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The Shadow Minister for Transport Services, Alistair Coe, said today that it was unacceptable that bus passengers would face 11 per cent fare increases from 1 July this year whilst 1 out of 5 buses run late.
 
“Budget figures reveal that over the current financial year 2008-09 only 83 per cent of ACTION buses ran on time,” Mr Coe said.

“Instead of working to improve the situation, the target remains at 83 per cent for 2009-10. It is unacceptable to have this level of efficiency for Canberra’s only form of mass public transport service.

“That means that when the 11 per cent fare increase comes into effect on 1 July 2009, ACTION commuters can expect 1 out of every 5 buses they catch to run late.

“It would seem a ridiculous notion for the Minister for Transport, Mr Stanhope, to justify a huge fare increase for such a poorly performing network.

“More and more commuters will be inconvenienced with late buses as a result of this Government’s failure to deliver core transport services.

“We have also seen the new fare ticket prices, that will take affect as of July this year. Tertiary students are hit the hardest, forced to purchase a concession instead of a student pass increasing their cost by 49%.

“With bus fares going up and services expected to perform below par, the question remains whether these budget decisions will encourage Canberrans to get out of their cars and use public transport,” Mr Coe said.