Queensland Transport Minister John Mickel has introduced legislation into State Parliament to establish Southeast Queensland's new integrated transport authority. Mickel
Queensland Transport Minister John Mickel has introduced legislation into State Parliament to establish Southeast Queensland’s new integrated transport authority.
Mickel says the TransLink Transit Authority will begin operating from July 1, 2008.
“The new transit authority will be a one-stop shop for public transport services, customer service and feedback,” he says.
“It will have greater control over service delivery, with the power and flexibility to improve services, convenience and reliability.”
Mickel says the authority featured a single point of contact for customer service and information and integrated scheduling and ticketing.
“The authority will also integrate public transport services, and deliver and manage the infrastructure on which those services operate,” he says.
“It will have the freedom and power to co-ordinate services, redeploy resources such as buses based on demand, and ensure the smooth introduction of new technology across the network.”
The new authority will become the one point of contact for the 17 different train, bus and ferry operators in the region.
Mickel says commuters will be able to ring the 13 12 30 information number 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always with the option of communicating with a person, rather than a recorded message.
“A single transport authority will prove invaluable in tackling the challenges facing transport planners and government, such as traffic congestion and climate change.”
The Minister says the State Government has investigated national and international transport authority structures to find the model best suited to Southeast Queensland.
The TransLink Transit Authority will be a statutory body with seven board members, including the chief executive officer of Queensland Transport.
It will also include a non-elected representative from at least one local government that substantially funds passenger transport services.
Other board members will represent consumer and employee interests, transport co-ordination and planning, law, accounting, economics, social policy, customer relations, and commercial and marketing development.
He says the Authority would build on the success of TransLink, which had seen public transport patronage increase by more than 30 percent since it was formed in 2004.
“Trips have increased from 119 million a year to more than 160 million a year,” he says.
“We will now have an authority with the grunt to ensure scheduling, services and planning are synchronised to deliver the public transport our growing population needs.”