this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Victoria has made public transport free – NSW hasn’t. Has there been any difference in uptake? (theconversation.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by arbilp3@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
28 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

...The relatively small difference between Victoria, where public transport was free, and NSW – where fares remained unchanged – suggests price is not the main constraint on mode shift. Access, travel time, service reliability and the ability to make specific trips appear to matter more.

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

What improvements would you recommend? This is important. More ideas need to be discussed.

Not the OP

PT in Australia is an afterthought shoe horned in around car stupidity and it needs citizens to think about it all if they want to make use of it eg living near a train station deliberately etc. been there, done that.

Good PT takes decades of planning and has last mile issues (solved with quality separate infrastructure for hire ebikes and personal escooters).

A good example of this travesty I bring up is near where I used to live on the Gold Coast, Helenesvale Station; has a heavy rail stop, is the terminus for the light rail down to the beach at Broadwater, Southport and soon Burleigh etc and for a bus line. It has a massive shopping centre (supermarket, specialty, medical, fruit and veg, banks etc) and is surrounded by .... a huge fucking car park.

What it should have is nearly no car park and 10 x 15 story apartment blocks on site. (that's 1500 homes right there and zero koala habitat needs clearing, zero roads built etc and workforce right near 1000s of jobs). You wouldn't even have to think, walk down stairs for shopping, medical etc and a train to Brisbane, or Tram to the beach, or to work for many, many people.

Instead, 100s of workers drive there and park in the car park, as do commuters, a fucking mess.

As an aside, I now live in rural Tassie (climate change saw me move) and there is 1 bus a day where i live. It used to be $6 each way, it's now free to Launceston. I am sure there are many who don't dive as much but with the free PT I catch that bus in once a week to the "big smoke" for a day out, rather than drive my ecar every other month for just chores.