Privatisation of Transport? No Thanks!

By Bob Moor

Access to public transport has been found to be a “central” factor in achieving social mobility.[1] This is due to it providing access to jobs, healthcare, education, social networks and activities which would otherwise be inaccessible to those who cannot use alternative modes due to cost, disability, or other reasons. It is therefore vital that public transport services be offered even when patronage is minimal and the service unprofitable to avoid what is known as a “poverty trap”.

One would assume that such an essential service would be operated for the people and not for profit. Yet, with neoliberalism’s firm grasp on Australian society, public transport has been steadily privatised. This has been seen all over Australia with Victoria’s public transport going out to tender in 1999[2], Sydney’s State Transit Authority being closed down by 2022[3], the ACT’s Light Rail being operated by Canberra Metro Consortium,[4] Adelaide’s buses, trams and trains having been privatised between 1996 and January 2021[5], Darwin’s buses being privatised in 2014[6] and many regions of Queensland and Western Australia having private operators[7][8].

“The Victorian Government has admitted that privatising Melbourne’s public transport has been “no cheaper” for the government”

While governments claim private companies are more attractive than government agencies as public transport operators due to them cutting costs[9], this often comes at the expense of services. Despite many services such as overnight services and services through sparsely populated areas being unprofitable; as mentioned earlier they are vital for providing a way out of poverty, and social mobility. However, the government has chosen instead to prioritise the welfare of private operators over that of its citizens by continuing to allow service cuts. This has occurred around Australia. Melbourne, among many other cities and regions, offers no overnight services on weeknights[10] and Sydney and Adelaide are in the process of completely redoing part[11][12] or all[13] of their bus networks leading to journey times being lengthened and stops closed in the face of much criticism[14].

Claims of public transport being operated more cost-effectively by private operators also fall flat due to the lack of evidence that they save money. While Metro Trains Melbourne and Keolis Downer, the private operators of Melbourne’s metro and tram services respectively, took home a handy combined profit of $350 million in the 2009 to 2015 financial years[15], the Victorian Government has admitted that privatising Melbourne’s public transport has been “no cheaper” for the government while they have “had to put a lot more money into the system”[16] than was expected. Given the massive growth in patronage over the last decade on public transport systems in many regions[17][18], largely due to an increase in petrol prices[19], the money being taken by the private operators would be much better spent funding new services to support the increased patronage.

“An obvious metric of this is on time performance, since buses were privatised in Sydney’s Inner West in 2018, on time performance has dropped”

Even without taking into account Melbourne’s bad experience with public transport franchising, the faults in the neoliberal case for privatisation become clear when you ponder why private operators would be cheaper and provide a better service. Delving into arguments over the power of the profit motive, neoliberals claim that private companies can save money by becoming more efficient through cuts in bureaucracy among other measures[20]. Yet, evidence shows that in almost every instance private companies are no more efficient than the public sector[21], and an RTBU study concluded that “there is no convincing evidence that privatisation provides sustained benefits to public finances or to the users of public services.  The only consistent finding is that privatisation benefits the financial institutions involved in the process and reduces pay and conditions for ordinary workers.”[22]

As raised by the RTBU study, proponents of privatisation also claim that private operators would be able to deliver a higher quality service than public operators. An obvious metric of this is on time performance. Since buses were privatised in Sydney’s Inner West in 2018, on time performance has dropped when comparing the average of two nine month periods before and after privatisation.[23] This occurred despite the state government deliberately sabotaging the on time performance of the public operator by refusing to fund a review of timetables to more accurately reflect traffic’s impact on the speed of services.[24] But citizens of Sydney’s Inner West rejoice! Despite having a shocking on time performance of 91.65% in the first nine months of private operation, this is only scratching the surface of how poor private operators can be. Operator of a third of Melbourne’s bus network Transdev had its contract cut short as a result of its terrible on time performance which averaged around 80%.[25] Over its five year contract, Transdev only met its punctuality target once. Since this dreadful service came from the winner of a competitive tender who was supposed to be the highest quality, it should be obvious that privatisation of public transport does not provide a higher quality service as proposed.

As a result of these findings, it is clear that there are only two reasons as to why politicians would continue to push their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad plans for privatisation: either because they are uninformed or because they are blinded by their corporate interests. Considering the overwhelming evidence and public backlash, the only possible option is the latter. Under capitalism, with the influence of corporate donors and the future careers of politicians secured in big business, change will not be made for the people over profit. If improvement is to be made to public transport, it will only be achieved under socialism. Real achievement can only come from an increase in funding and a focus on helping the people, not from blind privatisation in hopes for the best. Only then under socialism can a free, reliable and frequent system be delivered, fully providing opportunities and freedom to individuals. It is therefore imperative that every action be taken to counter and reverse the neoliberal agenda of privatisation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/income-inequality-social-inclusion-mobility.pdf

[2] https://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-costly-truth-about-privatisation-of-public-transport-20031218-gdwyi2.html

[3] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/coronavirus-pushes-back-government-privatisation-of-sydney-bus-services-20200603-p54z4l.html

[4] https://www.canberra-metro.com.au/about/public-private-partnership/

[5] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-01/adelaide-trains-and-trams-to-be-privatised/11267236

[6] https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/darwin-busses-to-be-privatised/news-story/5a5bc23d9d88aedb0fec57b5d4830d47

[7] https://translink.com.au/contact-us#operator-details

[8] https://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/about-us

[9] https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/improving-public-transport-customer-focused-franchising

[10] https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/more/travelling-on-the-network/night-network/

[11] https://transportnsw.info/news/2020/northern-beaches-lower-north-shore-bus-service-improvements

[12] https://transportnsw.info/news/2020/additional-bus-services-for-north-west-sydney-lower-north-shore

[13] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-13/sa-government-to-axe-hundreds-of-bus-stops-in-gozone-overhaul/12352122

[14] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-13/sa-government-to-axe-hundreds-of-bus-stops-in-gozone-overhaul/12352122

[15] https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-real-cost-of-our-metro-public-transport-system-20170131-gu2b4j.html

[16] https://www.smh.com.au/national/kosky-stands-by-privatised-trains-20090123-7ors.html

[17] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/public-transport-growth-surges-past-nsw-government-predictions-20200218-p54208.html

[18] https://www.governmentnews.com.au/melbourne-transport-fails-to-keep-pace-with-population-boom/

[19] https://www.theage.com.au/national/petrol-costs-drive-rise-in-public-transport-use-20060906-ge32qv.html

[20] https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/privatization

[21] https://www.psiru.org/sites/default/files/2014-07-EWGHT-efficiency.pdf

[22] https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/rtbu/pages/440/attachments/original/1575332898/RTBU1911-revised_FINAL.pdf?1575332898

[23] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/performance-of-sydney-s-inner-west-buses-worse-in-private-hands-20190507-p51ks5.html

[24] https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/transport-authorities-frustrated-pleas-to-improve-bus-ontime-running-internal-report-20170829-gy6l9r.html

[25] https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/extension-to-transdev-bus-contract-cut-short-as-100-new-buses-promised-20181214-p50mcg.html