{"id":159711,"date":"2025-09-21T22:27:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T22:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159711\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T22:27:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T22:27:06","slug":"sydney-has-the-highest-fare-evasion-rates-in-australia-what-can-it-learn-from-melbourne-and-brisbane-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159711\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney has the highest fare evasion rates in Australia. What can it learn from Melbourne and Brisbane? | Transport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Addison* stopped paying for public transport when she lost access to her concession travel card,<\/a> after moving from full to part-time university.<\/p>\n

Still a student, she would have had to pay full fares, which had soared in Sydney<\/a> since she began studying in 2020. Instead, she joined the thousands of law-breaking Australians who don\u2019t pay public transport fares.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpal is stupidly expensive [and] bus drivers don\u2019t really care on the route I take,\u201d says Addison, referring to the New South Wales ticketing system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can pay the fine if needed. [But] sometimes it also gives me a little thrill, or it\u2019s a sense of gaining control back from the system \u2013 I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

NSW has the highest rate of fare evasion in Australia. There is about half as much fare dodging in Melbourne as Sydney, while evasion rates have plummeted in Queensland after the rollout of 50c fares<\/a>, new data shows.<\/p>\n

Experts say NSW can learn from the experiences of Australia\u2019s other two big public transport networks.<\/p>\n

\u2018Why should I pay?\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2019, NSW\u2019s transport department all but declared victory on fare dodging.<\/p>\n

But a subsequent surge in fare evasion has punched a hole in the state\u2019s budget, with lost revenue climbing from less than<\/a> $80m to almost $130m annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By 2022, fare dodgers accounted for nearly one in 10 trips across NSW. That figure has remained high as commuters struggle with surging living costs.<\/p>\n

Bus and light rail services have seen the biggest uptick in evasion, which transport expert Daniel Bowen attributes to easy, un-gated accessibility.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf people feel that the fare is too expensive, that is a discouragement to pay, particularly if they think they can get away without paying it,\u201d says Bowen, from Victoria\u2019s Public Transport<\/a> Users Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty easy to board a tram without paying \u2026 [and] bus drivers don\u2019t generally enforce fares, they\u2019re focused on driving the bus safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fare evasion Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n

Sydney\u2019s fares are 20% more expensive<\/a> in 2025 than in 2019.<\/p>\n

Fines, however, have stayed as low as $200. Experienced evaders have told Guardian Australia they trade off the fine risk against the fare savings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it statistically cheaper to just cop the fine \u2026 rather than pay like $10 every day?\u201d one young Sydneysider says.<\/p>\n

Evasion also grew more attractive as commuters lost faith in service reliability in the wake of Sydney\u2019s 2022 rain disruptions and rail strikes, according to transport expert Milad Haghani.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat frustration can feed a \u2018why should I pay\u2019 mindset,\u201d says Haghani, associate professor of urban mobility at the University of Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Queensland\u2019s experience suggests many fare evaders would reconsider if prices were lower, he says.<\/p>\n

After lockdowns lifted and living costs rose, fare evaders took more than 2m free trips a month. Fares in the state\u2019s south-east had been among the most expensive in the country<\/a>, even before the state government raised fares twice in six months over 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Fare evasion Queensland<\/a><\/p>\n

Evasion rates spiked to 15% after 2020 and remained there for four years, doubling the annual budget cost from $31m to $59m and causing problems for transport planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouching on and off services when paying a fare also provides us with valuable patronage data [on] which services are busy and ensures we can plan a reliable and efficient network,\u201d a Translink spokesperson says.<\/p>\n

But in August last year, all fares \u2013 even a 180km trip from Gympie to Brisbane \u2013 fell to just 50c<\/a>. Fines, meanwhile, have risen to $333.<\/p>\n

Evasion rates have more than halved and could fall further, as the public sees decreasing justification for skipping the ticket cost and risking a fine, Haghani says.<\/p>\n

Slashing prices has boosted passenger numbers and eased wallet pressures but cost<\/a> the Queensland government more than $350m<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A similar move would be vastly more expensive for the NSW government, already short of cash<\/a>. It oversees nearly four times<\/a> more public transport trips each year.<\/p>\n

Greater enforcement<\/p>\n

Experts say an alternative, revenue-focused response to fare evasion could be found in Victoria, where commuters started paying their way after enforcement and fines ramped up.<\/p>\n

One in five Melbourne tram trips<\/a> went unpaid in 2011 and unpaid tickets cost the wider network about $73m annually.<\/p>\n

Fare evasion Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

By 2015, the evasion rate fell to just 4% and the budget cost more than halved to about $30m annually, where they remain today, according to Public Transport Victoria.<\/p>\n

PTV boosted its ticket inspector workforce and directed them to check fares more often, rather than cutting fares, after commissioning research from Graham Currie, professor of public transport at Monash University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing you can do to reduce fare evasion is to have frequent checking of tickets,\u201d Currie says.<\/p>\n

Evasion rates hit a record low of 3.1% in 2022 as enforcement ramped up. An extra 10 inspectors have been added each year since 2019 and penalties are nearly $100 higher over the decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictorians are continuing to do the right thing by touching on,\u201d a Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson says.<\/p>\n

With greater enforcement though has come greater resentment from the public.<\/a><\/p>\n

Condemnation of inspectors\u2019 excessive use of force and indiscriminate fining forced Jacinta Allan, then transport minister, to reform fines and ticketing<\/a> in 2016. Complaints have risen again in recent years.<\/p>\n

Scores of regular evaders help each other avoid inspectors on Facebook groups dedicated to tracking officer locations<\/a> or, since April, by sharing alerts of officer sightings on a new map app, which Guardian Australia has chosen not to name.<\/p>\n

Bowen says the best way to support a growing public transport network and keep revenue coming in is to keep services reliable and ticket costs affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about making sure the fares are reasonably priced and making sure that it\u2019s not hard to pay your fare and travel,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] that does need to be protected to some point \u2026 [because] if nobody paid their fare, the public transport network would collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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