Australia’s public transport authorities have announced a spate of fare changes for 2015. While some states received the expected fare hike, others have frozen or decreased their prices. Read on to find out how much you’ll be losing — or saving.
NSW
Train and ferry Opal fares have been adjusted to fall in line with the cost of living/CPI only. This translates to an increase of 2.5 per cent, including senior and child/youth fares. For example, an adult trip on Opal of 10-20km will now set you back $4.20; an increase of ten cents.
Paper ticket prices will also receive the 2.5 per cent increase, although there are a handful of exempted tickets, which are listed below:
- Family Funday Sunday
- Pensioner Excursion, Country Pensioner Excursion and Regional Excursion Daily
- Special event bus services (Moore Park & Randwick Racecourse shuttle)
- MyBus3 concession single
- Newcastle Stockton ferry adult & concession single
Bus and light rail Opal fares as well as daily/weekly caps ($15 and $60, respectively) will not increase, however. For more information, head to Transport NSW.
Victoria
Public transport fares across Victoria will rise by an average of 2.5 per cent, plus Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 2.3 per cent. However, prices have also fallen for some travelers thanks to the new Free Tram Zone and cheaper tram, bus and train fares when travelling across Zones 1 and 2.
The Free Tram Zone includes the area from Queen Victoria Market, Victoria Harbour in Docklands, Spring Street to Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. In addition, customers can now travel across Zones 1 and 2 for the price of a Zone 1 fare.
According to Transport Victoria, a commuter who pays for a Zone 1 + 2 ticket each day will save around $1,200 each year, while a customer who buys an annual myki pass will save over $750. There’s also no increase to Early Bird fares.
If your myki Zone 1 and 2 pass is paid up beyond 1 January 2015, a reimbursement for the Zone 2 component of the pass will be available. For more information, head to Public Transport Victoria.
Queensland
The state government has frozen public transport fares across Queensland for 2015. Fares were initially slated to increase by 2.5 per cent in line with the other major cities, but this decision has since been scrapped. For more information, head to the TransLink website.
Western Australia
Perth is one of the few capital cities where fares have actually decreased across the board; albeit nominally. In 2012 the Western Australian government introduced above-inflation increases to train, bus and ferry fares in response to the carbon tax. This price hike has since been removed, resulting in fare reductions of about 10 cents per ticket. For more information, head to the TransPerth website.
South Australia
Multitrip tickets have been discontinued. Unused trips can be transferred to a Metrocard before 28 February 2015 at an Adelaide Metro InfoCentre. Head to Adelaide Metro for more information.
Canberra
Most MyWay fares for ACTION buses have increased by an average of 2.5 per cent to reflect the cost of transport improvements (it says here). Off peak concession fares have also been hit with an additional increase, in line with the ACT Government strategy to “progressively align concession entitlements with other jurisdictions”.
A standard MyWay fare has increased from $2.84 to $2.91 while concession MyWay fares have risen from $1.41 to $1.45. Standard bus cash fares have also jumped to $4.60; an increase of 10 cents. Off-peak concession fares increased by 30 per cent to 81 cents.
Tasmania
As of 5 January 2015, adult fares for short trips have increased by 10 cents, medium trips by 20 cents and long journeys by 30 cents. The majority of student and concession fares are 10 cents more expensive per trip. The Greencard daily peak cap for concession holders has also increased by 20 cents.
Fare increases for the Channel are 10 cents for zones 1 & 2 and 30 cents for zone 3 while fares for South Arm, Wynyard and Ulverstone will go up by 20 cents for the local zone, 10 cents for zone 1, 40 cents for zone 2 and 80 cents for zone 3. Head to MetroTas for more information.
Comments
8 responses to “Australia’s Public Transport Fares Are Changing (Again)”
I like that the QLD government is saying that the freeze follows a 5% reduction in fees. They fail to mention the fact that they hiked the fees around 7.5% at the start of last year, so we aren’t saving a thing.
Following the abolishment of the carbon tax Queenslanders were given a choice in how to use their legislated savings: either cheaper services or better services.
So why are some governments not passing on the savings?
A lot of them don’t have an impending state election……
All I am getting from this is the usual “Australian public transport sucks” sentiment that I am pretty sure I share with most. Thank Batman I can walk just about anywhere in my town in 15 minutes.
Cool story bro. Not all of us live in small towns.
I think perhaps you’re being unfair. All you can really get from this is that public transport costs money. Here in Perth, if you live near a train line and regularly commute to the city (or somewhere on the way to the city) it’s not bad. If you need to rely on two or more buses though you’re going to be spending a lot of time traveling and waiting.
Also anywhere in 15mins? You must live in a very small town… about 2.5km across if you live in the centre?
“According to Transport Victoria, a commuter who pays for a Zone 1 + 2 ticket each day will save around $1,200 each year, while a customer who buys an annual myki pass will save over $750.”
…while presumably those of us who only travel in Zone 1 will have a corresponding fare increase to subsidise.
The increase in fares by the CPI amount is a rort. Considering that the CPI actually includes the increase in public transport fares, it basically feeds itself. By increasing the fares by CPI makes sure that next year, the CPI will increase again continuing the cycle. Look at the ABS website to see what’s included in the CPI ‘basket’ : http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6440.0Appendix102011
That’s not entirely true, fares do not cover the cost of the public transport service so a fare increase will feed into CPI less than CPI feeds into the fare. I have heard numbers of 25% operating expenditure is recovered on buses and around 50% on trains.
Because Campbell Newman.
My one-way trip to work on Opal now costs me 11 or 12 cents more per trip. I noticed that when I went through the gates on Monday.
Made the mistake of catching a bus in Canberra yesterday, 8 minute drive, 50 minutes of waiting and catching the bus. Wont be making that mistake again any time soon.
I won’t really call scrapping after-9:00pm buses from Monday to Saturday “improvements”.
Fares might have decreased in WA, but there are now zero free parking spots at every train station. It will cost you $2 to park for a day, and because our bus system is quite horrible most people don’t have a choice but to drive to the train station.
$2 and you’re complaining… I pay $30/day to park 4 blocks away from my train station in Sydney and I consider that a bargain.
as a regular public transport taker in VIC, looks like i’m not saving anything. Sure it’ll save me money in the long run, but PTV is never on time and continually run less services, so it evens out.