Taxpayers are furious.
We used to absolutely hate filling up our Opal card just to watch the balance trickle down a few dollars every time we got on the bus. Well, we will never complain about that again after finding out about the one-way 5km trip that is costing taxpayers $180.
In 2017, a trial launched of a new Uber-style, on-demand bus service in Sydney. They were designed to fill the holes in the network standard buses and train systems, and allowed passengers to book transport via an app.
However, according to an analysis completed by the government opposition, each 5km journey is costing taxpayers a whopping $180 with only 3% of that amount being paid back in fares.
A freedom of information request from Labor MP Hugh McDermott found that around 4000 people used the on-demand services per month across Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. With the buses costing $714,000 a month to run that equated to a journey cost of around $180 per passenger.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW bus secretary Chris Preston said that the cost of the trial meant that it should be stopped immediately.
“This is almost unbelievable that the government are pushing ahead with a scheme which sees taxpayers fork out $180 per passenger, per trip,” he stated. “Minister Constance’s pie in the sky ‘Uber-style’ bus scheme has also been trialled in Boston, Washington, Kansas and Helsinki and in all cases, they have gone broke because the cost and subsidies per rider were simply too high.”
However, Transport for NSW told news.com.au that the trial had been a “great success”.
“In only a matter of months we’ve seen great success across the majority of the existing pilots with more than 80,000 customer trips already being delivered — and that number is growing every day,” a spokesman said. “As the patronage grows the cost per trip will continue to decrease.”
What do you think?
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Written by Kate Stevens
Images: Getty
