Passengers on regional Victorian train lines fear they may be forced to fight for a seat after the introduction of free transport.
From today, Victorians will not have to pay to travel on public transport as part of a state government initiative to help households grappling with rising fuel prices.
The scheme will continue until the end of April.
But travellers on regional V/Line services say rising fuel costs due to the war in Iran have already led to a surge in public transport patronage.
They fear free transport could make it harder to secure a seat.
Kate Young hopped on the train from Bairnsdale, three-and-a-half hours east of Melbourne, on Saturday morning and was surprised at the number of passengers waiting on the small country platform.
“We were jammed in there like sardines,” Ms Young said.
“I couldn’t believe how busy Bairnsdale station was on a Saturday morning. I’ve never seen it like that.”
Standing room only
V/Line typically operates three-car VLocity sets on the Gippsland line, which have about 236 seats, as well as six-car sets that double capacity.
But Ms Young said she was surprised when all the seats were filled within a few stops, leaving standing room only for the remainder of the journey to Melbourne.
In an attempt to save some money amid rising fuel costs, Ms Young chose to take the train to Caulfield instead of driving.
She said conditions on the train were chaotic as the conductor attempted to move through crowded aisles, while onlookers at passing platforms watched in disbelief.
“There was an older couple in front of me and they would take turns [sitting],” Ms Young said.
“They had one seat and one of them was standing, so they alternated during the trip.”
With regional trains already reaching seating capacity at peak times, Ms Young fears the service will only deteriorate amid free access.
“How can it not get worse, particularly now … with no bookings, with free train travel — it’s going to be a roulette as to whether you get a seat or not,” she said.
Passengers rethinking commute
Warragul commuter Malcom McCaffery is a musician and composer who regularly travels to Melbourne for concerts, but said finding a spot to sit on the journey was becoming increasingly difficult.
“It was way more packed than usual on the Sunday already, just because of … the cost of petrol at the moment,” he said.
“There’s a lot more people on the V/Line, and that was before the free travel had even come in.”
Mr McCaffery said while he valued the ability to work while travelling, overcrowding could change how he approached his commute.
“It’s quite a long trip to the city … if they haven’t got extra carriages or something to cater for extra demand, it could be very uncomfortable,” he said.
Increased demand
Public Transport Users Association spokesperson Daniel Bowen said the regional network had struggled to keep pace with demand, with free travel in April likely to place further strain on services.
“There are concerns about crowding already, and obviously that’s likely to be worsened during April when there is free travel on offer,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of patronage growth on V-Line in the last couple of years, including on the Gippsland line since they cut the fares. And so it’s quite cheap to use V-Line now, particularly for those longer distance trips.”
With V/Line’s regional network spanning 3,500 kilometres of track, Mr Bowen said the state government should “provide better public transport services to more Victorians”.
“Some of those journeys are three-plus hours,” he said.
What you don’t want to see is large numbers of passengers who may not be … able to stand, but being forced to for hours and hours on end.”
V/Line has almost 140 VLocity trains and runs a combination of three and six carriages trains across the network.
“We will continue to closely monitor patronage across the network over coming weeks and where possible have coaches on stand-by at key locations to assist passengers,” a V/Line spokesperson said.
ABC News
