Fare evaders on Victoria’s public transport network costing the state $12m every six months

Thousands of public transport users are continuing to fare evade, costing an already debt-riddled Victorian government just under $12m in lost revenue per six months.

Thousands of Victorians are continuing to fare evade on public transport, costing an already debt-riddled state government nearly $12m in lost revenue in just six months.

Footage taken by the Herald Sun on the route 19 tram, which runs from Flinders St to North Coburg, revealed the majority of commuters did not tap on.

Over the span of just a couple of stops on the Haymarket-Elizabeth St tram – the first stop outside the free tram zone – 11 passengers failed to tap on, while only four did.

Fare compliance data from Public Transport Victoria reveals that while the percentages of estimated fare evaders seem small, it equates to millions of dollars in lost profit.

The data shows that five per cent of V/Line users and three per cent of city passengers travel without a valid ticket.

Thousands of Victorians are continuing to fare evade on public transport. Picture: Alan Barber

Metro train compliance was the highest at 97.4 per cent, followed by tram at 96.3 per cent and city buses at 96.2 per cent.

Fare evasion was at its worst on the regional trains, with only 95.1 per cent of commuters paying up, the data from October 2023 showed.

The metropolitan network had a high compliance rate of 96.8 per cent. This was one per cent higher than in May 2022 and a large increase from its lowest compliance rate of 88.1 per cent in May 2013.

Fare evaders cost the state government $11.9m between July to December in 2023 – rounding to $10.4m for the metropolitan network and $1.6m for regional trains.

Estimated revenue for this six-month period was $349.2m – $317.9m for the metropolitan network and $31.3m for regional trains.

Footage taken by the Herald Sun on the route 19 tram revealed the majority of commuters didn’t tap on.

Fare evasion was higher pre-Covid, with Victoria’s public transport operators suffering a loss of more than $30m in 2019.

However, the estimated total revenue at that time was almost 50 per cent higher for the metropolitan network ($812m) and 35 per cent higher for regional trains ($98m), due to more Victorians travelling on public transport.

It comes as data from the Department of Transport shows public transport patronage continues to remain well below the pre-Covid baseline.

In May this year, there were 17,201,139 metropolitan train users and 13,914,626 tram commuters.

This is compared to pre-pandemic in May 2019 when there were 23,045,436 city train commuters and 18,410,816 tram goers.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the association was awaiting an upgrade to the Myki system to enable credit card payments.

Fare evaders cost the state government $11.9m between July to December in 2023. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“If you don’t use public transport regularly, if you don’t have a Myki sitting in your wallet – it’s overly complex to obtain a Myki card, you can’t just hop on a train or bus and buy one on-board,” he said.

“I think we’ll see a reduction in fare evasion once that happens because it will become easier to travel spontaneously without the hassle of buying a Myki card.”

Mr Bowen said there had been a large change in travel patterns post-Covid.

“You’ve got a lot of people working from home and that’s a big reduction in fare revenue,” he said.

“That’s a question of how can the public transport system adapt – people want to get out and about and travel on the evenings and weekends.

“So, should public transport provide more services during those times to better suit demand.

“They still seem to be in the mindset that most people travel in peak hour and that’s not true with working from home.”

Around 650 authorised officers are currently employed across the network checking tickets and assisting passengers on trains, trams and buses.