Two Australian states have offered free public transport for its residents to help ease the pressure surrounding the fuel security crisis and skyrocketing prices.
From March 31, Victorians will be able to travel on trains, trams and buses fare-free until the end of April, with Premier Jacinta Allan stating that the move “will take pressure off the pump and help you save”.
“We’re making public transport free for a month in Victoria and here’s why. War in the Middle East is directly resulting in higher prices at the pump, putting Victorian households under pressure,” Allan began in a TikTok announcing the move.
“As Premier, I’m determined to do everything within my control to help Victorians deal with the cost of living and these rising fuel prices.”
Per 9News, Myki gates on all metropolitan and V/Line public transport will be open from Tuesday. Anyone who accidentally taps on during this time will not be charged.
In Tasmiania, residents will be given free rides on buses and ferries until July in a move that Premier Jeremy Rockliff says will “protect Tasmanians” as prices surge.
“We know the rising cost of fuel is impacting the family budget, and that’s why we have again taken strong and decisive action to protect Tasmanians,” Rockliff said.
Last week, Victorian Farmers Federation Brekk Hosking called on the Victorian Government to make transport free after farmers were left scrambling for diesel to operate machinery as rural petrol stations ran dry.
“We need to get the fuel out of our metropolitan areas and into those rural communities, where it’s needed to grow your food and fibre,” Hosking told Today.
He added that “Australian farms run on liquid fuel” and that “if just one in five Victorian car commuters shifted to public transport, the fuel saved would be enough to plant roughly half of Australia’s wheat, barley, canola and lentil crop”.
Unfortunately for NSW residents, the Minns government has ruled out fare-free public transport, with NSW Transport Minister John Graham telling reporters on Sunday, “The NSW government isn’t going down the path of free public transport for a couple of days or months”.
“It’s millions of dollars every single day [of free public transport],” Graham said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
“This situation will last more than a month. We need to keep our powder dry to be able to assist the broader economy. We are really planning to make sure that we can make it through this next period.”
Will free public transport ease the pressure on Australia’s fuel supply and prices?
Melbourne University transport academic John Stone told PEDESTRIAN.TV that fare-free public transport could be a “useful nudge”, especially if it’s targeted towards shorter urban trips.
However, he notes that in Melbourne “we have a very odd fare system where it’s the same price to travel on the train to Mildura as it is to go to the next suburb on the bus”. However, local trips could help some people “live with this crisis”.
But Stone also notes that public transport can hinder people’s tasks.
“For most people, public transport may be there, there might be a bus stop, but the bus doesn’t allow them to do the things they need to do,” he said.
However, Stone recommends that this crisis should change how we look at fossil fuels and the question of “what travel can we avoid?”.
“Basically, we have to come to think of using fossil fuels as in some ways a luxury,” he told P.TV.
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