26 Aug 2014
IPART is undertaking a review of the benefits to the wider community when people use public transport, to determine how future fares should be set.
Fares recover only a small proportion of the total cost of providing public transport in Sydney and surrounding areas - the NSW Government pays the bulk of the cost. When we determine maximum fares we must decide how much of the total cost should be paid by the people who use public transport (through fares) and how much by the NSW community as a whole (through the Government subsidy).
The review will update the approach we adopted five years ago to estimating what share of efficient costs should be paid for through fares. We will reconsider how much car use is avoided when people take public transport in Sydney, quantifying the net value of this avoided car use to the community. We are also considering whether there are other things we need to take into account.