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9 Jun 2025, by Amy Sarcevic
When Queensland introduced 50 cent public transport fares in August 2024, it did so with the goal of growing patronage amid cost-of-living pressures – but the new fares surprised with a range of other unexpected outcomes.
Deputy Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Dr Deborah Hume, says public sentiment towards 50 cent fares has “far exceeded expectations”, with 53 percent claiming their overall public transport experience has improved.
Since 50 cent fares, customers have rated almost every aspect of their trip more favourably, including measures not obviously linked to value for money.
“Customer sentiment about the value of public transport has bounced up across the spectrum. Customers even feel safer on public transport, since we introduced 50 cent fares,” Dr Hume said.
“It is amazing to see how much it affected overall perception of the system.”
As a result, public transport patronage has boomed across the state, and continues to be strong.
During the initial trial period, trips in South East Queensland grew 18 percent higher than a 2023 benchmark, and regional patronage grew 21 percent during the same period.
The new fares impacted behaviour
While pre-COVID levels of patronage have now been restored, 50 cent fares have not impacted working from home trends as expected.
“If you are a post COVID worker that now only comes into the office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 50 cent fares won’t have brought you back to being a Monday to Friday person.
“People’s work patterns are now entrenched, it would seem, and changing the cost of public transport hasn’t changed that,” Dr Hume said.
However, 50 cent fares have prompted customers to use public transport for new reasons.
“It has encouraged customers who previously might have only taken a bus to work, to now take public transport for their weekend coffee outing – which is a great outcome,” Dr Hume said.
The new fare has also spurred a change in fare evasion numbers said Dr Hume.
Since 50 cent fares, there has been a 22 percent decrease in fare evasion – with some operators recording a decrease of more than 25 per cent – and a 15 percent decrease in infringements.
Dr Hume believes this indicates an increased perception of fairness among customers.
Patron concerns were well managed
While 50 cent fares have been a success, customers were concerned prior to implementation, with customers worried about overcrowding.
Focused delivery helped build customer confidence. Department of Transport and Main Roads took a range of actions.
“We deployed extra tram services and put buses on standby,” Dr Hume said.
“Added staff and enhanced customer support have also helped build customer confidence.”
These efforts made an impact, with customer sentiment towards 50 cent fares altering quickly upon usage.
Pre-launch, 86 percent of people surveyed supported it, and the figure reached 92 percent within months of its introduction.
Dr Hume said some measures turned out to be superfluous.
“Most of the buses we deployed to be on standby were not needed. Of course, 50 cent fares has given us increased patronage – but not to the scale of giving customers a bad user experience,” she said.
Community engagement helped
Dr Hume said pre-launch engagement was also important in making 50 cent fares a success.
These efforts – plus the implementation of 50 cent fares – have driven a range of positive perceptions among the public.
84 percent believe 50 cent fares benefit the environment, 82 percent have the perception that it reduces congestion, and 86 percent are more encouraged to choose public transport over driving.
Other measures
Alongside 50 cent fares, the Department of Transport and Main Roads have taken a range of measures to make public transport a more appealing option for the Queensland public.
“We know that customers are satisfied with public transport when it is easy and reliable. So we have introduced Smart Ticketing which provides an additional range of payment additional options such as credit card, debit card, smartphone, or smart watch to make it easier for customers to pay,” Dr Hume said.
Further insight
Sharing more on the Department’s plans to make public transport Olympic-fit, Dr Deborah Hume will present at the upcoming Urban Rail Conference, hosted by Informa Connect.
This year’s event will be held 25-26 June at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne.
Learn more and register your tickets here.
About Deborah Hume
Deborah was appointed as Deputy Director-General (Translink) in August 2024 and leads the delivery of customer focused passenger transport services across Queensland, including policy, planning, ticketing, contract management and customer services.
Deborah has extensive experience in public transport operations and strategy including her prior role as General Manager of the Rail Passenger Group for KiwiRail, and most recently the role of National Manager of Multimodal Integration, at the New Zealand Transport Agency, where she led operationalising the national direction in urban mobility, public transport, rail and freight.
Informa Connect Australia is the nation's leading event organiser. Our events comprise of large scale exhibitions, industry conferences and highly specialised corporate training.
