Tuesday, 17 October 2023

Public transport fare evasion

Nicholas McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:56): (507) Many of my constituents rely on public transport and in particular buses, as many parts of my electorate are not covered by rail. I have one particular citizen who has written to me and shared some interesting facts. Of course a good transport system does rely upon both passengers and passengers that pay, because if they do not pay, well, they are not reinvesting in the system, one would assume. This specifically speaks to the 907 bus ‍– that is, the bus from Mitcham via Doncaster to the city. On three occasions this particular constituent of mine, Lionel, noted the amount of people who got on and did not touch on, so to speak. On the first occasion, on the 2nd of the 10th, 23 passengers boarded for the duration of his journey, and only six touched on. That is something in the order of 26 per cent – or put the other way, quite a lot of people did not. On the 5th of the 10th, again on a journey from Donvale into the eye and ear hospital, of the 24 passengers that got on the bus, only seven – and that was including Lionel’s wife – touched on, so that is 30 per cent. So put the other way, 70 per cent did not pay. On the third occasion, and this is returning from the eye and ear hospital to Donvale, of the 26 passengers that joined that journey, eight this time tapped on, and that is including Lionel and his wife again, so that is 31 per cent.

A member: Goodness!

Nicholas McGOWAN: Goodness indeed. What is concerning about these figures is that somewhere in the vicinity of 70 per cent of the people using the bus on those three occasions were not paying. If this was to be replicated right across the system, of course it would have very dire consequences – and perhaps it is having dire consequences.

In any case the action I seek from the minister is to provide the house with an outline of current fare evasion, as seen in the last 12 months, and any projections the Minister for Public and Active Transport may have in respect of the ongoing expectations for fare invasion. It is an important point to make in this house, I think, to all Victorians that when you use the system there is a degree of honesty that is required, and of course the more that we adhere to that honesty, the more we can actually reinvest in the system ourselves. We all want a great transport system, and we have to pay for it. So I would urge citizens to do precisely that.