Estimates - Transport - Free Public Transport

CHAIR - Minister, getting back to the fantastic free buses - I was on one this morning with a former adviser to the Liberal Party, actually, so that was the second time we've caught the bus together. Minister, I also want to acknowledge the free buses as being an excellent initiative, but I'm concerned about how the government is evaluating the economic benefits this is bringing. You've talked about an increase in passenger numbers, but that's really a crude measure of the benefits because I don't think there has been that tight monitoring. How does the government plan to evaluate the economic benefits or cost benefit of free public transport, including its impact on health, emissions, productivity and consumer and driver satisfaction, because I expect Treasurer Abetz will need some convincing to extend this past 12 months. So, put simply, how is the government planning to measure success of free buses?

Mr VINCENT - Just seek some advice on that question. Thank you, Chair. We certainly do have a lot of work to do, a nice way of putting it, to convince the Treasurer to continue the program, but obviously that's an evaluation that is ongoing. I should say at this time that I have a lot of faith and confidence in the new CEO of Metro, even though Metro are only part of this. But her experience in evaluating some of these things and understanding the benefits is vital for the long-term success of this. I haven't got details on the immediate way we're going to take care of it other than we are trying to measure every aspect of it so that we can get that. But I will ask the deputy secretary who has obviously been doing some more work in this area.

Ms HEYDON - Thank you. Through you, minister. One of the key things we're looking to improve is our data collection from the free fares, particularly in relation to the journeys that people are taking, where they're starting, where they're going. That information is very critical for us for transport planning. It will also help inform where we're seeing, let's say, ongoing changes in people's behaviour that can actually then inform our planning and potential investments in some areas or corridors and see if there's been a shift. We're working with, particularly Metro, at the moment to see how we can get better data that can help us actually say there is a, what we're seeing is a, let's say a bedded-in trend and that can actually then help us with where we're seeing less movement from people because they are using public transport, not cars, and how and why they're using those journeys. That can better help with us with our planning and where we may, wouldn't commit to this, but perhaps if we actually see that, we might be able to defer some investments because we're actually seeing, you know, endemic change here in patterns of travel.

CHAIR - Sorry. I'll be interested to see that presented.

Mr VINCENT - Chair, there is another aspect that I see myself personally. We receive traffic reports each morning after peak hour and the same in an evening, and it's been quite noticeable how the traffic congestion has not been as much since the free fares come in. We're seeing that in the colour chart, and it's quite noticeable, the difference in that. So, that's proving that vehicles are coming off the road, so the emission controls and that we are able to measure in a couple of different ways, but that's just one visual way that I see it having some effect.

CHAIR - Thank you.