The bus deal close to being struck with new Transport Minister Simon Corbell and the unions will do little to address the inefficiencies of a service that ACT ratepayers subsidise by up to 80 per cent, Alistair Coe, Shadow Minister for Transport Services, said today.
“Despite all the talk from Mr Corbell’s predecessor and former Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, there is little progress on improving the efficiency of ACTION and taxpayers will continue to subsidise the network by almost $90 million every year,” Mr Coe said.
“Under this ‘new deal’ we will still have a volunteer weekend working roster despite having a seven day bus network.”
Former Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope said; ‘I have absolutely no doubt that the industrial landscape [and] some of the conditions within the collective agreement impact very significantly on management action and management’s capacity to manage”. (Canberra Times, 27/8/10)
“Despite acknowledging that ACTION has problems, Simon Corbell has agreed to the status quo that would appear to deliver very little to improve taxpayer’s return on investment.
“Simon Corbell needs to say what this deal will do to make the network more efficient or whether he has given-up on making the necessary reforms,” Mr Coe concluded.
This page was last updated on 6 July 2011
