Claims 150,000 passenger trips impacted by Metro cancellations slammed as ‘dead wrong’ by govt

There have been more than 150,000 passenger trips impacted by Metro cancellations this year, Labor says – but the figure has been rejected as “dead wrong” by the government.

Metro Bus Picture: Linda Higginson

There have been more than 150,000 passenger trips impacted by Metro cancellations this year, Labor says, but the figure has been rejected as “dead wrong” by the government.

Labor transport spokesperson Josh Willie asked a series of questions in the Legislative Council and was told 12,299 trips had been dropped statewide out of 432,100 scheduled trips.

The average number of passengers for each Metro service is 12.3.

“These figures show just how much of an impact the government’s inability to provide a functioning public transport service is having on the community,” Mr Willie said.

“Tasmanians should be able to rely on public transport, but instead they’ve been made late to work, school or important appointments 150,000 times this year already because of cancelled services.

“An unreliable public transport system isn’t just annoying for commuters – it also has a detrimental effect on the economy and productivity.

Labor MP Josh Willie speaks to the media at Parliament Lawns in Hobart Friday, December 9, 2022.

“After 10 years in office, the Liberals have run public transport into the ground and it’s clear they’ve got no ideas on how to fix the problems at Metro.”

However, Transport Minister Michael Ferguson said 419,801 or 97.15 per cent of Metro trips were delivered.

“Yet again, Mr Willie is simply wrong and is clearly ignorant to the fact that there were 50,000 extra bus trips taken in the most recent year compared to the previous (2021-22),” Mr Ferguson said.

“Mr Willie’s calculations are dead wrong, even though we acknowledge the national driver shortage is a real issue for Metro.

“As Metro works through its driver shortage challenge it has concentrated its resources on services with the most demand. Labor is simply playing politics and can’t bring themselves to use facts.”

The figures provided to Mr Willie showed there had been 258 incidents of violence and anti-social behaviour on Metro buses this year – with 208 in Hobart, 41 in Launceston and nine in Burnie.

There were 13 assaults on drivers, 18 assaults involving passengers and 118 incidents of inappropriate behaviour.

Metro has been forced to make cutbacks to its timetables because of a shortage of drivers and the union representing workers says there has been a 60 per cent turnover of heavy vehicle mechanics and one-third of tradespeople positions are still vacant.