Day one of the official election campaign featured a Labor and Coalition clash over public transport policy, with the state government saying on Wednesday it will reduce the cost of V/Line to match city fares as part of a $1 billion “regional rail package”.
While Labor and the Coalition are different on the detail, both parties now officially have public transport policies that will lower fares for Wellington Shire residents who use V/Line services.
Now, regional fares are calculated based on the distance travelled. Labor said that under their policy, regional fees will be capped, with a $68.80 daily peak full-fare from Bendigo reduced to $9.80, which is the cost of a full-fare Zone 1 + 2 trip in Melbourne. The concession charge of $4.60 in Melbourne would also be matched.
A return trip from Sale to Southern Cross on the V/Line is currently $62, or $31 for concession, which would be reduced to $9.80 full-fare or $4.60 concession. The reduction to a $9.20 daily full-fare would also apply to a return full-fare from Bairnsdale ($78.80), Traralgon ($64.40) and Warragul ($36.80).
Regional commuters who use a Myki Pass to travel between 28 and 365 days a year, will also be capped at the Melbourne rate, currently $5.52 per day. The government said they will build another 23 VLocity trains to replace older trains; and deliver nearly 200 extra weekend services on the regional network.
On the Gippsland Line, this will mean trains every 40 minutes on the Traralgon line – 8am to 9pm on weekends; and extending the Sunday service to Bairnsdale, which currently terminates at Sale.
Gippslanders from Sale and Bairnsdale need to buy paper tickets from these stations to catch the V/Line, but Transport Minister Ben Carroll told the AAP the government was working towards moving the entire state on to Melbourne’s Myki ticketing system in March, at the same time the fare changes would take place.
Labor candidate for Gippsland South, Denise Ryan, welcomed the announcement.
Ms Ryan said the package was “designed to drive down the rising cost of living, back local jobs and boost regional services”.
The opposition had previously flagged a policy that would have metropolitan bus, tram and and train fares, as well as non-V/Line regional city and town services, capped at $2 every day, or $1 for concession.
In a separate announcement, the Coalition said it would halve V/Line fares for the next four years and if the train was replaced by a bus, passengers would travel free.
Shadow Treasurer, David Davis, said Labor’s plan was a cheap imitation of the Coalition’s $2 flat fare policy.
“Daniel Andrews has had eight years to introduced cheaper country fares,” he said.
When Liberal leader Matthew Guy announced the $2 cap policy, he said the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) had estimated the policy to be $1.3 billion over four years, but did not publicly release the costings. Labor asked the Department of Transport to audit the scheme, and found it would cost more than $900 million more than Mr Guy’s original figure.
Shadow Public Transport Minister, Danny, O’Brien told ABC it was “curious that the supposedly impartial Department of Transport is apparently costing opposition policies and handing them over to media”.
Last month, Mr O’Brien and The Nationals announced a new train service for Sale if they are elected.
Under the proposal, a new early morning service would depart from Sale, increasing the number of Melbourne-bound services to four a day.
“The existing Traralgon to Melbourne service at 6.32am will now originate at Sale at 5.50am, replacing an existing coach connection service that will continue to operate on the Bairnsdale-Sale leg,” Mr O’Brien said.
“This will allow Sale passengers to arrive in Melbourne before 9am.”
Currently, the earliest train departing Sale on a weekday leaves at 7.08am, arriving in Melbourne at 10.06am.
