Page 2871 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 24 June 2009
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a concession fare. These kinds of increases are deliberately used to encourage regular bus patrons to purchase prepaid tickets in the form of faresaver 10 tickets, weekly or monthly tickets. For instance, the faresaver ticket, which provides 10 rides, has increased from $11 for a concession fare to $12.25. That works out to be an additional 12.5c a trip. The increase in fares is necessary to ensure that the high level of service provided by ACTION can be maintained.
Mr Corbell, in his presentation, went to some of the issues in relation to the level of contribution through the fare box. It is just on 20 per cent, having dropped 1½ per cent over the last, I think, four to five years, to 20 per cent of the running costs of ACTION being contributed to by passengers through the fare box; in other words, an 80 per cent social obligation contribution through rates and charges on behalf of this community to those social obligations which we acknowledge are at the heart of a fully functioning public transport system. I do not have the dollar amount here now—and I am sorry I do not—but it is a public service obligation, I think galloping towards $100 million in relation to the overall cost of running the ACTION bus service. It is the highest level of contribution by a community to a public transport system in Australia.
The last fare increase was in 2006-07. Since that time, ACTION’s costs have increased and the fare box recovery rate, as I mentioned, has dropped 1½ per cent. Without an increase in fares, the recovery rate will continue to fall and will fall below 20 per cent. The Assembly does need to note that ACTION’s fare box recovery is the lowest, as I just said, in Australia.
We, as a government, have some obligation to take account of these facts. It is relevant that we benchmark. It is relevant that we compare. It is relevant that we ensure that contributions made by the community broadly in relation to a whole range of policies, projects, policy initiatives and social obligations are consistent to a degree.
Of course, we do invest heavily in community services in this territory. Of all jurisdictions in Australia, we, the Canberra community, invest more directly in public transport than any other jurisdiction in Australia. The fare box contribution in Canberra is the lowest of any Australian jurisdiction, and that is a relevant consideration in a government’s decision or decision making in relation to fares and an appropriate fare regime.
Sometimes we confuse it when we say, “Yes, our contribution through the fare box is the lowest.” The converse, of course, is that the broader community’s contribution is the greatest. We contribute more to that social obligation in this territory than any other government in Australia. We need to understand that when we have a discussion such as this on fares and fare structures.
The Assembly also needs to note, in a conversation, discussion or debate such as this, that ACTION fares have increased more slowly than bus fares in any other city in Australia. We have the lowest and, accepting we have the lowest, our rate of increase is the lowest of any public bus system in Australia.
The 11.3 per cent increase across the board is not exorbitant, particularly when one takes into account those two very relevant, salient facts: lowest fare box contribution,
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