Cheaper rail fares for outer suburbs from March

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Cheaper rail fares for outer suburbs from March

Stephen Moynihan
December 8, 2006

MORE than a million Melburnians will have access to lower public transport fares when Zone 3 is scrapped next year.

On Tuesday new Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky will announce a ticketing package to be introduced on March 4. It includes:

■ Abolishing Zone 3 and creating an expanded Zone 2.

■ V/Line fares to be cut by an average of 20 per cent.

■ Nightrider tickets to become part of the current Metcard system.

■ Six V/Line stations to be included in Zone 2.

Commuters will also have a three-month reprieve from higher fares, with Metcard tickets to rise in line with the consumer price index on March 4 instead of January 1.

Metcard fares are expected to increase by 3 to 4 per cent, taking the cost of a daily Zone 1 ticket from $6.10 to $6.40 and a monthly Zone 1+2 ticket from $152.60 to almost $160.

Outer suburban commuters currently travelling from a Zone 3 station to the city will be winners, saving more than $300 a year through the abolition of Zone 3.

V/Line fares will also rise in line with the CPI but regional commuters will still save up to 20 per cent.

All ticketing changes will be introduced on March 4. Passengers will not be able to buy monthly Zone 3 tickets after February 3 and passengers with a yearly or date-to-date Zone 3 Metcard can apply for a partial refund after the changes are introduced.

Those who have a Zone 1+2+3 ticket to expire after March will have the Zone 3 portion of the fare refunded.

Both Labor and the Liberal Party pledged to scrap Zone 3 as vote-catchers during last month's state election campaign.

Labor said its $94 million Fare Go package was developed in response to increasing petrol prices and traffic congestion.

While some commuters will save money on fares, senior transport figures are anxiously waiting to see if Melbourne's already overcrowded train system will cope with a new wave of passengers.

Fare cuts are expected to attract more passengers from the booming south-eastern suburbs and add more on the Ringwood line, which stretches to the Zone 3 stations of Belgrave and Lilydale.

Officials fear an influx of passengers from the outer suburbs will mean that many trying to get on at inner and middle-suburban stations such as Glenferrie, Caulfield, Box Hill and Malvern will watch packed trains pass them by.

Of the 17 metropolitan train lines, six extend into Zone 3 and include 36 stations on the suburban network.

The line to Stony Point operated by V/Line will also become Zone 2 from March.

V/Line fares from Lara, Bacchus Marsh, Clarkefield, Riddells Creek, Heathcote Junction and Wondong will also fall to Zone 2 prices.

Only one tram line, to Vermont South, falls into Zone 3.

Melbourne Age
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/12/07/1165081088377.html