Regional areas all suffer from the tyranny of distance.
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Travel costs present a major hurdle for people who are living on fixed incomes.
Last week, we heard at the launch of a women’s drug and alcohol service for Lithgow that travel was a major factor in preventing women accessing these services.
For people that have to travel to Sydney for specialists appointments on a regular basis, the cost of transport can become a real burden.
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It has to be carefully weighed against the other major costs of living in Lithgow. Along with food and accommodation, there is the very expensive exercise of staying warm in the winter months.
In one sense, Lithgow is well positioned in terms of access to specialist medical services. As part of the metropolitan train network, we can be at Westmead within a few hours without the trouble of having to find parking.
Unfortunately, Lithgow is not enjoying the best of both worlds, but getting hit up on both sides.
Opal cards do not work on our buses and bus tickets do not work on our trains.
As a result, our most vulnerable residents, those on pensions with very strict budgets, are paying double the amount paid by their Sydney counterparts.
Yes, $2.50 does not sound like a lot of money to most people. Half a cup of coffee, a third of a premium beer or 10 per cent of a pack of Winfields, as the politicians would put it.
But if you are travelling for regular treatments three or four times a week, which would be common for people facing regular dialysis or cancer treatments in a Sydney hospital, that’s an extra $8-10 a week that these people, who struggle to pay for goods and services as it is, are paying unnecessarily.
And it adds up; $520 a year. Suddenly, we’re talking about money that would go a long way towards covering those extra heating costs over the winter months (we’re talking $130 per billing quarter).
And for what are we paying? The service has not changed. Lithgow pensioners are being charged for a bureaucratic nothing.
The Opal service should be extended to include Lithgow bus services.
It is not a fair fare when Lithgow pensioners are paying double. We should not have to pay for being the end of the line.