Metro Tasmania has experienced a decline in bus ridership in both Hobart and Launceston since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Transport Minister Eric Abetz.
Even the lure of half-price fares, while designed as a “cost of living measure”, hasn’t been enough to get more people taking the bus.
“Certainty and reliability of service is the most important factor from all studies of public transport. Price factors aren’t all that great,” he told a government scrutiny hearing on Tuesday.
“In Burnie, there’s been an uplift [in passengers numbers since the introduction of half-price fares] but not in the Launceston and Hobart areas.”
“So it’ll be interesting if we ever can find out why it is in Burnie but not in the other two areas.”
Metro attributes the drop in ridership to passengers being put off by unreliable schedules, with 177 services across Hobart indefinitely suspended since August 2023 due to a shortage of drivers.
Just 26 of those have since been restored between Monday and Thursday and 24 on Friday’s. Around 150 of them remain suspended.
The remaining suspended services will be gradually reintroduced when “staffing permits”.
“Australia-wide, I am told that if 25,000 drivers descended into Australia today, they could all get a job somewhere driving in South East Queensland,” Abetz said.
“The bus service there, I think, has a shortage of 500 drivers. Unfortunately, Tasmania is not immune from that.”
He acknowledged that various efforts to retain and recruit drivers have had limited success.
“We have tried a variety of different methods to retain and increase driver numbers,” Abetz said.
“And that has, could I describe it as modestly, has modestly been effective.”
Metro delivered 6.87 million passenger journeys during 2023-2024.
