Cut rail fares for flyers: report

RAIL travel to Sydney Airport would soar by 1.1 million journeys a year if the private operators of the airport train stations agreed to slash fares, a consultant's report has found.

A report for Sydney Airports Corporation by Booz & Company finds the steep fares for passengers using the Green Square, Mascot, Domestic and International airport stations are forcing people to use cars. "The premium fares also act as a strong disincentive to use the Airport Link stations," it says. "Fare reform represents a quick win in terms of increasing the attractiveness of rail as a means of travelling to and from Sydney Airport."

Passengers pay $15.40 to travel one way from Central to the international terminal and $15 to the domestic terminal. By contrast, a one-way journey of similar length - four stops from Central to Stanmore or six stops from Central to Dulwich Hill - costs $3.60. A regular CityRail ticket for 110 kilometres from Central to Katoomba costs $12.20.

Booz finds that bringing the four Sydney Airport Link stations into the subsidised CityRail fare system would mean an immediate 26 per cent increase in rail trips to the airport. It would also boost trips to Mascot and Green Square stations by 400,000, or an immediate rise of 17 per cent.

The report says only 11 per cent of people going to the airport use the expensive rail service, compared with 25 per cent using taxis; 29 per cent who drive and park cars; 15 per cent who are dropped off by private car; 10 per cent who travel by minibus; and 5 per cent who use rental cars.

Only 4 per cent use the infrequent State Transit bus service, and the government's new Metrobus 20 to Mascot does not go to the airport terminals - in a bid, government sources say, to boost patronage on the rail line.

The chief executive of Sydney Airport Link, Tim Anderson, said the report was essentially calling on the government to subsidise fares to the four private stations. "We are reasonable people," he told the Herald, "and we are open to any discussion about this idea. We aim to protect our private investment but if the government wishes to subsidise the service, that's a matter we're willing to discuss."