If it acts like a public utility, why the outsourcing?
I'm not a critic of public transport but I was amused by the report ″ Metro gets millions to keep it in profit ″ (18/6) of Metro Trains being propped up by the government in response to lower passenger volumes. Obviously, operators of essential services need continuity and COVID was a massive disruption to their revenues. The work-from-home practice has also been a disruptor, but that's here to stay. Charts published in the report show that volumes have increased since COVID but not to pre-pandemic volumes. Contracts offered by government to Metro offer a ″revenue floor″ to ensure profitability – that's a safety net. I am a frequent rail user and I think the service they offer is pretty good, but it's obvious that this essential service cannot really be expected to operate as a genuine free-market concern. Metro will pocket the profits from the good times and put out the begging hand in the bad times. It just doesn't seem to be any different to a public utility, so why pretend? Does Victoria get a better result from outsourcing these services?
Andrew Barnes, Ringwood
Preventing fare evasion would be a start
I read with astonishment in the article about Metro Trains that two words didn't get a mention: Fare evasion. As a regular user of public transport in Melbourne, I continue to notice low compliance with paying for travel. Since when was the CBD free zone extended to all modes of transport on the entire network? On buses I would be surprised that 20 per cent of passengers tap on. On trams (outside the free zone), even less. At some railway stations in the CBD, I struggle to understand why there is that one permanently open barrier gate that allows passengers to blatantly walk through without tapping off — unchallenged by nearby standing PTV employees.
This is a problem specific to Melbourne (and possibly the entire state). I notice almost 100 per cent compliance with tapping on and off in all other capital cities. So might I suggest that before the state government hands over taxpayers' money to operators, like Metro Trains, for lower passenger revenue that they first acknowledge and address the apparent revenue leakage.
Peter Myers, St Kilda
Have there been any benefits of privatisation?
Yet another win for privatisation of public assets. Can anyone identify any previously public enterprise that has benefited the public by being privatised? Just one would be nice.
Ross Hudson, Mount Martha
Government must be accountable
The ongoing contractual payments to Metro Trains to cover lost revenue due to higher work-from-home rates show how misleading it is to argue governments can shift 'revenue risk' to the private sector by privatising public services. It is ultimately governments who remain accountable for the standard of public goods and services, whether the ultimate provider is a public or a private entity. That's why when one looks around the world it's more common for operators to receive a fixed price that reflects the benchmark cost of service provision, with incentives and penalties coming on top of this. Where a fee is charged to users, the revenue is retained by government to offset the cost of providing the service, rather than affecting the payment to the operator.
To 'pay a private company its own profit' is exactly what we all do when we procure goods and services from private businesses. The businesses expect a margin and it doesn't come from anywhere else but the customer. The alternative is to do it all yourself, as of course governments did in the past and some still do today.
Tony Morton, President, Public Transport Users Association, Melbourne
THE FORUM
Joy of buskers
I have to disagree with your correspondent (Letters, 18/6) who said he had rarely come across a busker with any great talent.
There are some great buskers in the city, especially outside the old GPO building on Bourke Street next to Myer. It's like a mini-outdoor concert there some days, with people sitting on the steps watching and clapping.
I think the reason less people give buskers money is that we don't have cash on us all the time. Ioften wish I had cash to give them. Sometimes I take cash out of an ATM just to give the buskers.
It's great to hear music floating through the air in contrast to the trams dinging their bells, sirens from police cars and fire engines and all the other city noises.
Carol Evans, St Kilda
They are not beggars
I take issue with your correspondent stating that buskers are merely beggars. More than 40 years ago my jug band (three of us) busked in the Bourke Street mall on a Friday night and we earned quite the wage. More than $10 an hour each. It was quite the sum for 1983. We were most certainly not beggars and we poured our heart and soul into our performance.
We prided ourselves on our professionalism and did not expect to get paid if we didn't earn it. We succeeded in getting regular pub gigs and corporate events from our efforts. Many a performer started successful careers from busking and should not be denigrated for their courage.
Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson
A dream of hope
This week I was strolling with a friend in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. At one point, about two shop fronts ahead of us was an apparently homeless woman. She was pushing a heavily laden shopping trolley full of her possessions. She wore many layers of clothes. It was a cold day.
She wasn't asking for anything, just quietly making her way along the path, struggling a bit with her trolley. From two shop fronts back, the stench coming off her was unbelievable. People looked startled then horrified as they passed her. To my shame, I couldn't even pass her – I turned and went back the other way rather than get closer to the smell of her and confront the fact that I couldn't help her. Not nearly enough anyway.
I wish there was something significant we could have done. I had a mad idea later about a help line that we could all have access to, like Lifeline. A number you could call and there would be a van in the vicinity with two or three well-trained social workers or psych nurses to help. The van would come, and the workers would have clean clothes to offer the woman, some food perhaps, and they would ask if she would like to have a shower and a sleep and a good meal in a safe place not too far away, and maybe they could look into getting her some accommodation. At least for a little while. To let her have a rest. She might need a psych assessment and a bit of time in a psych ward and medication. She might say no thanks, but she might appreciate some help.
I know our sad world is a mess, that big and awful things are happening in too many places and it's all beyond us, but is it ridiculously idealistic of me to think that woman's situation in a Melbourne city is utterly unnecessary? A bit of everyday misery in my very rich and peaceful city. I'm more than happy to pay more tax if that will help.
Karen Morris, Newport
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