Source -
Victorians will be able to travel free on public transport on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve in a move the government says will make it easier for families and friends to get together.
Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll announced the move on Sunday, saying public transport was the best way for Victorians to get around during the festive season.
Depends if you're travelling beyond the myki zone or staying within the myki zone. Best to check here by entering your details
The system will soon tell you if you need to book.
so same as every year…?
Yep, always free… No bargain.
See you on NYE on the train.
Shall I bring the can opener to get you out?
This should be Australia wide
And every single day of the year. The majority of public transport trips are to go to work or to go to the shops, so it could all be paid for with a tax on businesses.
so it could all be paid for with a tax on businesses.
or taxes on public transport users…
It would be cheaper to just make it free. They wouldn't have to pay ticket inspectors, wouldn't have to pay payment processing fees for topping up your cards, no machine maintenance, etc. Plus if it meant more people going to the shops and spending money then it would increase tax revenue.
@AustriaBargain: And the biggest positive of them all - significantly reduce congestion and pollution. Believe it or not, making public transport completely free reduces the cost of mobility to the taxpayer!
significantly reduce congestion and pollution.
How do you think our public transport in Victoria is powered ?
@jv: Lol you really think ICE cars are cleaner than coal plants? Jesus. Just think about the scale of efficiency…
Particulates are the biggest threat to human health in cities. As for CO2, look up the figures per passenger for different modes. Even for fossil-fuel powered rail it's a fraction of car emissions. Another case of large scale systems (+ high passenger density) creating energy efficiency.
It would be cheaper to just make it free.
They've done the analysis for this and it won't be cheaper.
@jv: Cheaper for the country as a whole, for our governments as a whole. It'll be more expensive for businesses who will be taxed specifically for it. But cheaper for governments who will collect more tax in the long run, who will have to pay to treat fewer respiratory illnesses, fewer mental health costs as the poor and disabled obtain more mobility.
@AustriaBargain: Yeah but then if not people go out and spend, inflation will be through the roof lol
@montorola: Not so fast. Increased productivity is deflationary. Public transport in many ways improves productivity. Not to mention, increasing the efficiency of mobility on a grand scale means less money being allocated to inefficiencies = less economic stimulus! Each dollar spent on trains goes further.
Thanks Dan
yep, digging us all further and further into debt…
Public debt does not equal private debt. Government is not a business. The question is can we service the debt, yes so far we can.
The question is can we service the debt, yes so far we can.
Private debt needs to be serviced too… There is no difference.
Have you seen which way interest rates are going?
It all needs to be paid back eventually, with interest too… Who will pay it back? Dan ???
@jv: Yeah shit reply. Didn’t mention anything regarding private debt servicing. Just said can we service the debt. Yes we can at the moment. we could go into this further but you’re rusted on, and you’re listening to people with agendas that really only apply to 1% of the population.. paying for basic services such as health is not a bargain
It doesn’t, can a private company tax its customers.
Yes, they can charge them more… They are doing it now. It's called inflation
It’s really not.
You honestly believe private business just absorb business costs and don't pass them on… 🤣🤣🤣
Sometimes they do absorb it.
Same as governments, that results in cutting back services.
@jv: Your brain will explode once you read about Modern Monetary Theory. And yeah a government that properly manages its balance sheet doesn't need to resort to austerity to service debt the normal way.
@jv: What about your mate Morrison and the Liberals? They blew billions to their mates and businesses like Harvey Norman and Qantas who sacked workers anyway.
At least we are getting something out of it in Victoria vs giveaways to their mates and massive waste by the Liberals
At least we are getting something out of it in Victoria
Yes, we are getting corruption and theft of public money.
Useful, as Joe Hockey said: 'poor people don't own cars or don't drive very far.'
Never trust anyone who has a sport as their surname.
Whats the sport?
Trolling
make it easier for families and friends to get together.
Not for bus drivers.
They get more than enough money to make up for it
Maybe they’d rather see their family on Christmas instead? I know I would.
Then they can get a job which doesn't work on public holidays?
They may not be Christian. This could just be another day for them in our multicultural melting pot.
One jv is enough, and they've already posted on this deal.
Awesome
This is one bargain I wish wouldn't occur. There are people (like me) who don't drive and have to catch PT on Xmas day, but invariably Vline Trains are packed full of people who take a day trip to the country because everything is closed. I wish they would get rid of this and then people would just stay home.
Seriously?
2 days out of 365 days in a year. Cry me a river.
I support Liberal's policy that makes metro transport $2 and VLines 50% off.
It will take cars off the road and we will enjoy a smoother road traffic.
(But I don't like how they scrapped the suburban loop.)
It's a shame that Labor didn't match the $2 policy.
If the trains are already at capacity during peak hour, and car parking near train stations fills up by 7am, I don't see why there is any need to make travel cheaper. The price of the ticket isn't the problem
@greatlamp You're talking about two separate and distinct issue - a lack of services v the ticket price of transport.
A lower ticket price does not preclude more services being created. The previous Liberal government managed to increase the number of services, in part because they cared for and carried out line maintenance which enabled greater train frequency.
It's an indictment on the current lazy Dan government that they've failed to increase the number of services to Ballarat and Geelong - probably because of all the safe seats along those corridors. I guess the 50%+ voters around those areas must be satisfied. 🤷
they've failed to increase the number of services to Ballarat and Geelong
Are you sure?
100%. Anyone on a Vline train on Christmas Day can see the overcrowding.
I know, right? Just as rude as those people that decide to drive their car on the freeway when I'm trying to get to work!
Exciting announcement by Andrews government pre election promise. V/line tickets to be capped at $10. Wowowowhhhooooo. Anyone know when or if?
Don't worry, Dan will get it done 2 days before the next election.
yep, he'll just borrow more money….
Sorry for you your little lapdog Matty Guy didn't get up
@jv: You're clearly the outlier (or nutter) going by the recent election. You and those sky news looneys can't seem to get over it.
@arcticmonkey: I don’t watch skynews, but sounds like you do.
Only nutters are the Dan supporters who enjoy the pain.
PT a total rip off in Victoria. Time to re-nationalise the lot and drop fees.
Cheap if you have a concession card. Oh wait you’re low income if you have one.
drop fees
Should the government also pay for peoples’ cars? Or should just the form of transport you use be free (paid for by others)?
Public transport is already heavily subsidised by people who don’t even use it. I say increase fees, then use the increased revenue to improve the system, funded by people who actually use it.
The most subsidised commuters are actually rural car drivers.
I also pay for highways I don’t use etc etc. You don’t really understand how it works.
Car drivers pay for registration, licenses and a fuel excise. These all help fund road improvements.
Compared to public transport commuters who only pay for a subsidised ticket.
@PainToad: For the record, my partner and I also share a car. I probably drive it more than I use PT. So I'm not anti-car.
The issue is that PT infrastructure is fixed cost to build, so it makes sense to have as many people use it as possible to bring the cost per use down as low as possible. More PT users benefits commuters (both PT and car), the environment, and the life of the city.
PT fees cover a small proportion of the overall cost of creating and running the network. It's a drop in the ocean. So you may as well make it free and more attractive for people to use. With the extreme cost of Myki to run, public servants to administer, and ticket inspectors etc, abolishing fees would cost money but it'd be significantly cheaper than you'd expect. And it's save everyone the admin hassle.
Small cost to government/taxpayers, significant benefit to everyone.
By the way, for two people it's often cheaper to Uber around inner-city Melbourne. That's a sad reflection of how expensive our PT is.
That's a sad reflection of how expensive our PT is.
I consider that a good indicator of how flawed the entire public transport idea is.
You can’t have fixed routes catering to endless possibilities of where and when each individual in a community needs to commute to and have it be efficient. This is how we end up with empty buses driving around in loop in the suburbs. Which isn’t good for the environment.
Hopefully the future is fleets of autonomous vehicles driving people to where they actually need to go when they actually need to be there.
It sucks. Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn’t leave where you want it to leave, doesn’t start where you want it to start, doesn’t end where you want it to end? And it doesn’t go all the time. It’s a pain in the ass. That’s why everyone doesn’t like it. And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer, OK, great. And so that’s why people like individualized transport, that goes where you want, when you want.”
Elon Musk.
@PainToad: If you just ideologically don’t like PT then fair enough, you’re entitled to think that. But it’s a completely different argument.
Caveat: you get harassed by the police
![[VIC] Free Public Transport on Christmas Day and New Years Eve @ Public Transport Victoria](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/55/744555.jpg?h=0996962c)
How do you book V/Line trips ?