Premier: 50 cent transport fares here to stay if Labor wins state election

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has today announced he will keep the state government’s major cost-of-living pledge of 50c public transport fares in place if elected in October.

Queensland will have permanent 50 cent public transport fares regardless of who wins the election in October after public transport patronage soared by nearly three million trips across Queensland in just five weeks.

In what was supposed to be a six-month “use it or lose it” trial to encourage Queenslanders back onto public transport, Premier Steven Miles says patron numbers have already hit record high levels in both regional and metropolitan areas, justifying a permanent discount.

Mr Miles announced on Saturday that the 50c fares would stay should Labor win in October.

And on Sunday morning, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli also promised to keep the fares permanent in he is elected.

At a press conference on Sunday, Mr Crisafulli said he had a plan to make sure they could increase frequency, reliability and safety for regional Queenslanders and those in outer Brisbane areas.

“When we listen to Queenslanders, they like the 50 cent fares,” he said.

“What they want to see is greater frequency and reliability and safety, particularly in the outer areas and in those regional areas.”

Mr Crisafulli said using the current government’s figures it would cost $150 million in the first six months.

Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli has also committed to making public transport 50c if elected. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We want to give Queenslanders certainly that we’ve got a plan to make sure that we can deliver a better public transport system,” he said,

“That will be deputy leader’s focus to deliver a plan that shows a long term vision to increase the frequency, reliability and safety for public transport. And if we do that, that is a long term vision to get people into higher usages of public transport.”

Mr Crisafulli said it can’t be just for those who have access to the frequency of services really close to the Brisbane River.

“We do believe that the plan will be embraced by Queenslanders who do want to seek affordable public transport, but they want to know that they’ve got a service that they can rely on,” he said.

“I mention regional Queensland but there are also people in those outlying Brisbane suburbs, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, who would use public transport more if there was a greater frequency and reliability of it, the plan that we’re rolling out then ensure that.”

According to Transport and Main Roads data, Queenslanders have saved more than $37 million since the discount fares were introduced on August 5.

Total trips across all transport types are up 19 per cent compared to the same time last year and were 3 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels – a significant jump from 13 below pre-Covid levels in July.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles launched the 50 cent fare trial last month. Picture, John Gass

Buses saw the highest uptake with more than 2.5 million trips taken, followed by rail, with one million trips and light rail with 270,000 trips, while ferry rides nearly doubled to 152,000 trips.

Over the first five weeks, Queenslanders took an additional 2.6 million trips compared to 2023, one quarter of those taken during the first week of September.

Mr Miles said Queenslanders had voted with their feet, and that the 50 cent fares would be here to stay if Labor wins the October election.

“Making public transport (almost) free is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he said.

“I said it was use it or lose it.

“Queenslanders across the South East and through the regions have backed it.”

Public transport use in Mackay and the Whitsundays are up 30.2 per cent and 21.26 per cent respectively, while Cairns has seen an increase of 14.4 per cent compared to July.

Half price Airtrain will continue for another six months as the government continues negotiating with overseas owners.

It will mean the discounted trips will remain accessible while work is undertaken on the Brisbane Metro expansion through suburbs.

The $150m fare subsidy, Mr Miles says, has been the most cost-effective of the government’s rebates due to the rapid uptake and has allowed Queenslanders more financial freedom.

“When I used to have to catch the train to Toowong and the bus to UQ it was a lot of money and it made me realise how much transport can be an equity issue,” he said.

“Generally speaking, people travelling further are the ones who can least afford it.

“I’ve had people tell me they decline two to three hour shifts because they couldn’t afford the shifts.

“Now people are going to university, applying for jobs, travelling into the city.”

Nardia McKinlay, with Matthew Newman, from Bowen Hills, said the 50 cent fares were an added convenience. Picture: Steve Pohlner

For Bowen Hills resident Nardia McKinlay, 50 cent fares has not just saved her money, but it has also become an added convenience.

Residing in the city has led her to using more public transport in order to keep off the busy roads.

“I like to go out to South Bank and the city for things and I always think to train there rather than drive, so having it at 50 cents is just an added perk knowing it’s not costing,” she said.

The Premier said while some services were busier than others, the transport network was not over capacity.

The patronage boost, he says, will also help Translink expand services, should it become an independent transport authority after October.

Following Mr Crisafulli’s pledge on Sunday, Mr Miles said Queenslanders had already heard from the Labor Government what the LNP said about 50c fares.

“We know how desperate they are to win this election, and they’ll say or do anything,” Mr Miles said of the LNP.

“But the real question is, who do you trust to keep them? Me, who’s lived my whole life wanting to make this change or David Crisafulli, who’s only decided he supports it this morning because he wants to get through an election campaign?”

Mr Miles said he had “a real passion” for keeping 50 cent fares in please.

“There’s two types of people in politics. There’s people who want a job and there’s people who want to do something and David Crisafulli, he covets being the premier. That’s what he’s passionate about.

“I’m in politics to make a difference, to do what matters, to do things I care about.”

Steven Miles and David Crisafulli have both vowed to keep 50 cent fares in play.

Mr Miles said it was “surprising” to see an increase in public transport usage in the regions.

“One of the problems we have in regional towns is you have a bit of a chicken and chicken and egg situation. Too few people use public transport because there aren’t enough services. You can’t deliver more services because too few people use public transport,” he said.

Mr Miles said they were taking 20 per cent off car registration fees which would benefit those in rural communities.

“We always said that if 50 cent fares got more people onto public transport, then that would allow us to invest in more and better services. That’s why we’ve announced that we will review our public transport services in a range of provincial cities to see how and where we can deliver more public transport services.”

Transport and Main Roads Minister Bart Mellish said since the trial of 50 cent fares, usage of public transport had increased across Queensland.

“What we’ve seen compared to pre 50 cent fares, so the month immediately before 50 cent fares, we’ve seen Cairns up 14.4 per cent. we’ve seen Townsville and Magnetic Island up 9.4 per cent, we’ve seen Whitsundays up 21 per cent, Mackay up 30 per cent, Rockhampton up 8 per cent and Bundaberg up 11.6 per cent so not only in South East Queensland, but right across the state, we’re seeing increases in patronage,” Mr Mellish said.

Minister for Transport Bart Mellish. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the cost of the 50 cent fare initiative was $300m per year.

“Which will be funded from the operational balance of the state budget over the cycle,” he said.

“And so that’s how we’ll fund it, and we’ve made a commitment.”

“But when you see the benefit of 50 cent figures, when you see a patronage now soaring past where we were before covid, remember, we were 13 per cent under where we were before covid, we’ve now gone up to 105 per cent of where we were.

“Queenslanders have saved $37,000,000.07 and a half million dollars in their pocket each week, and of course, it’s helping with congestion and productivity.

“That is a win, win for Queenslanders, and we want to keep that going. That’s why we’re making this commitment. But Queenslanders know they can trust Labor to back in public transport, because it means so much to us and it means so much to the communities that we represent.”