A sting to the cost of living for Macarthur residents is looming in the form of Opal fare hikes, but Labor says the Berejiklian Government won’t come clean on the details.
In May last year the government stalled a fare hike for Opal users in a political fix designed to protect their Coalition colleagues in the federal election, says Campbelltown MP Greg Warren
“At the time Transport Minister Andrew Constance fronted the media spinning the concept of a ‘fare freeze with increases delayed until July this year,’’ Mr Warren said.
But Mr Constance refused to shed light during budget estimates hearings on when commuters would know the details of the Opal fare hike, says the local MP.
A huge number of submissions were made to IPART slamming the new fare structure, which proposed three years of fare increases to 2018.
Five day a week commuters from Campbelltown to Central could end up paying an extra $575 a year and those travelling from Ingleburn to Parramatta an extra $505 a year if the proposed Opal fare increases go ahead in July.
“Local commuters are clear on this – they don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars more in fares for the same crowded trains they rely on to get to work each day,’’ says Mr Warren.
“This is a Government’s that’s cutting all direct train services from Campbelltown to Liverpool, Blacktown and Parramatta and now they want to make commuters pay hundreds of dollars more for an inferior service.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Such a massive hike in public transport costs is just another added cost that will make it harder for many people in Campbelltown to balance the family budget,’’ Mr Warren said.[/social_quote]
“Higher fares are coming for the people of Campbelltown; this is the government simply stalling on telling us when”.
Opposition Transport spokesperson Jodi McKay and Mr Warren say Labor wants the minister to come clean with commuters and rule out dramatic fare increases.
“It’s cruel and unfair that commuters are set to be punished by the government for simply catching a train to and from work,’’ Ms McKay said.
“The transport minister must come clean on this looming fare hike.
“Mr Constance is also refusing to tell commuters what will happen to fares after 2017. Why is the government keeping their plans for the rest of the pricing period a secret?”
