Here we are just months away from a state election and the world of politics is reaching into the glad bag to dole out promises that may deliver some much needed votes. The opinion polls suggest that the two major parties are running neck and neck.
Newly minted opposition leader Michael Daley fired an interesting shot with the suggestion that he will make travel on public transport free for kids by the simple expedient of extending their Opal card beyond the present jurisdiction of to and from school travel. He claims this will cost a mere $ 44 million, but the government counters with figures that indicate that school travel already costs the state $550 million.
Free school travel on public transport has well publicised qualifications. Children need to live a minimum straight line distance of 1.6 kilometres from primary school or 2 kilometres from secondary school to be eligible and consequently many miss out. The opposition is suggesting that if they win office they will abolish all charges for children under 16 or those still attending school from all days of the week, including weekends.
Many parents dread the time consuming car journeys each weekend taking the kids to junior sport and this can be a problem in families where the choices cover a range of very different sports. Free public transport will obviously bring a saving to most families, but it also introduces the safety aspect when parents choose public transport over the family taxi service.
If this goes ahead it will obviously increase passenger numbers on the already overcrowded city services during week days and extend the numbers during the weekends. There is the expectation of an increase in unruly behaviour and a higher noise factor. That may not be welcomed by regular public transport clientele.
It can be argued that public transport is a fixed cost because bus, trains and ferries run to a fixed schedule whether they are packed with passengers or run empty. That is not strictly true. Public transport needs to interact with the needs of passengers to coincide with travel needs and the schedules are adjusted accordingly. If kid numbers increase sharply for weekend sport the start and finish times will need to be factored into the timetables.
This is an election promise that will find favour with some - and disfavour from others. Whatever the cost of implementation, that will be missing from the money scheduled for some other government function because the entire public transport system runs on revenue that is only about a quarter of what the system costs the state treasury.
Like all election promises, the gain for some will be balanced by money shortages elsewhere. It is all a matter of skill in picking the right targets to garner more approval than rejection.
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