JamesX

At a time when public transport is getting such a bad wrap, this news only adds fuel to the fire. On Sunday June 3, fares on public transport will rise. It’s basically the normal CPI increase that happens each year, only this year it was delayed from March due to the whole train braking disaster.

The real question with all this is not why we have to increase the prices in line with the CPI, but why they are this expensive in the first place. To me, it seems ridiculous to pay nearly $10 for a daily ticket - especially when I’m only ever at uni for a few hours at a time. You wonder why there’s so much fare evasion - no one can afford the damn ticket prices. Has it occurred to anyone that if the prices were lowered, more people might actually buy a ticket?

The other question that has to be asked is where is all the money going? Connex claim that they money they make from ticket revenue doesn’t cover the costs of running the network, and they rely on a government subsidy to make up the difference. How is that even possible? Demand for public transport is at an all time high - with patronage up 20% over the last two years. You can barely squeeze on a train in peak hour nowadays and if there are this many people, paying higher prices than ever, how can you not cover your expenses? I just can’t work it out. At least I wont have to deal with it as much once I finish uni. It really is a sad state of affairs…