Updated may 30, 2011 15:26:00

The new South Wales Government is following through on its promise to reduce the price for longer-term tickets for Sydney train commuters.

Premier Barry O’Farrell says the price of all monthly, quarterly and yearly train tickets on the CityRail network will be cut by 9 per cent from July 1.

Commuters buying monthly rail tickets to the city from outlying areas such as Gosford, Wollongong and Springwood will save the most, at $20 a month or $240 a year.

At the other end of the spectrum monthly tickets to the city will be $9 a month cheaper from Chatswood and $11 a month cheaper from Strathfield.

The discount will also apply to MyMulti tickets from combined train, bus and ferry travel.

The announcement means many commuters will save more than was promised by the Coalition during the March election campaign.

The Premier says the measure is a small step to ease cost of living pressures for Sydneysiders.

“The July 1 ticket price cuts will reward regular commuters, provide an incentive for others to use the train system, but it will also help cut the lengthy Monday morning ticket buying queues at suburban stations,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“There’s no doubt that people who live in Sydney and other parts of new South Wales face higher costs of living pressures.

“It’s one of the reasons we were keen to deliver rail ticket cuts, but it also highlights the need for federal funds, particularly for infrastructure.”

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian says cheaper tickets will encourage more people to catch a train to work, and the network can cope.

“This policy that we’ve announced today goes hand-in-hand with our other initiatives we’ve announced, such as bringing back 135 weekly rail services,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We also know from the most recent RailCorp report that unfortunately there were more than a million fewer trips taken that year than the previous year.

“We want to encourage people back onto the rail network, we want to encourage people back onto public transport.”

But a transport researcher from the University of Sydney doubts the measure will increase passenger numbers.

David Hensher is the director of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies.

He says the evidence suggests passenger numbers will increase by less than one per cent.

“The concern with many people who do not use rail is the lack of service, ie reliability, getting to and from it, crowding and so on,” Professor Hensher said.

“Any drop in fares, while it might be welcomed, is not going to necessarily have much impact on getting people out of their cars.”

First posted may 30, 2011 08:47:00

<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/30/3230290.htm?site=newcastletag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/30/3230290.htm?site=newcastleSun, 29 May 2011 23:21:53 GMT 00:00″>Sydney long-term train ticket cuts on track