Overview
If you get to and from work via Translink public transport, or anywhere else across Queensland, your wallet won't be getting as much of a workout for the next six months. First announced in May and in effect from Monday, August 5, 2024, fares across Translink services have dropped in price to 50 cents per journey no matter how far you're going.
The price-slashing move is both a cost-of-living relief measure and an effort to reduce traffic congestion, and it impacts a hefty range of travel options. Translink, which falls within Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads, runs trains, buses, ferries and trams in southeast Queensland, for starters. So for Brisbanites, whether you ride the rails as part of your daily commute, hit the road or hop on a CityCat, you're now scoring a hefty discount, getting there and home for just $1 a day.
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This is a statewide measure. Translink also runs buses in Bowen, Bundaberg, Cairns, the Fraser Coast, Gladstone and Gympie — and in Innisfail, Kilcoy, Mackay, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Toowoomba, Townsville, Warwick and The Whitsundays.
The 50-cent price applies to everyone, including concession cardholders, but is only available on Translink services. Accordingly, privately operated transport services won't be doing the cheap fares.
Airtrain fares also aren't being slashed to 50 cents; however, they are being cut in half for the same six-month period. The most that you'll pay if you're travelling to and from Brisbane Airport is $10.95 each way.
Andrew Thomas via Flickr
Running for six months until the beginning of February 2025, the fare drop isn't a permanent change — but it will help you stop spending more than a fiver to get to and from your job if you work a five-day grind.
When it was initially announced, The Sunday Mail reported that the Queensland Government will reassess the move in early 2025 if Labour is re-elected in October's state election.
Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons
John Robert McPherson via Wikimedia Commons
John via Flickr
Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons
All fares across Translink's Queensland public transport services now cost 50 cents as at Monday, August 5, 2024, running for six months. To find out more information about Translink's services, head to the company's website.
Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.