Recorded generically because the arrangement is the same in every state: the agency plans the project, builds the case that goes to Infrastructure Australia, receives Commonwealth capital against construction milestones from the Commonwealth department — and then funds the service for the life of the asset out of its own budget.

Farebox recovery in Australian cities runs at roughly $0.20 to $0.25 of every dollar of operating expenditure. The remaining three-quarters is a state operating subsidy, appropriated annually, competing against schools and hospitals in the same budget. It is the largest recurrent number in urban public transport and no Commonwealth program touches any part of it.

Which produces the incentive this database keeps finding in different clothes: the tier that wants the outcome funds only the capital, so the options that attract external money are the ones with the largest capital component. An improvement delivered purely as more service on infrastructure that already exists has no capital component to attach a Commonwealth contribution to.