Translink AKA Ripoff Merchants

As most people who live in South East Queensland will already be aware, Translink, the authority responsible for public transport in South East Queensland has decided to increase fares by an outrageous amount from the start of 2010. You can read about it here, or here, or here.

I for one think the proposed increases are bullshit (apologies for the coarse language), and as a result I have written an email to Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland. A copy of the email is below. I encourage anyone who also agrees that the proposed increase in fares is bullshit to write to Anna, just log onto this website, or send an email to this address thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au and let Anna know how you feel!

Dear Anna,

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction at yesterday’s announcement of the proposed extreme increases to public transport fares. The proposed increase is unjust, and unwarranted.

The proposal to increase public transport fares by up to forty percent will penalise people who already do the right thing. People who use public transport are helping to reduce congestion on our already heavily trafficked roads. Public transport users are also minimising their impact on the environment. The proposed increase will also make public transport unaffordable to a lot of people.

Public Transport users who choose not to use a Go Card will further penalised, with the proposed fee increase. The Go Card system as it presently exists is flawed, and urgently needs to be revised! Many people, such as myself do not frequently use a Go Card because it does not suit my needs. I buy a monthly ticket as it enables me to travel between my home station and my work place for a set price every month. In addition if I choose to use public transport on the weekend, then I can for no additional cost. Not only is this good for my hip pocket, but it is good for the environment. Every extra trip I take on public transport is one less trip I take in my car.

Does the government that you lead realise that the extreme proposed increase to public transport fares is going to discourage people if/when they consider using public transport. The community needs every encouragement possible and increasing fares will not help. When the community doesn’t use public transport it means that they are travelling by private motor car and therefore adding to traffic congestion. Also as less people choose to use public transport it will become more expensive to run. As it becomes more expensive to run, either routes will have to be reduced, or fares will have to keep increasing, which in turn means less and less people end up using public transport, either because they cannot afford to, or because there is no route that takes them where they need to go. As a result the community as a whole suffers and is left with a useless expensive public transport network. That would not be a good outcome! Does your government really want to be remembered as the government that destroyed public transport?

As the Premier of Queensland you need to stop this massive increase in public transport fares. On top of stopping the proposed increase, your government also needs to seriously consider reducing public transport fares. Reducing fares would encourage more people to use the system, making the system cheaper per person to run. If more people were to use the public transport system it would mean that the number of available routes and the frequency of routes could increase. This would make public transport a viable option for an even greater proportion of the community, with the benefit being that the public transport system is better for everyone, and congestion on roads is reduced. The Go Card system also requires an urgent overhaul. The addition of unlimited travel between two nominated zones over a weekly or monthly time frame would be a good start.