Fifty cent beach trip.
I had a Sunday gig at the Australian Film Institute’s AACTA Festival down at Surfers Paradise and decided I’d try the train rather than driving there and back. The train to the coast doesn’t really go to the coast. You don’t finish up at the beach but in the hinterland. Nerang in my case.
But thanks to the last election, the fare was only fifty cents, and there’s no road congestion to deal with so… I gave it a go.
It was… pretty good.
Especially for fifty cents. Petrol there and back would have cost me about $50, and there’s a good chance I’d have sat in a traffic jam for over an hour. The train was unsurprisingly busy, mostly with kids and bogans heading to the beach.
Fair enough. I put my AirPods in and listened to my old man podcasts.
The Festival was cool. Film people are very different from book people, but I don’t mind that. I wandered into the wrong theatre for my gig, crashing the make up and costuming panel by accident. But they were cool and let me take a pic.
Turned out my cheap beach trip was also the six-month anniversary of 50-cent fares. The ABC had an interesting piece about the effects, which have been significant. Lots more people moving around on the weekend, especially going to and from the coast and up and down the river.
One figure that popped out - if you were a commuter travelling between Brisbane and the coast you’d have saved about three and a half grand over the last six months.
I think I was visiting your fair city when the 50 cent fare thing dropped, although not in time for me to take advantage of it.
At the risk of sounding like a socialist hippy, provision of universal basic services, like accessible and cheap or free transport, healthcare, education, etc, really should be the hallmarks of a civilised and caring society. The impact of cheap public transport on society cannot be underestimated, not just economically but in terms of social cohesion and engagement. The article references a huge uptick in leisure trips on the weekend, with people visiting cultural centres etc which can only provide a net benefit to them and to society as a whole.
The false economy of wanting public transport "to pay for itself" just incentivises people to not use it. Pre-COVID I switched jobs from a site slightly outside the CBD that provided free parking to staff, to a site adjacent to the CBD that did not, and I did the sums on the merits of catching public transport to the new job or driving in and paying for parking. I found myself with either the choice of a very long and tedious bus ride, or driving to my local train station, paying a small amount for parking there, and then catching the train (MUCH faster, more pleasant, more efficient). I found it would cost almost as much for either of those two options as it would for me to drive and pay for parking. Toss in the opportunity cost of avoiding interacting with the great unwashed and sitting in my car and listening to my podcasts/music, and then be able to run errands direct from work without having to go home and collect my car first, and paying the few dollars more a day for parking became a no brainer. Had that bus or train fare cost me 50c, there's no way I could have justified the selfishness of driving a near empty car into the CBD each day. (I'm making up for it now by working from home full time which means I don't drive anywhere 😇).
This must be one of the rare instances where a nakedly populist policy has also proven itself to be good policy in the best interests of the community it impacts. Bravo Mr Miles.
Ceratinly seems a better choice.