Brace for hike in bus fares
BUS fares are set to rise by as much as 30 cents in Cairns for the first time in three years.
It comes as Sunbus apologised yesterday to its passengers for a disruption to its Cairns services, which resulted in more than a dozen buses late leaving its depot at Smithfield.
Bus fares across regional Queensland will increase after a three-year freeze, based on the independently set Bus Cost Index, which measures annual changes in bus service costs in regional Queensland, including drivers’ wages, fuel and maintenance.
TransLink’s Matt Longland said, from January 22, regional bus fares would increase by between 10-30 cents per trip to ensure bus operators were fairly reimbursed for delivering services.
“This will be the first fare in- crease in three years as regional fares have been unchanged since the government intervened to freeze fares in 2014,” he said.
“Regional bus operators’ earnings need to stay in line with increasing costs and inflation. This means the cost of a one-zone journey in Cairns will increase by 10 cents to $2.30 with a four-zone journey increasing by 10 cents to $3.80.”
Fourteen Sunbuses were late departing the bus depot at Smithfield yesterday morning, which industry sources suggested may have been due to a mechanical breakdown.
Transit Australia Group, the company that manages the service, said that due to an operational issue, a number of buses were late departing its Cairns depot yesterday morning.
“All services were fully operational by 9am,” a TAG spokesman said. “We are investigating the incident to ensure it is avoided in the future.”