Articles: Fare evasion

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Free riders on rise as trains bulge with patrons

Free riders on rise as trains bulge with patrons
Jason Dowling
April 7, 2011

MORE than 60 million ''free trips'' were taken on public transport in Melbourne last year as soaring patronage coincided with soaring fare evasion.

More than one in 10 passengers travelled free last year.

Figures released by public transport marketing agency Metlink show public transport use in 2010 jumped to more than half-a-billion trips a year for the first time since the 1950s, driven mostly by strong demand for train services - up almost 6 per cent.

Over the same period, fare evasion leapt from 9.3 per cent in 2009 to 13 per cent in 2010.

Metlink has promised ''a new revenue-protection plan to minimise fare evasion'' and rail operator Metro vowed to crack down on fare evaders.

''We expect all of our passengers to travel with a valid ticket,'' said a Metro spokeswoman.

''During the transition to the new myki ticketing system, a more lenient approach to ticket enforcement was adopted. But we have since increased tickets checks across the network to focus on reducing these high fare-evasion statistics.''

She added: ''Our 350 authorised officers will be active across the network to send a very clear message that fare evasion is unacceptable and those travelling without a ticket will be caught.''

Metlink's annual review also showed tram patronage declined last year by 1.4 per cent. A spokesman for Yarra Trams said: ''This is not a statistically significant decline and reflects steady patronage on trams after a period of sustained growth.''

Tram users have also been blamed for high levels of fare evasion. A Metlink survey in October found almost 19 per cent of tram passengers did not have a valid ticket.

Despite the fare evasion, revenue collected from ticket sales on Melbourne public transport last year exceeded $615 million.

Metlink also had a 13.6 per cent increase in public feedback, on matters including phone applications, the website, signage, fares and ticketing.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Tim Petersen said: ''If the government wants to cut fare evasion, it needs a more consistent staff presence on trams and trains.

''Making long-term periodical tickets better value could also reduce the hassle of buying tickets and reduce the number of opportunistic fare evaders.''

He said the decline in tram use presented ''a challenge of how to continue increasing tram use: for journeys to work, the total number of tram users is still less than half what it was in the 1950s.

''We'd suggest that the government needs to get serious about priority for trams, especially at traffic lights.''

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said: ''The government recognises that rail patronage is almost certain to continue rising.

''That is why the government gave the Regional Rail Link the go-ahead and why we are purchasing more trains and trams and conducting planning studies into extending Melbourne's rail network.''