Thursday, August 04, 2005
A measure of success
Public transport chiefs in South East Queensland have been beside themselves recently. In the last 12 months patronage across the board has risen; mainly thanks to the visionary integrated ticketing system introduced last year.

Integrated ticketing has pulled (most) SEQ public transport ticketing into a single zoned system for which passengers can purchase daily multi-modal tickets. It represents a triumph of cooperation, drawing in rail, bus and ferry operators across the region.

The first year figures are impressive: bus patronage rose by 2%, train patronage by 4% and ferry patronage is up a whopping 25%. The Sunshine Coast – with notoriously poor public transport - has seen mode share increase by 100%.

These are good numbers – and will probably continue to improve year on year. But think about it: as the population grows and gets wealthier, of course they will. These figures disguise the reality the integrated ticketing has only been a success within the narrow confines of patronage.

At the same time that, Brisbane traffic volume has increased and congestion has got worse, with average morning peak over speeds down by an average of 36 seconds per kilometre. And some perspective is needed: the huge increase on the Sunshine Coast is a result of a jump in public transport mode share from 1% of all trips, to 2%. Mode share for public transport across the region has barely shifted from the pitiful low 7%.

In addition, under the original, discreet ticketing system, the Council-run CityCats which ply their trade up and down and across the river, were always significantly more expensive than trains and buses. The new zoning system has brought all ferry stops within the inner zones, thus dropping the maximum price paid for any CityCat ticket by 50%. My rudimentary knowledge of economics suggests that when the price falls, demand rises until it reaches a new equilibrium.

Many Brisbanites commute by boat, but for most of the day and at weekends, these multi-million dollar vessels operate as tourist pleasure crafts; it is a wonderful (and now cheap) way of seeing the city. Higher CityCat patronage has added a nice gloss to integrated ticketing, whilst the commuters of Brisbane have been forced to subsidise tourist whims.

The success of integrated ticketing must only be measured against any fall in private vehicular trips and congestion. If traffic volume increases, integrated ticketing should not be noted as a policy success. A general increase in transport demand is a reflection of poor urban planning. After all, transport demand is often a symptom of being in the wrong place.

Transport policy needs to evolve from such blunt instruments as integrated public transport ticketing - which does nothing to reduce overall transport demand - to more sophisticated pay-as-you-go schemes for all transport. This should include billing use of private motor vehicles to more reflect the true cost of motoring each mile in urban areas (congestion, poor air quality, accidents, forgone alternative land use, CO2 emissions).

Then, people might start using more of Brisbane’s 600km of bikeways (an additional 1,150km is planned).

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