A new levy aimed at improving accessibility to public transport services across the Toowoomba Region has received strong backing from the highest levels of the Queensland State Government.
Toowoomba Regional Council’s (TRC) new Public Transport Levy, introduced with this week’s adoption of the 2024/25 Council Budget, has received praise from Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Bart Mellish.
In a statement, Minister Mellish commended TRC for the initiative.
“This is a great example of what can be achieved when councils work together with the State Government.
“This will mean improvements in public transport services for Toowoomba residents, as we look to take public transport to more and more Queenslanders.
“I commend the Toowoomba Regional Council for taking the initiative to deliver better services for residents.”
Toowoomba Region Mayor Geoff McDonald said the new levy was just one of the ways that TRC had committed to doing things differently during this new term of Council.
“On day one of this term, Councillors committed to working together and doing things differently and the new Public Transport Levy we have introduced is one of the ways we aim to achieve that commitment.
“It comes as no surprise to me that the new levy has received the backing of the Queensland State Government. That gives me great confidence we can meet the objectives of the levy’s introduction. This includes partnering with the State to deliver key elements of the TRC Sustainable Transport Strategy 2023 which simply would not be able to be delivered in a business-as-usual approach.
“Importantly, the Public Transport Levy comes at no net increase to ratepayers as it replaces the previous Park and Open Space and Biosecurity and Bushland Conversation levies, both of which have funds set aside to be used for the purposes of their previous collection.
“TRC now has skin in the game when it comes to public transport and I look forward to continuing to work with the State Government to improve the approach to public transport services across the Toowoomba Region,” Mayor McDonald said.
View the Toowoomba Regional Council Sustainable Transport Strategy 2023 here.
