TRAVEL subsidy for regional areas will begin to be reviewed by the Queensland Government this week in an effort to better utilise transport across the state.
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Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said yesterday he would write to all regional Mayors and councils this week to get their ideas on the review of long distance coach, train and air services.
He said some of the further areas under review included better connections for Gulf and Torres Strait Island communities, better services for growing mining communities, duplication of subsidised services between Townsville and Mount Isa and a deregulation of air routes.
Mount Isa Mayor Tony McGrady said there had been a shift in travel services in the North West region in the past decade which needed to be addressed by the government.
He said the Inlander rail service, which takes 21 hours from Townsville to Mount Isa, saw a significant drop in patronage between 2002 and 2008, whereas air and coach travel close to doubled in both cases.
"The bulk of passengers on the rail service are freebies, meaning they are pensioners who are heavily subsidised anyway," Cr McGrady said.
"Very few pay and if you wanted to be a paying passenger it would be very expensive."
Cr McGrady said in the review he would like to see pensioners keep their cheap travel rates but also maintain services.
"We don't support a reduction in services in this review or reducing those freebies," he said.
"I would hope it's a genuine review that listens to the input of councils and it's not simply a government who already have their minds made up."
Cr McGrady said from the money made in the rail service in the North West, the government could most likely afford to subsidise other areas of travel such as coach and air services.
Mr Emerson said the review would be the first of its kind in six years and would aim to better reflect the changes to how people travel in regional Queensland.
"There are some areas of the state with subsidised bus, train and plane routes while some of our most remote community have only one service a week," he said.
"The review will also look at better value on western train services where the Westlander between Brisbane and Charleville, and the Inlander between Townsville and Mount Isa costs taxpayers more than $2000 for each passenger."
The review is expected to be finalised later this year.