NEWCASTLE Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes has questioned the pricing structure of the Newcastle light rail, saying that the adult Opal card fare of $2.20 – or $2.80 for cash – is too expensive for Newcastle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And Cr Nelmes is calling for a substantial fare-free period to introduce light rail to the city, saying that people will have to be encouraged to use more public transport.
The Newcastle Herald understands that Cr Nelmes has been raising the price of fares with the government and its Newcastle Transport operator Keolis Downer. In response to her statement on Sunday, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald, said there may be an “introductory period with special fares” to help ease people into the new system.
Although she criticised the full fare price, Cr Nelmes said she agreed with the 20 cent cost that will be charged to Opal card holders who transfer from another mode of transport – ferry, bus or heavy rail – onto the light rail.
But the fare out from the CBD may not the same as the fare in, with Keolis Downer yesterday confirming the “interchange” discount fare will not necessarily be 20 cents, but will vary according the length of the rest of the outwards journey.
The controversy over light rail fares came up as part of a Herald investigation of the issues facing the city as it prepares for the light rail to start operating in the new year.
Throughout the light rail development phase, the Labor lord mayor has been praised by the NSW Coalition government for being someone it can work with, contrasting her with Newcastle state MP Tim Crakanthorp, labelled “whinger-in-chief” by Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
But Cr Nelmes said on Sunday that the light rail pricing structure handed down by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) was unlikely to work well in Newcastle, especially as someone catching the light rail for just one stop would pay the same as someone riding the full length of the line.
Under the fare structure advertised on the Revitalising Newcastle website, the cash fare for the Newcastle light rail is $2.80 for adults, with a youth and child fare of $1.40.
However the fare structure is built around the statewide Opal card, and for those using Opal cards, the fare is $2.20 for adults with a child/youth fare of $1.10.
This makes the Opal price 27 per cent cheaper than the cash fare.
Concession Opal card holders and seniors Gold Opal card holders also pay $1.10.
Cr Nelmes also suggested there was a case for sectional fares, given that it would cost the same amount to travel one stop as it would to travel the entire journey from Wickham to Pacific Park.
She said someone needing to visit various addresses in the one day would soon rack up a considerable fare bill, but Keolis Downer spokesperson Andrew Fletcher pointed to a maximum daily cost of $15.80 on an Opal card, and said the fares as set were more than competitive with the cost of driving in the city, and paying for parking.
Even without concerns over ticket prices, Cr Nelmes said Newcastle’s existing low levels of public transport use, coupled with the existing fare-free bus zone in the CBD, meant it would be difficult to get people to use the light rail without substantial encouragement.
“I am hoping that when the Newcastle light rail is commissioned is that the fare free precinct remains in place to help ensure modal shift from car to public transport,” Cr Nelmes said.
“I believe pricing should be reviewed by IPART because the 2.7-kilometre line is unique in the NSW transport network. A different method of deriving the price, other than the IPART model of a zero to three-kilometre distance, is needed.”
Cr Nelmes said the IPART price was the maximum that could be charged for public transport and that the government and the Newcastle Transport operator Keolis Downer had room to lower fares.
Mr Fletcher and Revitalising Newcastle director Michael Cassel both said pricing was a matter for the government and for IPART.
The Herald was unable to obtain a comment from IPART but Mr MacDonald said there were arguments either way.
“I understand the sentiments, but fare reductions inevitably shift the cost to other public transport users,” Mr MacDonald said. “Ultimately it will be a matter for Newcastle Transport operator Keolis Downer.”
Later in the day he said an introductory period was being discussed with the potential for “special” fares.
With the barriers from the light rail construction program coming down in time for the launch of “The Station” on Saturday night, the government’s Revitalising Newcastle agency is moving into the next phase of the program, to commission the six vehicles that will make up the Newcastle light rail fleet, and to prepare the public for their presence on the rail corridor and on the road.
A final date has not been announced for the official launch of the service but everything has been scheduled to have it operating before the state election on Saturday, March 23. 2019.
Mr Cassel said the exact date of full operation, and whether operations began with a full roster of services or were phased in to allow other road users and pedestrians to become accustomed to them, were still being decided.
At its peak, the service is timed to run every 7.5 minutes, which Mr Crakanthorp says will mean vehicles crossing intersections at twice that rate, or every 3¾ minutes, when travel in both directions is considered.
On this, Mr Crakanthorp says: “There was much talk of the Stewart Avenue congestion as one of the main reasons for cutting the rail line, yet the government’s plan of a tram every 3¾ minutes will probably cause a lot more congestion in the west end of the CBD.”
Planning for the interaction of the buses with the light rail is also yet to be finalised, and what arrangements are made in finalising the Newcastle end of the routes once the light rail is running are likely only to be interim measures until the transport interchange at the old Store building is finished.
The scheduled date at this stage is some time in 2020.
At the moment, buses are running along King Street in parallel to where the light rail will run, and are terminating and laying over in the bus station next to the former heavy rail station.
But when the interchange is built by developer Doma as the first stage of a “twin towers” redevelopment of The Store site, Keolis Downer buses as well as private coaches are expected to use the facility.
Discussing this last week at Keolis Downer, Mr Fletcher said that while there was a theoretical idea that all buses into Newcastle could terminate at Wickham, this was not so practical when it came to those buses coming from the south, such as route 14 from Swansea coming into the city along Darby Street.
“The network has very much been designed with light rail in mind,” Mr Fletcher said.
“But I think it’s fair to say that pretty much anything come up from the south will continue. If I am coming from Belmont to Newcastle it’s a pretty poor customer experience to ask them to change modes at the interchange.”
Newcastle has also had a fare-free zone since December 2004, meaning that buses in the CBD between 7.30am and 6pm have been free to ride for almost 14 years.
Mr Fletcher said the future of the fare free zone was one of the various issues being finalised in the run-up to commissioning of light rail.
Wollongong had a free bus, the Gong Shuttle, introduced by the Labor government in 2009 but the Illawarra Mercury reported that Opal fares began on that service in January of this year.
Adult Opal fares were between $2.15 and $4.60 for the previously free journey, and Transport for NSW argued at the time that people were using the free bus instead of a “closer paid route”.
While the light rail will presumably see most Newcastle buses terminate at Wickham, it is unlikely that Keolis Downer would want to be losing potential light rail patronage if a fare-free zone was to remain for any buses still moving through the CBD.
Whether or not the light rail fares are discounted as an introductory offer, Revitalising Newcastle and Keolis Downer will soon be stepping up their promotional campaigns to encourage more people onto the public transport system.
“Newcastle has the lowest rate of public transport patronage of any major city in Australia,” Mr Fletcher said.
“It’s even lower than Darwin’s. The car has always been king here, but our city is changing. We will have thousands more people living and working in the CBD in the next few years and we can’t afford to have thousands more cars at the same time. We have 37 per cent of the population living within 400 metres of our four frequent routes. We need to tell them there’s a bus going by every 15 minutes.”