Free Public Transport….yes that’s right….F-R-E-E….it can happen….it should happen…and if my vision comes true it will happen.
What do you suppose is the first thing that people think of when the subject of free public transport comes up? The possibilities? How great it would be? No….when the notion of free public transport comes up people respond with….”it’ll never happen, it’s too expensive.”
Tonight I’m going to convince you that free public transport IS possible, is NOT too expensive and that it is good for EVERYONE, even those that don’t use it.
There’s a mistaken belief that when you buy a train ticket the cost of that ticket is what is paying for the trains. That belief is only 22% true! Ticket revenue only covers 22% of the total cost of running Railcorp. 22%! So where does the rest come from? 53% comes from the NSW Government – yes that right folks, all you non public transport users your taxes and everyone else’s helps pay for railcorp. The remaining 25% comes from rent income, interest and other accounting trickery.
The point of this speech isn’t to bamboozle you with numbers and figures, that’s a sure way to put you to sleep. I do want you to remember that in order for us to have totally free rail travel we only need to find 22% more funds to cover costs.
Free public transport does exist, in the town of Hassalt, Belgium all their public transport has been free since 1998. When public transport was made free within 18 months usage jumped by 800% Businesses were attracted to the city. Congestion all but disappeared, traffic accidents were halved. People had more money to spend so that local economy flourished.
Close to home, the Wollongong local council decided to run a free bus from the city centre to the beach. It has been used by over 1 million people and is so successful that they have had to put on extra services. Speaking to the locals down there, they love it and say the buses are always full. Free bus routes are also in Brisbane, Newcastle, Adelaide and Melbourne has had a free city loop tram since I lived there in the early 1990s.
Often when thinking about public transport it is usually considered in isolation, as if it was an island. Public transport is not an island it impacts on many sectors of society. Let me run through some of the anticipated benefits of having free public transport.
Less private cars on the road results in less congestion, congestion currently costs the economy $12Million per day in Sydney alone. That’s alot of buses.
Less cars on the road means less accidents resulting in less demand on emergency services and the health system. Motor vehicle accidents add a staggering amount to the costs of health care, both short and long term costs.
Less congestion means road freight moves around more efficiently thereby increasing productivity – the neo-liberal will love that.
Less cars also means less pollution leading to lower incidences of respiratory illness like asthma.
Encouraging people to leave their cars at home by providing free public transport would greatly assist efforts to reduce global warming. Transport is responsible for 14% of Australia’s greenhouse-gas emissions, and road transport accounts for around 90% of that share. Trains are 40 times more energy efficient than cars, so enabling people to make the switch would have huge implications for Australia’s emissions reduction targets.
A person commuting daily from Concord West to the city spends about $1500/yr on train travel. What do people do when they have more money? They spend it! Kevin Rudd gave everyone $900 – Free public transport is the ultimate economic stimulus package.
The positives of Free public transport are many. The biggest downside is the high initial cost of getting more trains/buses to accommodate the extra people. This takes planning.
The long term benefits of free public transport are immense, the biggest problem we have is convincing politicians to look beyond tomorrow’s front page. The Liberal Party is likely to win the next state election. This will see the end of the possibility of free public transport because they will privatise transport and once that happens there’s no turning back.
So think about it….free public transport. It can happen…..it should happen…..help make it happen.