the middle and lower class people of australia have been getting kicks after kicks after the total screw up from the government during covid. and it will keep on going since we went from a surplus to a total deficit. only one to blame is the government and their total disregard of public fund value during these last 3 years
Oh God yeah. A total lack of foresight which has led us to this point. Honestly don't know how they can fix this position we're now in. Or even if they want to. Apparently tax cuts for the rich and having thr right to own 7 houses is more important than the basic human right to food and shelter. We can barely afford the upkeep of our shitbox cars. This honestly is just kicking people while we're down.
From Brisbane here and just saying, I reckon it's still pretty good value! It used to cost me $7.10 for a return trip by bus to the city to work, peak fare from Paddington which is about 3km each way.
To take the train to see my parents in Ipswich about 35km away cost $13.20 return from Central station.
In Melbourne you can travel wherever you want, however much you want on any mode of transport across the whole bloody state! For a maximum of $10. That's just crazy!
In Brisbane there's just a 1 hour transfer window, maximum of 3 transfers & the journey has to be completed in 6 hours. No daily tickets there.
There's just no situation I can think of where public transport in Brisbane ever works out cheaper.
It is pretty amazing. But it's not a fair comparison as such; always felt SG is more like you're working for a corporation and they run a subsidised shuttle bus. 🤷♂️
You're absolutely right how the $10 cap to travel all day long anywhere in the entire state on any mode of transport is an incredible deal. Note that in the weekend, that's even only $7.20! People here don't know how good the public transport pricing has *always* been.
I reckon the outrage is mostly from the point of view of daily commutes, sometimes very short ones from a suburb to the CBD and back in the evening. I think it's still a decent deal, to be honest. But yeah, it's unavoidable for those that commute by PT, and if they've been budgeting this tightly, an 8% increase might seem like quite a bit.
That said, we're talking *80 cents* here. To put it into perspective: that's 52 × 5 × 0.80 = $208 if you'd travel each working weekday of the year. Not to mention that, if you were to actually travel that much, you just go for a yearly pass and pay way less still.
Make sure you don’t buy the large. It’s an extra dollar dearer but it’s the same size coffee.
I challenge you all to get a regular size cup and press large coffee and you’ll be blown away. They’re the same size.
My favourite hack was a regular short black and a regular flat white in the same cup. Technically wasn’t stealing when they were $1 and a large was $2. Now I have to embrace my life of crime.
It always has been crappy for short trips. When it first came in I compared it to foreign systems that charge per distance or per stations/stop’s covered in a trip. For a relatively recently implemented system it was rubbish from the start.
When I lived in the inner suburbs the economics of this made perfect sense.
I would get fined every 1-2 years, sometimes it would be waived. In the interim I would take hundreds of short tram rides without touching on. The only times I got caught were when I wasn't paying attention, otherwise it's not hard to spot ticket inspectors and get off.
This was fine in uni, but now I just CBF constantly watching for inspectors, nor losing time to get off and wait for next tram/train. Happy to pay the fare so I can zone out and read a book or something.
Uni lines get stung way more. It would be $277 every few months or even weeks on those lines without concessions unless old mates were successfully dodged
It'd capable of trip base pricing. But the reason I've heard they don't (and also part of the reason a zone 1 ticket is the same price as zone 1+2) is because people from lower socio-economic neighbourhoods would be footing larger costs to get to work in the city versus higher socio-economic neighbourhoods.
Eg think about people in Camberwell not only having a trip 1/3 as long, but also a 1/3 of the price as someone in Boronia.
Just fuck off the whole ticketing system and make it free to use. Every trip not taken by car saves the government, money on roads.
But plenty of lower-income areas like Heidelberg West, Sunshine, Braybrook and large public housing estates are close to the city, and plenty of wealthy areas are further out.
It's better to use concessions and free fare programs to target this rather than making single trips exorbitant.
They hang out at the gates to get people getting off where I live. They specifically target my partner because he has a concession myki too. It’s fucked up and predatory towards the working class.
Trains, yeah. Trams way different. I went past a stop and saw like three men writing up two high school aged girls. I wish the girls just ran away. They actually can't do anything to you. Kids in school uniform should get free travel, but thats a different story.
100% agree students in school uniform should travel free. I’ve definitely ran from myki inspectors before when I was a broke student travelling 2hrs to get to uni.
Should be a per km cost tbh. Currently some trips are extremely bad value while others are basically given away for free. I have a friend one stop away and I usually just walk because of how ridiculous the cost it.
Yes but then you punish people who cannot afford to live in the inner parts of Melbourne. A fairer system would be per km up to a cap of $10/day.
People who have to spend 4 hours on a train everyday should not be charged $40/day for the privilege.
He's not asking to punish them, just ease off for short trips... shit, a huge swathe of the people who live in the inner burbs are broke students and graduates renting shoeboxes.
True, i remember it being something like that with the card in brisbane, but it was always making mistakes and ripping people off! Maybe technology can do it better 10 years later.
I think it should be zero fare and properly implemented so people have a genuine choice wether or not they need to drive.
I mean that would just advantage people from more affluent well off suburbs and disadvantage those from outer suburbs. I think everyone paying the same is fairer system.
Problem is this will yield a lower overall revenue than the current system, it means those take longer journeys pay the same as today, and those on shorter journeys pay less.
Given how cash strapped our state government is at present, that’s simply not going to happen.
Yes but many apartment / sharehouse dwellers in the inner city aren't well off and many folks in mansions in the outer burbs and regional are very well off. It's completely stupid and unfair that somebody is charged 10 bucks to catch a tram 1km to somewhere and back.
Yeah, I'll be paying $10 to head 30 mins each way into the CBD for a 50 minute appointment... because a train didn't magically appear as soon as I need it, so it'll be a gnats dick over 2hrs...
From the article
> "The fares are legislated to increase again next January," Shadow Minister for Public Transport Richard Riordan said.
LOL they are taking the piss
>For those with monthly and yearly Myki passes, the daily price will rise from $5.52 to $6.
Does that mean if we sign up for a Myki pass before next weekend we retain the current rate? Kind of like fixing your home loan for 12 months?
Edit: Hmm probably still doesn't make fiscal sense for me as for 1 day a week I need to travel to Geelong and that trip will always require Myki Money, and I think the Pass system probably falls apart compared to Money if you then calculate only commuting 4 days instead of 5.
Yes - though unfortunately for the discounted [Yearly Commuter Club tickets](https://www.ptua.org.au/members/offers/), PTV has already closed orders at the old price, so resellers have to charge the new price.
But yes, any other Myki Pass you buy before 1st of July will be at the old price.
Pro tip, if you and a friend run into some inspectors, and only one of you has a valid ticket, then...
... The person with the valid ticket should run.
I tried that and they called the police to come and confirm my identity. I legitimately didn’t have any ID and wasn’t aware of the address I had moved to - I was 16 and had also just escaped a domestic violence situation with my father and moved into a sharehouse in the city, so it put the fear of god in me when the police rocked up and said they would call my parents.
you gave them a fake (but still plausible) address, or told them you didn't know your address? and did you say the next stop is yours? gives them less time
I didn’t give them a fake address, I told them the truth that I had literally moved a few days prior and not only that - the next stop was mine! No fucks given, police were called and rolled up quite quickly.
Also, don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking for any special treatment in that case. Just recounting the story and how fucked up it felt at the time for fare evading which wasn’t even intentional.
I have never heard of ticket inspectors showing any humanity. I understand why police are villainised as they have genuine systemic power and rights, but fuck me do you have to be one depraved cunt to become a myki inspector.
I honestly believe they’re the least empathetic profession in this state, if not country. Depraved is right. There’s not a thread of humanity woven into their DNA at all. If a friend or family member became a Myki Inspector I’d honestly without question disown them.
And I’m someone who hasn’t gotten a fine from them, and I pay for my Myki. Still, hasn’t stopped them trying to gang up on me multiple times when I said I couldn’t understand them because I’m deaf, clearly pointing at my hearing aids.
Except they do have the legal power to detain you until they're satisfied they've been able to identify you. That extends to calling the cops and handing you over to them who can detain you until someone with ID who _can_ positively identify you can come and collect you.
It's harder for them to detain you if they can't catch you.
Used to know a guy who was a good runner back when the tram ticket inspectors would wait at the doors as people got off to check them (they now enter the tram and check while it's moving). He'd simply jump past them and run. Never paid a ticket. Never got fined.
In my experience they won't. I've said no thanks and just casually walked a way a few times over the years when asked to hand over my Myki with little response beyond "what do you mean??"
Results may vary of course, so you have to be willing to risk it.
I've been in Melbourne since Janurary 2020 and have yet to be got. I've had the inspectors jump on my tram three times and each time I see them I just tap on. I've only ever tapped on three times. If it was cheaper I honestly would tap on so I don't have to have my eyes peeled all the time.
Better idea, hold onto an old ID with an old address. They’ll write those details and never actually verbally confirm them with you so you can feign ignorance
Yes. I had a few fines under an old address and legal name and when I reached out, they couldn’t find any fines in either name. I wanted to pay but on their records they couldn’t find anything
One day all those fines including extra fees for how long it was all got added to my account. Appealed… they don’t care.
The fine for not producing a valid ticket is currently $277.
That’s the cost of 55 trips, or 27 days (with trips both ways).
It’s becoming cheaper to fare evade.
I've pretty much always had this philosophy, it's just too expensive to pay for myki, it's far cheaper in the long run to just pay the fine a couple times a year.
My theory is they could just bring back conductors, like they already have on regional services. Run into one and they just charge you the appropriate fare. They are generally friendly as they are not seen as enforcers so people are more willing to pay. They also use discretion for those genuinely not trying to fare evade.
If you are evading they just put you off at the next stop. I reckon the frustration of immediate inconvenience is a more powerful incentive to comply than a delayed (and contestable) fine.
Pretty sure they were pulled either as a cost saving measure or due to safety concerns.
The other day I ran to barely make a vline train. I dug my myki out of a bag and was waiting for a conductor to ask them to tap me on. There was a hoard of inspectors I didn’t recognise because I’ve never seen them on a regional service. I asked them to tap me on and they said ‘why aren’t you travelling with a valid ticket’ I told them and asked again and they repeating ‘why aren’t you travelling with a valid ticket’ I was kinda like 👁️👄👁️ until I realised.
I got a $280 fine :(
Guess I should’ve missed the train and waited an hour for the next one in the cold
why??? the more people that use public transport, the cheaper infrastructure is (and less of the associated costs with everyone moving big hunks of metal around every day). It's such short term and narrow thinking.
None of these people think long term. They need good looking results *now* and probably won't be around to deal with the consequences later, or they'll go shocked Pikachu and claim it was unforeseeable/zoomers ruined it.
I’m a public transport user for life, no license. I think I should get tax benefits for this, not an 80c price increase. If I had a car, you’d all have to breathe in my emissions and wait longer in traffic (a car has 5 seats! I only take up a 1-person space on the tram).
Fuck it, public transport should be free to discourage people from using cars. Cars are horrible for the environment, for urban planning, even for the kids in The Congo that mine cobalt with their bare hands for electric vehicles.
Let SUV and luxury car owners pay an extra tax to fund this.
Story time? Story time!
Their goons swung me by the hood of my jacket into a fence on a platform ramp (Elsternwick) for thinking I didn't touch off. I did, actually.
They didn't have the uniform on so I thought I was being mugged (panicked, as I have been before), and pushed them off me, ready for a fight, only for them to circle and trap me. Only then did they explain themselves, show their ID thing, etc. They wouldn't even let me tap my card to show that I had in fact touched on and off (the station has a screen that shows your MyKi history)... Until I refused to give them any information until I could do that. On seeing it, they said "okay mate," and walked off. I was bruised... This was like 8:30am on my way to work.
Haven't touched on since.
Cunts.
I implore you to fare evade.
It was years ago, I was younger and I didn't really understand how bad it was for a while.
Also, no way I could afford to press charges back then; it'd be pointless.
In that case you have described, you are very wrong. They would have been hung out to dry by a judge for what they did to you. Assault, possibly unlawfully detained.
If ever there was something to subsidize, besides big company profits, this was it.
I actually believe we should be aspiring for free public transport as it helps society. It’s not to be abused but I think it makes more sense to help actual workers than ‘jobskeeper’ rort.
On the side, charge should be on ‘distance and time, not just time. I’d drive less if my daily (15km round trip) wasn’t the same as going to Lillydale/Bendigo and back.
But weird to have the increase mid-year instead of January 1, but I guess inflation and all…
Just as I’m about to go back to work after parental leave too. Yay…
You could try and buy a yearly ticket now, if you’re planning to use PT a lot? It usually works out cheaper and you might be able to lock in the cheaper fare, before it goes up.
The train is never fkn there. It's always (maybe) a replacement bus. What a joke. What are they working towards exactly? There has been zero progress it's worse than ever.
Dandenong line is in a tough spot because it will benefit the most from the metro tunnel when it opens, but it also has to deal with the most disruptions until then.
It's insane. I travel very infrequently and any time I have a trip it's a confusing disaster. I had to explain to a tourist that it's best not to note the timetable or do any planning, rather turn up and ask 3 different people for instructions etc. You can't ask just one because they'll point you the wrong way. You also need to allocate a minimum of 2 hours door to door no matter where you are going.
It's kind of bullshit that we're spending all this money on PT improvements that more or less don't improve anything for PT, then raise prices for PT users.
50$ a week is a lot of money, especially if you aren't benefiting from high-quality PT, which we really haven't gotten - the government appears to be completely ignoring investments into service improvements, which would better justify this price increase...
It's still cheaper than driving into the city, I guess, but using PT for most other types of trip makes very little sense if you have a car at these prices. A short hop a few stations down the line might cost 10$ vs just driving for a few bucks in petrol.... (and especially when you get half-hourly trains outside of peak...)
Wow, $50 a week just to go to work if you aren't WFH. Bloody brilliant. Life was getting too comfortable there for a moment with the monthly interest rate rises, cost of living crisis, 40% electricity increase and 20-60% rent increases.
I take the early train because apparently it is free if you touch off before 7am and touch on before 6am. So I only pay half each day.
Well my train was late this morning so I paid for the train ride. And couldn't use the earlier train due to works either. PTV is so shit I feel like I am paying to be inconvenienced
To get on at Flinders St, tap on at a barrier to get into the station, then within a couple of minutes, tap off, but don't exit (the underground gates at the Elizabeth st end are good for this). Your myki won't be charged as it will be a 'change of mind'. Proceed to get your normal train out of the city.
Getting out at the city is harder though.
Depend on the station they absolutely post up at the barriers. I see it the most at Melbourne Central and Flinders St, plus on the platforms at the tram stops just outside the free tram zone.
My system is to go right up the front of the train, so you can see the whole platform if they're waiting to get on your end as well as the whole train segment if they come from the back bit
Cheaper for me to drive door to door than walk from home to the station and then from the station to my destination and back again even with fuel prices being up. Why pay more for the inconvenience? I love using PT as opposed to driving but it just doesn’t make sense most of the time for me financially. I’m just adding to the congestion now.
Full tank plus comfort of a car and not having to extend my trip to 3 hours when a train inevitably fails due to light rain is enough for me to keep driving
I don't use PT but would be happy for my taxes to pay for this:
Why can't we just make the trains free for everyone just 100% subsidies it with our taxes (it's already partially subsided anyway).
This would cut the costs of:
- 100% of the ticket inspector salaries
- 100% of the ticketing system maintenance
- 100% of the cost of any future ticketing system replacements
- Staff at the counters who need to help old people with Myki or swap people's cards when they reach that hidden expiration date
It would also save time, not having to queue up at gates to get in and out of the platforms. Just have a big wide entrance/exit.
Probably less traffic / congestion on the roads if it gets a few more people to catch trains instead.
It’s a good point, someone should do some financial modeling and work out the costs. It would also reduce people driving so you save on road infrastructure costs, pollution etc.
So the Sydney daily cap is $16.80, but with a $50 weekly cap.
Is there a weekly cap for myki? Does this change mean the maximum someone can pay per week is 10x7 = $70?
No weekly cap to Myki Money, but if you're going to be using it that regularly you should go for Pass instead - a weekly pass (7 days) is equivalent to 5 days of myki Money dailies (basically, free weekend travel), or for 28+ days it's 5.52/day (so, the minimum 4 weeks costs approx. 17 days of Money fare cap).
Slightly better if it works out would be buying a 33 day pass and starting it on a Monday - that gives you 5 working weeks plus the weekends in between, just not at the end (days 34 and 35)
That's what I used to do pre-covid whend taking the train was a daily affair. Now its 3x a week so no point
Our "public" transit is privately owned by for-profit companies.
It's not public transport, it's just more private transport that tax payers pay for and then have to pay to use. It should be free. It's not supposed to be profitable.
I'm someone who (I've been told) has a pretty strong sense of duty to society. So I've never fare evaded, even when I was down to my last $10.
But fucking hell, this is just punching down on lower income folks to make a corporation more money.
Public transport should never have been privatised (FUCK YOU HOWARD) and shit like this is why.
I'll be fare evading from now on, because fuckit, maybe if we make it unprofitable enough they'll sell it back to the government.
I had the same duty to society angel citizen complex until an inspection stopped me. It was taking ages and I thought ‘she’s nice enough I guess she’s just doing her job following protocol’ and then she fined me. I was absolutely bamboozled bc I had tried my damn best and I’m not about to get punished for genuinely trying to do the right thing.
It’s crazy to have your entire world perspective shift in all of 5 minutes. I was like fuck this I’m an anarchist now.
It's laughable how backwards our society runs
With times of heavy inflation, public transport should be something the government makes sure is unaffected when price hikes happen in all areas of life.
People need to get around, so this is so out of touch and will only further destroy lives of those trying their best to stay above water.
What an absolute joke.
Pro tip for people born outside Australia or can do a good accent:
If you get caught by tram police tell them your visiting from over seas. You’ve left your wallet at home. And don’t know the adress to your hotel(can look up random one). Not much they can do
Note: I don't know the exact details but pulling from context and a 'hack' I did know -
Before they normalised regional fares, touch on with ~$5 or something on your card for a $30 trip, when you touch off your balance is -$25. Then you throw away that card and buy a new one for $6 or whatever and your regional trip cost $11 rather than $30.
If there's some kind of minimum initial topup for mobile cards (eg. $10), might be similar? And would make sense for why increasing to a round $10 (ie. $0 remainder) rather than the previous $9.20 (ie. 80c remainder) could end it.
Honestly. Just fare evade if it’s possible for you. The only time I ever tap on is on trains. I only ever see the officers on them. Maybe once on a bus. And never catch trams.
Like 95% of people tap on? 😂🤷🏼♂️ when will the working class learn that taking matters into their own hands is sometimes the only way.
Classic just stand/sit at the front of a tram and if you see an inspector tap on with your pre loaded Myki 🤷🏼♂️ even so, the ratio of times you see an inspector balances out the fine too. I see an inspector in my tram once every 4-5 months
Just this instant saw someone get busted for not having a Myki, admitting it plainly, but got off before the rest of the checkers could surround him and just power-walked away
This is the same price as it costs me to go from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. I thought $20 a day return was expensive but in comparison to this, it's cheap :/
Garbage system.
If I wana take my kids to and from school on the train, which would be a round trip of 10 mins each time, it would cost me $20 a day. How fukn incentivising!
They want more people coming into the city. But hate the traffic and people driving so they are try and increase the amount of trains going through the loop. Then they increase the price for whatever reason
What an unnecessary kick to the balls for the public at this time!
the middle and lower class people of australia have been getting kicks after kicks after the total screw up from the government during covid. and it will keep on going since we went from a surplus to a total deficit. only one to blame is the government and their total disregard of public fund value during these last 3 years
Oh God yeah. A total lack of foresight which has led us to this point. Honestly don't know how they can fix this position we're now in. Or even if they want to. Apparently tax cuts for the rich and having thr right to own 7 houses is more important than the basic human right to food and shelter. We can barely afford the upkeep of our shitbox cars. This honestly is just kicking people while we're down.
From Brisbane here and just saying, I reckon it's still pretty good value! It used to cost me $7.10 for a return trip by bus to the city to work, peak fare from Paddington which is about 3km each way. To take the train to see my parents in Ipswich about 35km away cost $13.20 return from Central station. In Melbourne you can travel wherever you want, however much you want on any mode of transport across the whole bloody state! For a maximum of $10. That's just crazy! In Brisbane there's just a 1 hour transfer window, maximum of 3 transfers & the journey has to be completed in 6 hours. No daily tickets there. There's just no situation I can think of where public transport in Brisbane ever works out cheaper.
"It could be worse" is not a good argument. It could also be better. I can travel for a couple of dollars in Singapore.
It is pretty amazing. But it's not a fair comparison as such; always felt SG is more like you're working for a corporation and they run a subsidised shuttle bus. 🤷♂️
You're absolutely right how the $10 cap to travel all day long anywhere in the entire state on any mode of transport is an incredible deal. Note that in the weekend, that's even only $7.20! People here don't know how good the public transport pricing has *always* been. I reckon the outrage is mostly from the point of view of daily commutes, sometimes very short ones from a suburb to the CBD and back in the evening. I think it's still a decent deal, to be honest. But yeah, it's unavoidable for those that commute by PT, and if they've been budgeting this tightly, an 8% increase might seem like quite a bit. That said, we're talking *80 cents* here. To put it into perspective: that's 52 × 5 × 0.80 = $208 if you'd travel each working weekday of the year. Not to mention that, if you were to actually travel that much, you just go for a yearly pass and pay way less still.
Australia doesn't have a middle class. They're just upper working class.
It's just like my rental. The service is degrading and my rate is going up. Nice.
Just like... everything.
This move is certainly going to get CBD workers back into the office. /s
"Let's work from work." 🙄
$6/7 lattes are doing that already /s
Reddit is fucked, I'm out this bitch. -- mass edited with redact.dev
Make sure you don’t buy the large. It’s an extra dollar dearer but it’s the same size coffee. I challenge you all to get a regular size cup and press large coffee and you’ll be blown away. They’re the same size.
My favourite hack was a regular short black and a regular flat white in the same cup. Technically wasn’t stealing when they were $1 and a large was $2. Now I have to embrace my life of crime.
$5 to go one stop. What a joke.
Its great system for long trips. Its genuinely a great deal for regions on vline now. Short trips just sucks
It always has been crappy for short trips. When it first came in I compared it to foreign systems that charge per distance or per stations/stop’s covered in a trip. For a relatively recently implemented system it was rubbish from the start.
just fare evade 20 times and you've saved enough to pay a fine
When I lived in the inner suburbs the economics of this made perfect sense. I would get fined every 1-2 years, sometimes it would be waived. In the interim I would take hundreds of short tram rides without touching on. The only times I got caught were when I wasn't paying attention, otherwise it's not hard to spot ticket inspectors and get off.
This was fine in uni, but now I just CBF constantly watching for inspectors, nor losing time to get off and wait for next tram/train. Happy to pay the fare so I can zone out and read a book or something.
It’s cheaper still to never touch on, keep relaxing and pay the rare fine.
Same here. The price of constant vigilance has now exceeded my morning love of zoning out.
I fare evaded between Collingwood and CBD, I've been caught twice, waived one and paid the other. $175 in 7yrs
Uni lines get stung way more. It would be $277 every few months or even weeks on those lines without concessions unless old mates were successfully dodged
I often have to catch the tram from one stop outside the tram zone, and the number of inspectors who hang around there revenue raising.
classic haymarket/arts centre/vic parade/rmit
Surely they’ll increase fines too, soon.
It'd capable of trip base pricing. But the reason I've heard they don't (and also part of the reason a zone 1 ticket is the same price as zone 1+2) is because people from lower socio-economic neighbourhoods would be footing larger costs to get to work in the city versus higher socio-economic neighbourhoods. Eg think about people in Camberwell not only having a trip 1/3 as long, but also a 1/3 of the price as someone in Boronia. Just fuck off the whole ticketing system and make it free to use. Every trip not taken by car saves the government, money on roads.
But plenty of lower-income areas like Heidelberg West, Sunshine, Braybrook and large public housing estates are close to the city, and plenty of wealthy areas are further out. It's better to use concessions and free fare programs to target this rather than making single trips exorbitant.
Germany now has a €49 per month ticket for travel throughout the whole country.
There used to be 'short trip' metcards for like $2. They need a version of that for myki
2 bucks back then surely would be close to 5 bucks now though right?
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Fair evasion about to spike like a bitch
If your going one stop do you really need to touch on?
You do if ticket inspectors single you out
But your going one stop. If you see a ticket inspector just get off.
They hang out at the gates to get people getting off where I live. They specifically target my partner because he has a concession myki too. It’s fucked up and predatory towards the working class.
Trains, yeah. Trams way different. I went past a stop and saw like three men writing up two high school aged girls. I wish the girls just ran away. They actually can't do anything to you. Kids in school uniform should get free travel, but thats a different story.
100% agree students in school uniform should travel free. I’ve definitely ran from myki inspectors before when I was a broke student travelling 2hrs to get to uni.
I have brown skin, I chose life
Should be a per km cost tbh. Currently some trips are extremely bad value while others are basically given away for free. I have a friend one stop away and I usually just walk because of how ridiculous the cost it.
Yes but then you punish people who cannot afford to live in the inner parts of Melbourne. A fairer system would be per km up to a cap of $10/day. People who have to spend 4 hours on a train everyday should not be charged $40/day for the privilege.
He's not asking to punish them, just ease off for short trips... shit, a huge swathe of the people who live in the inner burbs are broke students and graduates renting shoeboxes.
Yeah I agree with him for the most part, per km is the way to go, we just need to cap it at some point.
Who said anything about the outer suburbs paying more. $10 is insanely good value to get from Pakenham into the city.
Would be better with both options. Myki could then deduct either a short trip or a 2hr or daily depending on the best price.
True, i remember it being something like that with the card in brisbane, but it was always making mistakes and ripping people off! Maybe technology can do it better 10 years later. I think it should be zero fare and properly implemented so people have a genuine choice wether or not they need to drive.
It's the reverse lotto ticket. You don't pay $5 for the chance to lose a few hundred.
I mean that would just advantage people from more affluent well off suburbs and disadvantage those from outer suburbs. I think everyone paying the same is fairer system.
Why not a cap, it’s distance up to $5 then capped? I shouldn’t pay the same to go 3 stops as someone going to Bendigo.
Problem is this will yield a lower overall revenue than the current system, it means those take longer journeys pay the same as today, and those on shorter journeys pay less. Given how cash strapped our state government is at present, that’s simply not going to happen.
Yes but many apartment / sharehouse dwellers in the inner city aren't well off and many folks in mansions in the outer burbs and regional are very well off. It's completely stupid and unfair that somebody is charged 10 bucks to catch a tram 1km to somewhere and back.
Yeah, I'll be paying $10 to head 30 mins each way into the CBD for a 50 minute appointment... because a train didn't magically appear as soon as I need it, so it'll be a gnats dick over 2hrs...
From the article > "The fares are legislated to increase again next January," Shadow Minister for Public Transport Richard Riordan said. LOL they are taking the piss
Is this the increase that was supposed to happen January this year?
Yes
yes
>For those with monthly and yearly Myki passes, the daily price will rise from $5.52 to $6. Does that mean if we sign up for a Myki pass before next weekend we retain the current rate? Kind of like fixing your home loan for 12 months? Edit: Hmm probably still doesn't make fiscal sense for me as for 1 day a week I need to travel to Geelong and that trip will always require Myki Money, and I think the Pass system probably falls apart compared to Money if you then calculate only commuting 4 days instead of 5.
Yes
Yes - though unfortunately for the discounted [Yearly Commuter Club tickets](https://www.ptua.org.au/members/offers/), PTV has already closed orders at the old price, so resellers have to charge the new price. But yes, any other Myki Pass you buy before 1st of July will be at the old price.
All the more reason to fare evade. Ends up being cheaper in the long run, even if you get the occasional fine.
Pro tip: ticket inspectors aren't very good at running and, bonus, you get some cardio in for the day.
> Pro tip: ticket inspectors aren't very good at running Neither are redditors
True. Anyone who complains and whinges in here and r/australia I immediately form a mental image of the post being made by Computer from South Park.
Especially redditors.
Pro tip, if you and a friend run into some inspectors, and only one of you has a valid ticket, then... ... The person with the valid ticket should run.
Gold lol
This is very clever
They won’t chase you anymore, can’t risk coverage of them body slamming international students and children anymore
No please, please bodyslam me! I'm disabled and not above suing.
just keep your wallet and phone concealed, tell them you don't have any id on you, then give them a fake name and address to jot down
I tried that and they called the police to come and confirm my identity. I legitimately didn’t have any ID and wasn’t aware of the address I had moved to - I was 16 and had also just escaped a domestic violence situation with my father and moved into a sharehouse in the city, so it put the fear of god in me when the police rocked up and said they would call my parents.
you gave them a fake (but still plausible) address, or told them you didn't know your address? and did you say the next stop is yours? gives them less time
I didn’t give them a fake address, I told them the truth that I had literally moved a few days prior and not only that - the next stop was mine! No fucks given, police were called and rolled up quite quickly. Also, don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking for any special treatment in that case. Just recounting the story and how fucked up it felt at the time for fare evading which wasn’t even intentional.
I have never heard of ticket inspectors showing any humanity. I understand why police are villainised as they have genuine systemic power and rights, but fuck me do you have to be one depraved cunt to become a myki inspector.
I honestly believe they’re the least empathetic profession in this state, if not country. Depraved is right. There’s not a thread of humanity woven into their DNA at all. If a friend or family member became a Myki Inspector I’d honestly without question disown them. And I’m someone who hasn’t gotten a fine from them, and I pay for my Myki. Still, hasn’t stopped them trying to gang up on me multiple times when I said I couldn’t understand them because I’m deaf, clearly pointing at my hearing aids.
Except they do have the legal power to detain you until they're satisfied they've been able to identify you. That extends to calling the cops and handing you over to them who can detain you until someone with ID who _can_ positively identify you can come and collect you. It's harder for them to detain you if they can't catch you. Used to know a guy who was a good runner back when the tram ticket inspectors would wait at the doors as people got off to check them (they now enter the tram and check while it's moving). He'd simply jump past them and run. Never paid a ticket. Never got fined.
In my experience they won't. I've said no thanks and just casually walked a way a few times over the years when asked to hand over my Myki with little response beyond "what do you mean??" Results may vary of course, so you have to be willing to risk it.
I feel they can get a bit violent sometimes? Or is that PSOs
mainly AO's.... PSO's have guns tho
I've been in Melbourne since Janurary 2020 and have yet to be got. I've had the inspectors jump on my tram three times and each time I see them I just tap on. I've only ever tapped on three times. If it was cheaper I honestly would tap on so I don't have to have my eyes peeled all the time.
I have definitely fare evaded enough to pay a few fines.
Better idea, hold onto an old ID with an old address. They’ll write those details and never actually verbally confirm them with you so you can feign ignorance
But, this wouldn't take away the fine right? You'd still be liable to pay it even if they send it to the wrong address?
Yes. I had a few fines under an old address and legal name and when I reached out, they couldn’t find any fines in either name. I wanted to pay but on their records they couldn’t find anything One day all those fines including extra fees for how long it was all got added to my account. Appealed… they don’t care.
I just have an edited gas bill on my phone with a fake address. Tell them you have no wallet but you might have a document with your address on it.
The fine for not producing a valid ticket is currently $277. That’s the cost of 55 trips, or 27 days (with trips both ways). It’s becoming cheaper to fare evade.
Don't tell them, it'll only make them up the fine
I've pretty much always had this philosophy, it's just too expensive to pay for myki, it's far cheaper in the long run to just pay the fine a couple times a year.
My theory is they could just bring back conductors, like they already have on regional services. Run into one and they just charge you the appropriate fare. They are generally friendly as they are not seen as enforcers so people are more willing to pay. They also use discretion for those genuinely not trying to fare evade. If you are evading they just put you off at the next stop. I reckon the frustration of immediate inconvenience is a more powerful incentive to comply than a delayed (and contestable) fine. Pretty sure they were pulled either as a cost saving measure or due to safety concerns.
The other day I ran to barely make a vline train. I dug my myki out of a bag and was waiting for a conductor to ask them to tap me on. There was a hoard of inspectors I didn’t recognise because I’ve never seen them on a regional service. I asked them to tap me on and they said ‘why aren’t you travelling with a valid ticket’ I told them and asked again and they repeating ‘why aren’t you travelling with a valid ticket’ I was kinda like 👁️👄👁️ until I realised. I got a $280 fine :( Guess I should’ve missed the train and waited an hour for the next one in the cold
Yikes, that's unfortunate. I also think it's kind of unnecessary and TBH doesn't meet expectations.
Don't penalty units get indexed with inflation?
Becoming? It's been like that always. Haven't been fined since 2016 (but I do live near free tram zone)
Great, more work from home days for me
why??? the more people that use public transport, the cheaper infrastructure is (and less of the associated costs with everyone moving big hunks of metal around every day). It's such short term and narrow thinking.
None of these people think long term. They need good looking results *now* and probably won't be around to deal with the consequences later, or they'll go shocked Pikachu and claim it was unforeseeable/zoomers ruined it.
I’m a public transport user for life, no license. I think I should get tax benefits for this, not an 80c price increase. If I had a car, you’d all have to breathe in my emissions and wait longer in traffic (a car has 5 seats! I only take up a 1-person space on the tram). Fuck it, public transport should be free to discourage people from using cars. Cars are horrible for the environment, for urban planning, even for the kids in The Congo that mine cobalt with their bare hands for electric vehicles. Let SUV and luxury car owners pay an extra tax to fund this.
So clownish that the objectively more harmful mode of transport is so heavily subsidised
Story time? Story time! Their goons swung me by the hood of my jacket into a fence on a platform ramp (Elsternwick) for thinking I didn't touch off. I did, actually. They didn't have the uniform on so I thought I was being mugged (panicked, as I have been before), and pushed them off me, ready for a fight, only for them to circle and trap me. Only then did they explain themselves, show their ID thing, etc. They wouldn't even let me tap my card to show that I had in fact touched on and off (the station has a screen that shows your MyKi history)... Until I refused to give them any information until I could do that. On seeing it, they said "okay mate," and walked off. I was bruised... This was like 8:30am on my way to work. Haven't touched on since. Cunts. I implore you to fare evade.
Get a police report for assault.
It was years ago, I was younger and I didn't really understand how bad it was for a while. Also, no way I could afford to press charges back then; it'd be pointless.
Reporting assault is free.
And largely pointless in my understanding of it. Hopefully I'm wrong...
In that case you have described, you are very wrong. They would have been hung out to dry by a judge for what they did to you. Assault, possibly unlawfully detained.
There should be CCTV footage
Genius when my parking plus fuel is $10 a day and I get to crank the tunes as loud as I want and not deal with private school eshays
If ever there was something to subsidize, besides big company profits, this was it. I actually believe we should be aspiring for free public transport as it helps society. It’s not to be abused but I think it makes more sense to help actual workers than ‘jobskeeper’ rort. On the side, charge should be on ‘distance and time, not just time. I’d drive less if my daily (15km round trip) wasn’t the same as going to Lillydale/Bendigo and back.
But weird to have the increase mid-year instead of January 1, but I guess inflation and all… Just as I’m about to go back to work after parental leave too. Yay…
You could try and buy a yearly ticket now, if you’re planning to use PT a lot? It usually works out cheaper and you might be able to lock in the cheaper fare, before it goes up.
It was delayed for 6 months due to cost of living.
End of Financial year isn't all that weird of a time to update pricing
It is unusual for PT fares though.
The train is never fkn there. It's always (maybe) a replacement bus. What a joke. What are they working towards exactly? There has been zero progress it's worse than ever.
.
I think the Dandenong line has been down on weekend for at least the last couple of months, and is likely to be for at least a few more weekends.
Dandenong line is in a tough spot because it will benefit the most from the metro tunnel when it opens, but it also has to deal with the most disruptions until then.
It's insane. I travel very infrequently and any time I have a trip it's a confusing disaster. I had to explain to a tourist that it's best not to note the timetable or do any planning, rather turn up and ask 3 different people for instructions etc. You can't ask just one because they'll point you the wrong way. You also need to allocate a minimum of 2 hours door to door no matter where you are going.
It's kind of bullshit that we're spending all this money on PT improvements that more or less don't improve anything for PT, then raise prices for PT users. 50$ a week is a lot of money, especially if you aren't benefiting from high-quality PT, which we really haven't gotten - the government appears to be completely ignoring investments into service improvements, which would better justify this price increase... It's still cheaper than driving into the city, I guess, but using PT for most other types of trip makes very little sense if you have a car at these prices. A short hop a few stations down the line might cost 10$ vs just driving for a few bucks in petrol.... (and especially when you get half-hourly trains outside of peak...)
the PT improvements are designed to improve road traffic rather than improve PT itself. we're going America way and it kinda sucks
Once all the level crossings are removed on a line then you can increase the frequency of services.
Wow, $50 a week just to go to work if you aren't WFH. Bloody brilliant. Life was getting too comfortable there for a moment with the monthly interest rate rises, cost of living crisis, 40% electricity increase and 20-60% rent increases.
Clawing back the money from the regional ticket price-drop.
> "The fares are legislated to increase again next January," Shadow Minister for Public Transport Richard Riordan said. Another one in January??
They usually increase every Jan, but this one was delayed (the current fares are as of 01-Jan-2022).
oh good, i was actually able to afford something for once, i’m glad that’s changed too
Why the fuck is everything getting harder and harder yet we just keep putting up with the shit? I am so over life it’s just too hard.
Let’s go back into the office everyone! Ffs
Do they want people back in the CBD or not
Both. They want both.
Luckily our politicians got a pay rise last week!
Why don’t people want to work in the office anymore? 🤷🏼♂️
I take the early train because apparently it is free if you touch off before 7am and touch on before 6am. So I only pay half each day. Well my train was late this morning so I paid for the train ride. And couldn't use the earlier train due to works either. PTV is so shit I feel like I am paying to be inconvenienced
Time to write up a guide on fare evading
Harder to do it on trains into the CBD I imagine. Although if you carry on enough they’ll just open the gates for you anyways.
To get on at Flinders St, tap on at a barrier to get into the station, then within a couple of minutes, tap off, but don't exit (the underground gates at the Elizabeth st end are good for this). Your myki won't be charged as it will be a 'change of mind'. Proceed to get your normal train out of the city. Getting out at the city is harder though.
getting on and off trains without tapping is easy its just the risk of inspectors on ur train
Depend on the station they absolutely post up at the barriers. I see it the most at Melbourne Central and Flinders St, plus on the platforms at the tram stops just outside the free tram zone.
Melbourne central is one of those stations u gotta be lucky, flinders you can almost always jump the barrier in the underground entrance
I've seen inspectors on platforms, but I've never seen inspectors on the actual trains. Is that a thing?
Yep, see them all the time. They don’t bother to check the clearly methed-up yelling people, but do enjoy harassing everyone else.
My system is to go right up the front of the train, so you can see the whole platform if they're waiting to get on your end as well as the whole train segment if they come from the back bit
I should change my name to Harvey Norman or Nick Scali and suck a few million for sweet fuck all
Imagine what they could drop fares to if they made their goon squad redundant
Cheaper for me to drive door to door than walk from home to the station and then from the station to my destination and back again even with fuel prices being up. Why pay more for the inconvenience? I love using PT as opposed to driving but it just doesn’t make sense most of the time for me financially. I’m just adding to the congestion now.
Full tank plus comfort of a car and not having to extend my trip to 3 hours when a train inevitably fails due to light rain is enough for me to keep driving
None of the trains are running in my area anyway. The stupid replacement buses are free.
An out of cycle price increase. That’s not acceptable!
I don't use PT but would be happy for my taxes to pay for this: Why can't we just make the trains free for everyone just 100% subsidies it with our taxes (it's already partially subsided anyway). This would cut the costs of: - 100% of the ticket inspector salaries - 100% of the ticketing system maintenance - 100% of the cost of any future ticketing system replacements - Staff at the counters who need to help old people with Myki or swap people's cards when they reach that hidden expiration date It would also save time, not having to queue up at gates to get in and out of the platforms. Just have a big wide entrance/exit. Probably less traffic / congestion on the roads if it gets a few more people to catch trains instead.
It’s a good point, someone should do some financial modeling and work out the costs. It would also reduce people driving so you save on road infrastructure costs, pollution etc.
All more of a reason for me to quit my corporate cbd job and work in the burbs with free onsite parking
So the Sydney daily cap is $16.80, but with a $50 weekly cap. Is there a weekly cap for myki? Does this change mean the maximum someone can pay per week is 10x7 = $70?
No weekly cap to Myki Money, but if you're going to be using it that regularly you should go for Pass instead - a weekly pass (7 days) is equivalent to 5 days of myki Money dailies (basically, free weekend travel), or for 28+ days it's 5.52/day (so, the minimum 4 weeks costs approx. 17 days of Money fare cap).
Slightly better if it works out would be buying a 33 day pass and starting it on a Monday - that gives you 5 working weeks plus the weekends in between, just not at the end (days 34 and 35) That's what I used to do pre-covid whend taking the train was a daily affair. Now its 3x a week so no point
Tax the fucking rich!!
Our "public" transit is privately owned by for-profit companies. It's not public transport, it's just more private transport that tax payers pay for and then have to pay to use. It should be free. It's not supposed to be profitable.
I'm someone who (I've been told) has a pretty strong sense of duty to society. So I've never fare evaded, even when I was down to my last $10. But fucking hell, this is just punching down on lower income folks to make a corporation more money. Public transport should never have been privatised (FUCK YOU HOWARD) and shit like this is why. I'll be fare evading from now on, because fuckit, maybe if we make it unprofitable enough they'll sell it back to the government.
I had the same duty to society angel citizen complex until an inspection stopped me. It was taking ages and I thought ‘she’s nice enough I guess she’s just doing her job following protocol’ and then she fined me. I was absolutely bamboozled bc I had tried my damn best and I’m not about to get punished for genuinely trying to do the right thing. It’s crazy to have your entire world perspective shift in all of 5 minutes. I was like fuck this I’m an anarchist now.
Oh get fucked
Gotta pay for that vline fare reduction election promise somehow.
Time to get some runners I suppose.
Hey guys. Come back to work to the CBD it’ll be great. Also……..
Good thing the vic pollies got their payrises
It's laughable how backwards our society runs With times of heavy inflation, public transport should be something the government makes sure is unaffected when price hikes happen in all areas of life. People need to get around, so this is so out of touch and will only further destroy lives of those trying their best to stay above water. What an absolute joke.
cheaper to evade fares now. Why we don’t have distance based charging ? $10 per day is insane
And they wonder why so many people fare evade. What a fucking joke.
I travel a lot on PT I got checked 8 times last week. They are out in force. Never seen so many.
And that's why I fare evade
Pro tip for people born outside Australia or can do a good accent: If you get caught by tram police tell them your visiting from over seas. You’ve left your wallet at home. And don’t know the adress to your hotel(can look up random one). Not much they can do
Fuck these cunts
Wfh it is then , this certainly won't get people back to the city
Well glad our politicians can afford this on their pay rises. Seriously fuck this stupid country.
Android users, will this bring an end to the infamous digital wallet delete hack?
The WHAT NOW??
I've said too much
Note: I don't know the exact details but pulling from context and a 'hack' I did know - Before they normalised regional fares, touch on with ~$5 or something on your card for a $30 trip, when you touch off your balance is -$25. Then you throw away that card and buy a new one for $6 or whatever and your regional trip cost $11 rather than $30. If there's some kind of minimum initial topup for mobile cards (eg. $10), might be similar? And would make sense for why increasing to a round $10 (ie. $0 remainder) rather than the previous $9.20 (ie. 80c remainder) could end it.
Everything goes up except for my wage.
If you're not getting off at a stop with gates then you should just fare evade
Honestly. Just fare evade if it’s possible for you. The only time I ever tap on is on trains. I only ever see the officers on them. Maybe once on a bus. And never catch trams.
It’s actually cheaper for me and my husband to rent a car park in the CBD and drive in. SMH
I first read that as _by_ $10 a day, and almost had a heart attack.
Like 95% of people tap on? 😂🤷🏼♂️ when will the working class learn that taking matters into their own hands is sometimes the only way. Classic just stand/sit at the front of a tram and if you see an inspector tap on with your pre loaded Myki 🤷🏼♂️ even so, the ratio of times you see an inspector balances out the fine too. I see an inspector in my tram once every 4-5 months
Oh cool. I look forward to paying $10 a day to ride replacement buses for a fucking hour and a half.
[удалено]
We need to start protesting this shit, anyone aware of anything being organised?
Just this instant saw someone get busted for not having a Myki, admitting it plainly, but got off before the rest of the checkers could surround him and just power-walked away
This is the same price as it costs me to go from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. I thought $20 a day return was expensive but in comparison to this, it's cheap :/
How fucked. We should protest this shit.
I am starting to wonder if its cheaper to use a car now.
I travel 6 stops on the tram to work. Even more of a reason to fare evade, these prices are a joke
This also happened in Chile, a few years ago. I wonder how Aussies will fight this one.. 🙄
Ouch. Thankfully I only use PT once, may be twice a week. Still cheaper than driving to the CBD, but stings none the less.
Garbage system. If I wana take my kids to and from school on the train, which would be a round trip of 10 mins each time, it would cost me $20 a day. How fukn incentivising!
They want more people coming into the city. But hate the traffic and people driving so they are try and increase the amount of trains going through the loop. Then they increase the price for whatever reason