Gold Coast public transport: Councillor calls for railway reform to slash commuter fares

A Gold Coast councillor is accusing the State Government of “price gouging” train commuters, some of whom are paying an extra $1500 a year.

A GOLD Coast councillor is accusing the State Government of “price gouging” train commuters travelling from the city’s south.

Robina councillor Hermann Vorster has called on TransLink to abandon a so-called “train tax” on the Varsity Lakes station.

The city’s most southern station is just 4km from Robina station but sits in a different public transport zone – by a mere 1.44km – meaning passengers pay more.
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Cr Hermann Vorster in front of Varsity Lakes train station. Picture: Tim Marsden

Cr Vorster said Varsity Lakes passengers were paying around 27 per cent more just to travel a short distance, something he described as outrageous.

“Varsity Lakes is the only railway station in this fare zone, so this is either an oversight or a sneaking revenue raiser,” he said.

“I cannot understand why you would slug commuters with a 27 per cent premium while at the same time trying to take cars off the M1.

“By my analysis, the average Go Card commuter would be slugged $1500 a year more to catch the train from Varsity Lakes than they would from Robina,” he said, adding that was based on Brisbane as the destination.

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Cr Vorster has written to the State Government asking them to change the zone Varsity Lakes station sits in.

“This smacks of price gouging in my view.”

Cr Vorster this week wrote to Department of Transport and Main Raids director general Neil Scales calling for Varsity Lakes station to be considered part of the same fare zone as Robina.

He argued the move would take pressure off Robina station’s busy park and ride service and encourage commuters to travel from Varsity Lakes, which is set to receive a multimillion-dollar expansion of its carpark.

Cr Vorster’s push has won the backing of the state’s leading rail lobby group.

Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow said there was a perception public transport fares were too high anyway.

Then-Queensland Premier Anna Bligh opening Varsity Lakes Train Station back in 2009. Picture: Paul Riley

“Affordability is an area which is not performing well because there is a perception that fares are a bit too dear in the southeast,” he said.

“I do not see changing the zone for Varsity station to present any problems and there is a precedent of doing this in areas to make the fares more equitable,” Mr Dow said.

“It would probably encourage more passengers.”

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A 2008-era artist impression of what Varsity Lakes station would look like.

It comes nearly four years after Mayor Tom Tate successfully lobbied the State Government at its 2016 Gold Coast community Cabinet meeting to simplify the number of fare zones in the region.

A Palaszczuk Government spokesman defended Labor’s public transport investment on the Coast and took a swipe at Cr Vorster.

“As a former Young LNP president, we don’t expect Cr Vorster to heap praise on our government’s public transport investments on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“When it comes to ticket prices, the Palaszczuk Government already subsidises about 75 per cent of the cost of each ticket.”