Saturday, January 11, 2014

QR Passenger Load Survey - where is it?

Transparency of QLD government organisations such as TransLink has always been poor, compared to other states and developed countries. For example, Transport for London publish minutes from board meetings. Since the LNP government was elected in 2012, the transparency of TransLink (now abolished/incorporated into Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR)) and Queensland Rail appears to be heading in the wrong direction, despite laughable claims of "improved government transparency".

The most significant missing publication is the Queensland Rail Passenger Load (Patronage) Survey. This was originally published after a Right to Information request by a journalist. It then went missing during the late ALP government's reign, most likely to hide falls to patronage due to the failed 15% fare increases. The September 2011 and March 2012 surveys were published after pressure from public transport lobbyists, and proved that the fare increases and disastrous 2008 timetable changes were indeed affecting patronage. The passenger load survey is now only recorded once a year in March. However, the March 2013 survey has not been made publicly available. Funnily enough, this could have something to do with significant falls in patronage* due to the LNP government continuing with extortionate fare rises. *Even this is difficult to assess due to the way date is presented since the TransLink Tracker was chopped. Have Mr Newman and Mr Emerson got something to hide?
So where is it then?


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