Transport Minister Hides Behind Out-Of-Date Patronage Figures

Media Release

Transport Minister Scott Emerson has today fudged South East Queensland public transport patronage figures in a cynical attempt to prove his discredited point that commuters are turning away from rail and bus networks.

Shadow Transport Minister Jackie Trad said the Minister had, during today’s Estimates hearings, used out-of-date, inaccurate figures from Translink’s annual report to show that patronage had dropped on the network when in fact it has increased.

“If you compare TransLink’s own accurate patronage data from 2010-11 to 2011-12  it shows that patronage increased by almost 4 million - not a decrease of 300,000 as this Minister is falsely trying to show,” Ms Trad said.

“Even the Translink CEO admitted in today’s hearings that TransLink has more accurate data that was not used in the annual report.

“He is doing this in a deeply cynical attempt to back up his argument that commuters are losing faith in our bus and train networks when in fact the opposite is true.

“To try and push this barrow is insulting to not only commuters but to our bus and train drivers and to the thousands of people who work behind the scenes on our public transport network – especially those who have already lost their jobs or whose jobs are on the line.

“It’s the Minister himself who has no faith in the network he has been charged to manage and grow – not the hundreds of thousands of people who use it every week.”

Ms Trad said the government was hiding behind out-dated patronage figures because it was obsessed with talking down Queensland and its transport network.

“He has refused to release the detailed TransLink Tracker for Quarter 4 (April-June) of 2011-12 which is the first snapshot of the performance of the public transport network in his time as Minister.

“The former Labor Government released this data four times each year but he has refused to release it because it paints the true picture.

“He has refused to release it because the tracker contains a range of measures such as detailed breakdowns of customer satisfaction that are not reported in the TransLink annual report.

“Just as he has refused to release the report he relied on when deciding to cap the Taxi Subsidy Scheme, instead today handing out just one page – the executive summary - of a 36 page report.

“He is misleading everyone who uses that scheme and everyone who uses public transport and that is a disgrace.”