How Ballarat commuters reacted to regional fare price cap

V/Line ticket fare caps have come into effect on Friday, creating huge savings for regional Victorians. See what morning commuters had to say.

A train arrives at Ballarat Railway Station on the morning of March 31, 2023 as V/Line fares become cheaper.

Regional commuters said it was “huge” that public transport fares were significantly cheaper from Friday as the state government’s cap on V/Line ticket prices came into effect.

Whereas some train routes and buses from Victoria’s regions used to cost travellers more than $40 for a return trip to Melbourne, from Friday full-fare weekday tickets were capped at $9.20 and concession fares at $4.60 in line with metropolitan prices.

Weekend and public holiday return fares have been capped at $6.70 and $3.35 for concession.

The cap applies to interstate travel within 60km of the Victorian border, as well as Albury, Merimbula, Deniliquin and Mt Gambier.

Beginning their trips at Ballarat Railway Station on Friday morning, several commuters expressed feeling pleased with the change.

Student Zoe Rose, pictured at Ballarat Railway Station, was pleased that regional ticket prices had reduced.

“I catch the train once a month for school,” student Zoe Rose said.

“It’s a good thing for me.

“It was $22 each way. Now it’s going to be $9 each way, so pretty good.”

Academic researcher Gareth Prosser travels from Ballarat to Melbourne about four days a week, but gets no concession for being involved in postgraduate work.

“We work essentially a full-time job studying,” he said.

“It’s huge for us: It’s $45 a day down to $10 a day.”

And although Brian Walker said he was only an “irregular commuter”, he said reducing prices was “a very good idea”.

“Never say no to a cheaper train fare,” he said.

A poll conducted by Leader in January had 175 responses, with 79 per cent of people saying they would take the train more frequently as a result of the cheaper fares.

Read more: Regional leaders praise move to slash V/Line fares

While largely positive about the “very welcome” fare cuts, the Public Transport User Association’s spokesman Daniel Bowen said he had concerns that a rapid increase in passengers could result in crowding on some services.

“Crowding has been a reality on some V/Line services for some time - including in the evenings and on weekends when fewer trains are running, and many of them have fewer carriages,” he said.

“With no additional services currently planned until 2024, there is a real risk that in the short term, crowding will become much worse, with passengers either unable to board, or forced to stand for long distances.

“V/Line will need to closely monitor passenger demand, and work to minimise cancellations and short trains. And the government must be ready to invest in more capacity and services.”

Wendouree MP Juliana Addison at Ballarat Railway Station on Friday.

The subsidised fares have been covered by the state budget, and the government hopes they will encourage more passengers to take up public transport.

Wendouree MP Juliana Addison said the capped fares would help alleviate cost of living pressures and simply be fairer for regional Victoria.

“I’ve been a V/Line traveller all my life,” she said.

“Growing up in Ballarat, whether it was going down to Melbourne for uni, going down to Melbourne for work, or going to social events and stuff like that, it always cost a lot more for me than my mates who lived in the metropolitan areas, particularly once you got past Melton.”

She said she hoped the change would encourage Melburnians to visit the regions and make it easier for “tens of thousands” of Commonwealth Games fans in 2026 to get around on public transport.

“Whether you’re living in regional Victoria and coming across on a bus from Geelong or catching a train from Melbourne, accessing the Commonwealth Games by train is going to be a great way to do it, and also it’s a great way to see our beautiful city of Ballarat on foot,” Ms Addison said.

“ … We know that Geelong is the busiest V/Line service in Victoria and Ballarat is the second-busiest, so we’re expecting that usage will go up and services need to keep up with demand.”

Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll said he felt “very prepared” for a potential increase in demand on popular train routes.

“At the moment we’re tracking at about 79 per cent of patronage, so we are still below where we were pre-pandemic, so we do believe as a first we have about 20 per cent extra capacity there, but we have also put in place a range of contingencies particularly focused on Term 1 school holidays,” he said.

“We can afford this, indeed it was budgeted for, and this is actually a very sensible measure ... It will ensure that regional Victorian will get to where they need to get to comfortably and safely.”