Queensland’s 50-cent fare trial presents a real-world test of a long-standing question: does cheaper public transport reduce fare evasion?.
Our calculations using the state’s early data show a 27 per cent drop in fare evasion fines since the trial began, compared with the same period in the previous year.
A crucial question in the Queensland debate is: if public transport is already nearly free, does fare evasion even matter?.
The latest NSW Fare Compliance Survey inspected 52,152 tickets, including Opal cards, contactless payments, and single-trip tickets, across the NSW public transport network.
A separate study in Melbourne also identified a wide spectrum of attitudes on fare evasion, from those who consider it morally wrong to those who take calculated risks based on enforcement patterns.
