Overview
Before August 2024, it was normal to spend at least $5 per day to get to and from work via public transport in Queensland. Now, for all trips there and back across a five-day week, no one should be forking out more than $5 in total. As promised during the state's election, the 50-cent fare trial that's been in place since midyear is no longer just a pilot — it's sticking around permanently.
What do you have more cash for when each journey on your commute to and from your job only costs 50 cents (and to get to wherever else you might need) via the Sunshine State's Translink public transport? Queensland residents will keep finding out. The bargain fares were introduced as cost-of-living relief measure, discounting tickets to a shiny dodecagonal coin. Unsurprisingly, they've proven so much of a hit that the move is now here to stay.
Slashing the price of public transport was always going to be popular. In its first month, the 50-cent fare trial saw more than 15-million trips taken across southeast Queensland alone, increasing patronage by 2.4 percent on pre-COVID-19 levels. Up until the end of October 2024, patronage went up 5.1 percent on the same pre-COVID-19 period.
During the election campaign, the then-Labor Queensland Government committed to keeping the reduced price. So did the Liberal party, which won power. Now, the Crisafulli government has locked in cheap public transport on Translink's buses, trains, ferries and trams on an ongoing basis.
The price-slashing move is also an effort to reduce traffic congestion, and 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.
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. As such, privately operated transport services aren't doing the cheap fares.
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All fares across Translink's Queensland public transport services only cost 50 cents on an ongoing basis. To find out more about Translink's services, head to the company's website.