Victoria has made public transport free – NSW hasn’t. Has there been any difference in uptake?
Posted by Ifeelsiikk
Victoria has made public transport free – NSW hasn’t. Has there been any difference in uptake?
Posted by Ifeelsiikk
14 Comments
The stats they have are from 2000 people surveyed across the three states. Make of that what you will.
Nahhh they defo got paid for this liberal party ad.
Stats are interesting. For all the hate the vast majority agreed with free PT and it being a moral and social obligation/responsibility to reduce fuel use.
Cool, nothing outside the 5% statistical significance value.
It’s not a terrible idea but my opinion remains that people who drive to the CBD do it for status reasons where proving they can afford it (and us plebs can’t) is just one of the benefits.
Free PT is dumb, it causes so many problems. One of the US states installed barriers and graffiti and rubbish, antisocial behaviour all dropped off a cliff. I can try find the source if anyone doesn’t believe me. Even having fares at like $2 is a good thing imo.
Not surprising at all, as most other studies around train networks and incentives will also corroborate this. It’s popular policy because it sounds good on paper and people like free things, but cutting fares doesn’t really move the needle on convincing drivers to shift to PT. Frequency, access, and reliability is the most important thing.
Vline attendance has absolutely surged as people are not favoring driving to holiday destinations in state. Vline has dropped their booking structure and it’s basically first come first served.
This pushes spending out into regional centres on the country train lines and everyone wins. It’s been a very interesting experiment so far.
maybe worth noting that nsw has double the daily pt patronage of vic. our buses alone transport more people everyday than your trains.
of course cheaper fares up here would be nice, but minnsy doesn’t understand the concept of taxes 😪🫠
but i digress
I think making public transport more convenient would help more people get on board rather than price, even when given driving is always going to be more expensive than a yearly myki pass or weekly cap in nsw.
Anecdotally, it definitely feels like more people on my usual tram. My partner and I have also taken the tram rather than drive in some occasions just because it was free.
Probably dropped on Glen Waverly line as no trains for over a week.
I miss headlines/titles that were statements.
I don’t know about other people, but I’ve been using the hell out if it. I’ll absolutely get up half an hour earlier for free trains. It’s train replacement buses from the end of the month though, so I’ll be back in the car by then.
I feel like this article misses the point, as others have noted, it’s about how good the service is, how frequent, how accessible, reliable, does it take you to where you need to go
Thats what drives usage, not price and any serious person already knew that.
Fares are more about fairness and equity
Jumped on a free metro train from Berwick to Arden St, North Melbourne, an hour each way. Great stress free, totally smooth. Everybody on the train network looked chilled and happy.