Labor’s $30 weekly public transport fare cap would run for two years if the party holds on at the 28 November state election.
Touch on three days and the rest of your week rides free under Labor’s $30 weekly public transport fare cap.
Premier Ben Carroll announced Labor’s $30 weekly public transport fare cap on 19 October, promising it would run for two years if Labor is re-elected on 28 November. At the current full daily fare of $11.40, five days of commuting comes to $57, so the cap would shave $27 off that week. Most full-fare riders would hit the limit partway through their third day and stop paying from there.
Labor’s $30 weekly public transport fare cap
- What: a $30 limit on what you pay for public transport each week
- How long: two years
- The catch: Labor has to win the state election on 28 November
- Fares now: half price, $5.70 a day, until 31 December
- Full daily fare: $11.40
- Already free: under-18s every day, and Seniors Card holders statewide on weekends
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It lands as this year’s discounts wind down. The Victorian government made public transport free through April and May as fuel prices climbed, then halved fares from 1 June, with that deal due to end on 31 December. At $5.70 a day, a five-day commuter pays $28.50 a week right now, just under the proposed cap. For that crowd, the pledge would roughly keep today’s price in place once half-price fares expire. Anyone travelling six or seven days a week would pay less than they do now.
The Victorian Greens answered the same morning. Leader Ellen Sandell argued that a two-year discount with an end date falls short, and that the right weekly figure is nothing at all. Her party is promising permanently free public transport with more frequent services, paid for by making large corporations pay more tax.
Free fares have been a Greens pitch for a while. During the Prahran by-election campaign in January 2025 the party proposed 50-cent fares, borrowing Queensland’s model, and in March this year it called for a free month as petrol prices spiked. Once free travel arrived, Gabrielle Williams, the Public and Active Transport Minister at the time, told Parliament in June that people made more than 100 million trips over those two months, up 17% on the year before.
Enrolment for the election closes at 8pm on 3 November, which is also Melbourne Cup Day, and you can check your details with the VEC before then.
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