interchange.
The new network was not introduced until 18 January 1999. This means that the count based on the number of passenger boardings would be higher than the original target, as indicated by the results of 8.4 million boardings as at 31 December 1998.
As foreshadowed in the Output Progress Report for December 1998, the full year target has been reviewed after the implementation of the new network. The full year target has been revised up to 15.8 million, based on a continuation of the counting measure being boardings and taking into account the effects of the new network on boardings, including through routed services.
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