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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (9 May) . . Page.. 1302 ..

MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services) (4.02): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the information of members I present the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission's price direction report on ACTION bus fares for the year 2000-2001. I move:

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have presented the report of the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, formerly the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission, ACTION Bus Fares for 2000-2001-Final Price Direction, pursuant to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission Act of 1997. This report is the second review of ACTION bus fares by the commission and I thank the senior commissioner, Mr Paul Baxter, and his staff for the report.

The government referred ACTION bus fares to the commission to meet the price oversight requirements of the national competition policy and to ensure transparency of public transport pricing. The terms of reference for the investigation of fares was gazetted on 1 September 1999.

I welcome the commissioner's direction on ACTION as a realistic assessment of where we are now and future directions. In summary, the commission directed that:

average fare price increases for ACTION in 2000-2001 be in line with CPI movements over the last two years. This allows for an average fare increase of 3.6 per cent;

attention should be given to reducing the discounts currently available on periodic tickets while maintaining concession tickets at 50 per cent of full adult equivalent and student tickets at 35 per cent of adult fares;

impact of the goods and services tax be set at 8 per cent, reflecting underlying cost savings which ACCC guidelines state should flow through to bus users.

The commission also noted that:

granting the fare increase will provide a higher proportion of cost recovery from fares, while mindful of the need for ACTION to continue to achieve cost efficiencies in the operation of bus services;

the identification of best practice "commercial price" would require fares to rise by at least 82 per cent, which it agreed is not practical; and

further debate should be undertaken on the level of public financial support for a bus service in Canberra and the balance between the potential for further cost savings by ACTION and the funding of its operations by bus users themselves.

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