Australia’s public transport is among the world’s most expensive. Could Queensland’s 50c fares work countrywide?

Last week, the Queensland Labor government announced its 50c fares on public transport were here to stay.

It followed a hugely popular trial of the policy in the sunshine state – which quickly garnered bipartisan support when the Crisafulli opposition promised to keep the low fares if it won the state election in October.

So could other states and territories copy Queensland’s cheap fare? And what would that look like?

How much does public transport cost across Australia?

Australia has the third-most expensive public transport in the world, behind Switzerland and the Netherlands, according to a 2023 report from Compare the Market.

National data from the Australian Automobile Association shows the average cost of public transport for workers who commuted in the first quarter of the year was $39.35 per week. Commuters in Brisbane pay the most – an average of $59.67 each week – followed by Melbourne at $53 and Sydney at $50.

By the trip, a one-way ticket in Melbourne from Brunswick to Melbourne’s CBD costs you $5.30. In Sydney, travelling between 10km and 20km will set you back $5.22 during peak hours. In Hobart, a full-fare ticket across all three zones costs $3.60 after the state government halved public transport fares until June 2025 as a cost-of-living relief measure.

In Darwin, a three-hour ticket costs $3, while it’s $3.50 in Perth and $3.22 in Canberra.

Teibei Li, a senior research fellow at the centre for urban research at RMIT, said Australian cities were still designed for cars to be the quickest mode of transport, which was part of the reason public transport routes did not cover all corners of each city.

The Victorian Public Transport User Association’s spokesperson, Daniel Bowen, said the lack of services across greater Melbourne was a larger deterrent than the cost.

“50c fares might be nice for the people that can use them, but they don’t help those people who have no good quality public transport in their area, particularly in the middle and outer suburbs and regional areas … If you’ve got a local bus service, it’s probably infrequent [and] indirect.”

Would 50c fares work outside of Queensland?

Prof Matthew Burke at Griffith University’s cities research institute said it would be difficult for the Brisbane experience to be introduced in places like Sydney and Melbourne.

Burke added that the proposal in Queensland was clearly influenced by electoral considerations, and the southern states collected more fare revenue, which subsidised a larger proportion of the rail system.

In NSW, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union said on Thursday it would call off the week’s industrial action if the government agreed to adopt a 50c fare policy.

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, quickly shot down the idea, saying a reduction to 50c fares “would see everybody pay more in taxes”.

But Burke said focusing only on the direct costs – the Queensland scheme required an investment of $300m in public funds per year – ignored the indirect savings that could be made. For example, if increased use of public transport deferred the need to widen a freeway for at least a decade, it would mean billions of dollars in infrastructure savings.

What about the rest of the economy?

While the evidence around the flow-on effects from the Queensland scheme is still being gathered, preliminary evidence from a short fare-free trial in NSW in 2022 showed the potential benefits may vastly outweigh the cost of investment.

The NSW government temporarily waived public transport fees for 12 days in April that year as an “apology” to commuters after industrial action. The initiative resulted in a huge spike in usage: a review by Business NSW found there was a 35% increase in Sydney CBD patronage over the period, with an 89% increase in youth trips on the transport network.

Analysis of Mastercard credit and debit data showed that the retail, art, entertainment, recreation and accommodation sectors saw increases of more than 30% in turnover during that time.

With a permanent scheme, Burke said, people would begin to factor it into their long-term decision-making – the results of which would only begin to become apparent in Queensland in the months and years to come.

“We’re already seeing clear changes to behaviour and usage on weekends, suggesting families using the services when it would have been prohibitively expensive otherwise,” Burke said.

“I think we’re very likely to see some longer-term changes. People are going to make decisions about jobs, or where they go to uni, where kids go to school, where they rent, based on this new policy.”