In a development that surprises nobody, there’s been yet another delay to the roll out of the Liberals’ common ticketing system for passenger transport. With the new system’s spiralling costs and no set delivery date, it’s surely time to just get on with by making public transport free permanently.
The Liberals’ long-promised plan for common ticketing has been mired in delays and cost blowouts. While they said last year it would be implemented by the middle of this year, now they can’t provide a timeline for when it will be rolled out.
Originally announced for 2020 with a $7 million budget, it’s now blown out to $65 million – almost ten times the initial estimate. There’s a simple solution to this Liberals’ common ticketing stuff-up – making public transport free permanently.
During the last election, Treasury costed the Greens’ free public transport policy at $17 million a year. For about the price of the common ticketing system, the Liberal Government could’ve already funded four years of free public transport.
It’s chump change for a vital service the government could provide to ensure Tasmanians can get where they need to go and save on spiralling fuel and living costs. As soon as temporary free public transport services was announced there was a 20% increase in patronage.
While the Liberals have created a huge budget mess, it shouldn’t mean we can’t fund the services people need. It comes down to priorities.
With cost of living pressures unlikely to ease anytime soon and war in the Middle East affecting supply chains, now’s the time to make public transport free permanently, improve bus services, get on with building more accessible transport infrastructure and accelerate the electrification of Tasmania’s transport system.
