Gippslanders and regional passengers across the state are embracing public transport with fairer fares.
The State Government introduced the regional fare cap on March 31 last year, making regional public transport more affordable by capping the daily regional fare at the same price as the daily metropolitan fare.
The fare cap is helping ease cost of living pressures with a same-day return ticket from Traralgon to Southern Cross previously costing $64.40, but now capped at the daily metro fare of $10.60 – with Victorians statewide saving more than $50 million since the regional fare cap was introduced.
Regional Victorians have been showing their enthusiasm for cheaper regional travel with patronage hitting record numbers in December, January, and February.
Long distance lines are seeing the highest increase, with a 29 per cent increase in users from Bairnsdale Station from April 2023 to March this year.
416,119 people took the Gippsland line from Bairnsdale in that time – an increase of almost 94,000.
The Bairnsdale line was also one of the most reliable with nearly 99 per cent of services arriving at the station, up from the network average of 96.5 per cent.
“We’re delighted fairer fares have been so popular and we’ll continue transforming the regional rail network – upgrading every line in the state, adding bigger and better trains, and additional services,” Minister for Public and Active Transport, Gabrielle Williams, said.
V/Line has also added hundreds of special services across the network, put on extra carriages, utilised standby coaches, and trialled new reservations procedures to meet increased demand.
Almost 200 extra permanent weekend services will be added thanks to a $219 million Labor Government investment in the Victorian Budget 2023/24.
