{"id":573391,"date":"2026-03-30T03:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573391\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T03:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:45:17","slug":"commuters-say-hobart-buses-busier-than-usual-as-free-public-transport-begins-across-tasmania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/573391\/","title":{"rendered":"Commuters say Hobart buses busier than usual as free public transport begins across Tasmania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buses and ferries in Tasmania are now free for the next three months, as the fuel crisis continues to escalate.<\/p>\n

For some people, it’s a welcome relief.<\/p>\n

Pennie Ryan catches the bus every day, and said it had been noticeably fuller than normal.<\/p>\n

“And the car park was also full to capacity when catching the bus,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pennie Ryan says her bus was busier on Monday morning than usual. (ABC News: Rani Fletcher)<\/p>\n

Lyndall Brown said her bus on Monday morning was “absolutely packed”.<\/p>\n

“I think once people catch on, there’ll be a lot more of it,” Ms Brown said.<\/p>\n

\"Lyndall<\/p>\n

Lyndall Brown says she managed to fill up her car before fuel prices began to spike. (ABC News: Rani Fletcher)<\/p>\n

She said fuel prices were increasingly at the front of her mind.<\/p>\n

“You do think twice about your trips, so I think a lot more people will be staying at home or catching the buses,” Ms Brown said.<\/p>\n

Others say they have not noticed any difference in the amount of people catching public transport, but a free trip was a good incentive.<\/p>\n

“Especially now that buses are free as well, there’s more reason to take the bus than drive,” Zainab Sadhil said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The three months of free public transport is estimated to cost $2.5 million. (ABC News: Rani Fletcher)<\/p>\n

Some politicians, including the Tasmanian Greens and independent MP Helen Burnett, have welcomed the state government’s fare-free initiative, but say more bus routes need to be made available for it to be effective.<\/p>\n

The government said bus usage had gone up by 20 per cent in the last week, even before the fare-free period began.<\/p>\n

Commuters will still have to pay for the SkyBus and the Bruny Island ferry.<\/p>\n

Minister spruiks benefits to older Tasmanians<\/p>\n

Tasmania’s Minister for Ageing, Bridget Archer, said older Tasmanians who could not longer drive themselves would also benefit.<\/p>\n

“We know how important it is for older Tasmanians to be able to participate in our community, to be able to get to their appointments, to go and do their shopping,” she said.<\/p>\n

“In some cases, they are no longer driving or travelling with their own transport, and so bus transport is really critical for this cohort of people as well.<\/p>\n

“This is a really important initiative to help with the cost of living.”<\/p>\n

Brigid Wilkinson, from Council on the Ageing, has welcomed the announcement, saying it will encourage more seniors to “get out and about”.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just the cost of petrol, it’s the parking, and the accessibility and ease of getting around the community,” she said.<\/p>\n

States chart their own course\"A<\/p>\n

Ferry services along the River Derwent in Hobart will also be free. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

Relative to larger, more populous states, Tasmania has a small public transport network and is reliant mostly on buses.<\/p>\n

That includes its metropolitan bus network, Metro Tas, and a ferry service along Hobart’s River Derwent.<\/p>\n

There are also other free bus services, including Tassielink and Kinetic, but no trains.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Besides Metro Tas, Tassielink, Kinetic, Manions Coaches, Calows Coaches, and Area Connect will also be free. (ABC News:\u00a0 Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

All up, the Tasmanian government estimates the free transport will cost about $850,000 each month, or just over $2.5 million up until July.<\/p>\n

Victoria has also moved to ease the burden on public transport users<\/a>, although at a much higher cost of $70 million.<\/p>\n

For one month, beginning April 1, all public transport \u2014 including regional train service V\/Line \u2014 will be free.<\/p>\n

New South Wales has ruled out introducing a similar policy<\/a>, despite calls from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) to follow suit.<\/p>\n

The NSW government has argued free public transport would be too expensive.<\/p>\n

South Australia’s treasurer has also declined to make public transport free<\/a> for a period.<\/p>\n

“Yes, it would be lovely to give everyone free public transport and free car parking and a puppy,” Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis told 891 ABC Adelaide.<\/p>\n

\"train<\/p>\n

New South Wales won’t introduce free transport despite calls from unions. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)<\/p>\n

Queensland, meanwhile, already offers its residents cheap public transport rates.<\/p>\n

It introduced permanent 50 cent fares in 2024 across all Translink public transport services.<\/p>\n

National Cabinet met today to develop a unified approach to the fuel crisis.<\/p>\n

The federal government has agreed to cut the fuel excise in half<\/a>, removing about 26.3 cents per litre from the bowser price of petrol for three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buses and ferries in Tasmania are now free for the next three months, as the fuel crisis continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,2610,281430,159564,155003,281428,206980,281431,281429,257918,44,257919,143126,2801,281432],"class_list":["post-573391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cost-of-living","tag-derwent-ferry","tag-ferries","tag-free-buses","tag-free-public-transport","tag-iran-war","tag-metro-bus","tag-metro-tasmania","tag-middle-east-war","tag-news","tag-petrol-price","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-tasmania","tag-tasmania-buses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}