Qld election 2024: LNP matches Labor’s pledge of 50c public transport fares

Queenslanders will continue to enjoy 50c public transport fares no matter who wins office at next month’s state election.

• Editor’s view: Life-changing move

Queenslanders will continue to enjoy 50c public transport fares no matter who wins office with Opposition leader David Crisafulli vowing to match Premier Steven Miles’ commitment to permanently extend the popular cost-of-living measure.

On Sunday, Mr Crisafulli announced he would keep 50c fares indefinitely while revealing a plan to make sure the Opposition could increase frequency, reliability and safety for regional Queenslanders and those in outer Brisbane.

It came hours after Mr Miles announced the heavily discounted fares would continue indefinitely across the state under his government.

The state government revealed the 50c initiative would cost $300m a year.

Transport and Main Roads data showed Queenslanders had saved more than $37m since the discount fares were introduced on August 5.

“When we listen to Queenslanders, they like the 50c fares,” Mr Crisafulli said.

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

But Mr Miles said the LNP was desperate to win the election and would say or do anything.

Premier Steven Miles with Treasurer Cameron Dick and State Development Minister Grace Grace at the weekend. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“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?” he said.

Data from TMR data showed total trips across all transport types were up 19 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Buses had 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. Ferry rides nearly doubled to 152,000 trips.

Mr Crisafulli said public transport couldn’t be just for those who had access to the frequency of services 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.

“That will be the 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.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has matched Labor’s offer.

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

“What we’ve seen compared to pre-50c fares, so the month immediately before 50c fares, we’ve seen Cairns up 14.4 per cent. We’ve seen Townsville and Magnetic Island up 9.4 per cent,” he said. “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 Miles said it was “surprising” to see an increase in public transport use in the regions.

“One of the problems we have in regional towns is you have a bit of a chicken and egg situation,” he said. “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.”

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 50c fares got more people on to public transport, then that would allow us to invest in more and better services,” he said.

“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.”

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the $300m per year cost of the 50c fare initiative would be “funded from the operational balance of the state budget over the cycle”.

“But when you see the benefit of 50c 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,” he said.

On her way to see a show at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre with daughters Sophie and Isabella, Jackie Burke said it was a “no-brainer” to catch the train.

“It’s a big save catching the train rather than having to pay $25 for a park,” she said.

While Ms Burke doesn’t use public transport frequently, she would use it much more now that 50c fares had been extended, she said.

“Now that it’s school holidays the train is definitely going to be something we use if we’re going to South Bank or the city, or anywhere really, to compare with parking prices” she said. “I also work at a school, and so I know that a lot of kids do use public transport, so that is definitely going to help with the cost of living.”