Regulation Impact Statement on Draft Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport
Canberra
January 1999
About this Regulation Impact Statement
This Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) has been prepared by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department to assist Governments to make decisions regarding the provision of non-discriminatory transport services to people with disabilities. The early preparatory work for this document was carried out on a consultancy basis by transport consultants, Booz Allen and Hamilton (Australia) Ltd. In May 1997 the Australian Transport Council (ATC) requested that the RIS be prepared using up to date figures from each State and Territory. This process was facilitated by the development of a questionnaire which was responded to by each State and Territory by March 1998, with the exception of the Northern Territory whose response was received in June 1998. Information received from the Northern Territory has been included in this final RIS.
The consultancy contract with Booz Allen did not provide sufficient funding for them to be involved in this final stage of the process. However, Booz Allen & Hamilton did complete a brief review of the Attorney-General’s Department interpretation, and use, of information provided by the States and Territories in relation to bus and coach services.
While others have assisted in the preparation of this document, it is finally the work of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department which remains responsible for its content. The content of the RIS has been cleared by the Office of Regulation Review.
The RIS is a summary of the findings of a series of working papers also prepared, on the whole, by the Attorney-General’s Department. These working papers cover the various modes of transport, as well as revenue and cross-sector benefits issues. The working papers on cross-sector benefits, impacts of improved accessibility, potential patronage impacts and other transport sector cost impacts were prepared by the consultants, Booz Allen & Hamilton. Copies of these supporting documents are available from the Attorney-General’s Department. All documents are available in a range of accessible formats.
The process of consultation on the draft of this document is outlined in Chapter 2. The final RIS has been prepared taking into account the wide range of views expressed during the consultation phase. Where possible, comments on the content of the draft RIS have been directly incorporated into this document. In some areas, however, submissions on the draft RIS reflected diametrically opposed views on the document. Where these views are irreconcilable, they have been summarised in Chapter 2 in a qualitative manner.
Adoption of the preferred option (Option 6 - Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport) has been estimated in the RIS to result in quantifiable costs of $3,744 million, and quantifiable benefits of $2,655 million over 20 years. These figures do not include costs and benefits of a qualitative nature, nor do they include outcomes from the adoption of recommended changes to the draft standards discussed in Chapters 6 and 7. Further, due to a lack of information, it has not been possible to comprehensively assess the costs and benefits of adopting the preferred option for all transport sectors.
