Queensland authorities are expecting a surge in public transport use, as the state government's landmark 50 cent fare trial begins today.
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00:00The fares on public transport will be a flat rate of 50 cents for the next six months under
00:08the Labor government's trial.
00:09That will be on buses, ferries, trains and light rail.
00:13Now the trial is expected to save passengers around $150 million over the next six months.
00:21Now there were some concerns that the cheaper fares would lead to overcrowding and congestion
00:26on the public transport network this morning.
00:28But the state government says that early indications suggest there was a slight uptick
00:33in people using public transport this morning.
00:36Now we spoke to some people this morning who have used trains about how the trial was going.
00:41Here's what they had to say.
00:42It was fairly normal.
00:43There was probably a few more people on the train than normal, but again it's only early
00:47so expectations were fairly low on the number of people, but yeah it was still a bit busier
00:51than normal.
00:52I can't believe it.
00:53I've actually messaged so many people saying for the first time a 50 cent train ride.
00:57So yeah it's great and it just helps with money so that's good.
01:01I was expecting it to be very crowded but it was the same as normal.
01:08In the past few months in the lead up to this trial Gemma we've seen a lot of concern around
01:12how the public transport network could cope.
01:16Brisbane City Council argued that if just 10% more people tried to catch buses about
01:22a million people would be stranded at the bus stop.
01:25But TransLink has said that that doesn't really match their modelling and that overall the
01:29public transport network is still at around 87% of capacity than before the pandemic started.
01:37So this morning the Queensland Government Premier Stephen Mars has said left the door
01:43open really to keeping the 50 cent fares if patronage on public transport were to return
01:50to that pre-pandemic level.
01:52So it would have to increase in order for the State Government to consider keeping it
01:56going beyond that six months and of course they would have to also win power at the October election.
02:02We've never returned to our pre-COVID public transport usage so we're about 13% down on
02:09where we were before COVID.
02:11If we can get usage back up to those kinds of levels then I think that means that this
02:16almost free public transport will be a success and I think we'll be able to continue it.
02:20Of course if people don't use it then it will be harder to justify and so I'm saying to
02:24everyone that if you want to keep almost free public transport you need to use it, you need
02:30to get on the train, the bus, the ferries and if you do we'll be able to keep it.
02:34The State's opposition has also committed to keeping the trial going if they were to
02:39win power in October but they would be reviewing the results before committing to extend it further.