The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal ( IPART ) has recommended that rail fares be hiked twenty five percent over the next four years.
IPART has taken a hard nosed approach to rail funding and claims that rail travellers should be contributing thirty percent to the actual costs of running the system. Usually whenever an independent body suggests a price increase the state government grabs the money.
There will be a sharp increase in rail fares from January 1 - and as a result the Wollongong to Central commuters will face an increase of $ 9 on their weekly ticket, bringing the weekly fare to $ 63.
Many rail users will reflect on just what they are getting for their money. Comparison with the rail system in the other states leaves the New South Wales system wanting badly.
There have been savage cutbacks in off-peak services, crime is rampant in trains and on station property - and commuters are jammed in like sardines with many services operating at one hundred and eighty percent of their designated capacity.
To add insult to injury, not only do the majority of commuters have to stand for long journeys, but there are still some trains that do not have toilets or access to drinking water.
The last straw is that the system fails to run to time. Being consistently late for work has made commuters on the perimeter of the rail system unattractive to employers.
All of that does not add up to a glowing performance analysis to support a major hike in the price of fares !
If the state government accepts the IPART proposal - and it probably will - this new price structure will ensure a lot of commuters return to car travel.
Many left the car in the garage and embraced public transport when the price of crude topped $ 150 a barrel, but the world economic meltdown has driven crude below $ 100 a barrel - and even if the proposed rescue package averts outright calamity there is every chance world trade will slow - and oil prices may retreat further.
We will then have all the reasons to give rail the flick - and get back in our cars.
Convenience. Lack of oppressive, hot and cramped travelling conditions with slow trains not running to time - and an uncompetitive price structure to discourage rail use.
Most people would pay more if in return they got fast, reliable, comfortable trains - but there is no prospect of that in the short term - and IPART has the cheek to demand that they pay up front for a service that will probably not arrive until they have long retired !
It begs the old age question. What came first ? The chicken - or the egg ?
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