Small change. Huge impact.
The 50-cent Flat Fare
Given the significant investment required to build, run, and expand urban mass transit systems, one proposal that rarely bares its head in civic discourse is the idea of reducing fares. Historically, costs move in one direction. The only debate that usually emerges is on limiting increases so that they aren’t deemed too onerous but still address whatever funding shortfall has surfaced. Concessions are often developed to as-sist specific groups such as students, the elderly, or the handicapped to better access mass transit systems, but typically fares tend to climb. But in August 2024, riders were offered a proposal that bucked the trend: why not reduce fares for all modes of transport?
Every segment of mass transit in the Southeast Queensland Translink network, including rail, buses, light rail, and ferries, would cost just fifty cents, 24/7. No special zones. No peak times. No confusion. And the trial would be implemented immediately. Originally launched as a six-month cost of living trial starting August 5, 2024, the 50-cent flat fare proved such a success that in February 2025 the new Crisafulli State Government made it permanent. It’s been nearly a year since the fare first went down and some interesting trends have emerged about what impact this fare reduction has had on business and personal life in the region. And equally compelling is the impact of the new flat fare on overall perception of mass transit.
The Roll Out and Impact
While the simplified fare structure eliminated the mathematical gymnastics needed to calculate fares, implementing this new strategy across the complex and diverse constellation of transit in the region required a seamless payment system across the entire network. “We were deep into the implementation of the contactless Smart Ticketing payment system in the Translink network,” said Dino Beverakis, VP and GM, APAC, Cubic Transportation Systems. “The technical infrastructure we had already installed provided a flexible foundation for this new reduced fare initiative, ensuring that the rollout of the program went as smoothly as possible”.
With the compelling new price and convenient, frictionless payment platform in place, it was time to get the word out. “Smart Ticketing was the final piece of the puzzle,” recalled Anjuna Singh, General Manager of Passenger Transport Strategy and Technology in the Translink Division of the Department of Transport and Main Roads. “We could say to customers. ‘Hey, you’ve already got a ticket in your wallet, if you’ve got a credit card or debit card. You’ve a ticket on your phone or your smart watch. It’s just 50 cents. Just jump on board the bus and train.’ ”
So how have the cheaper fares fared since they were first introduced? Overall, ridership was up significantly: 16.8% across all modes of transport. The biggest gains came in ferry ridership, up 30%.
Light rail was up 25% with rail ridership climbing 20%. And buses posted a healthy 13.5% increase. This growth in ridership was realized at all times of day and all seven days of the week, including increases of 22% outside of peak evening hours, 15% in the middle of the day, and 25% on weekends, a sign that riders were taking advantage of the affordable price for leisure activities.
The reduced fare suddenly made a family trip to the beach a lighter economic lift. Riders shared stories of how the lower fares had inspired them to return to university or take an extra shift at work knowing the commuting cost was so affordable. For Brisbane youth services, the lower fare enabled them to program outings without needing to worry about the transport cost. “Public transport delivers great social and eco-nomic benefits,” Singh noted. “The now permanent 50-cent fares have unlocked countless social and economic benefits for so many more people. It’s exciting to be a part of it.”
Post-launch surveys about the program revealed the scheme had a resonant effect on overall perception of public transport with 84% of people surveyed remarking the program benefited the environment. 46% said the new fare made them feel safer on public transport, a residual effect of the uptick in people on the system at all times of day. When it comes to how the program is impacting traffic congestion, 86% of those surveyed said it would encourage more people to choose public trans-port over driving, and 82% noted that it would help reduce road congestion. While it’s still early to measure the full impact, Translink has already noted positive trends in terms of thinning out congested thorough fares on transit lines with the largest increases in ridership.
Perhaps the most compelling insight from the survey was how the new fare structure changed the overall perception of public transport. 88% agreed that public transport is good for society and that it should be an investment priority for the government. The percentage of people who admired and spoke positively about public transport jumped 20%, from 44% to 64%. “In a community and in an economy where you want to grow people using public transport, we’ve captured the hearts and minds of people to get them to really think about how they use public transport in their lives,” said Singh.
While the 50-cent initiative was conceived as a pre-election cost of living initiative, other benefits emerged. When you invite the world to visit for a few weeks, you want to be sure that every single element of the city is functioning at the highest level. Given the fact that the plan for the 2032 Olympics will see events staged not just in the city but across the entire region, testing and implementing transit solutions to move people around is of vital importance.
With a strategy to present Brisbane as a public transport-first city for the 2032 Games, the simple flat fare structure and Smart Ticketing platforms help create an ideal scenario not just for residents but for the thousands of anticipated visitors from around the world in town for the historic sporting festival. The 16.8% increase in ridership across the entire system over the last year offered an invaluable test drive of the transit network’s capacity.
Stick and Carrot Approaches to Managing Urban Traffic
This isn’t the first instance of a city scaling back on the cost of its mass transit systems to encourage ridership. In 2020, Luxembourg was the first country to make all of their public transport free. Malta followed suit in 2022. Germany experimented with a €9 monthly ticket that both increased ridership and improved air quality.
In terms of city-wide systems, Hasselt, Belgium, eliminated fees in 1997. By 2006, ridership on their network was 13 times higher. Santiago, Chile, conducted a free fare trial in 2021 and experienced a 12% increase in overall travel with a noted spike in ridership outside of peak hours, similar to Brisbane.
The approach to increase ridership by reducing fares is in direct contrast to a competing strategy to address traffic congestion. Whereas programs like the 50-cent initiative is more of a carrot that seeks to expand ridership by making public transit literally cheaper, other programs make it relatively cheaper by increasing the cost of traditional auto-motive transport. Serving as the stick in this scenario, some cities increase tolls on roads, bridges, and tunnels, encouraging drivers to leave their cars at home and take advantage of the robust transit options available to them.
A few cities have added tactical precision to the increases with initiatives like congestion pricing models in London and New York. While the New York program is facing some challenges in the courts, it has charted some impressive numbers, which include both a measured decrease in traffic and an anticipated $500 million in additional revenue to fund transit projects in the city.
The train has left the station on both of these strategies. They share the same intended functional destination: to make getting around a city and a region affordable, comfortable, convenient, and sustainable. We’ll see what the next stop is for each and for mass transit as a whole.
Lessons for Transport Agencies
Ultimately, this exercise in reducing both the cost and the mental load of calculating a fare and purchasing a ticket has resulted in a thriving system that is more accessible to more people than ever before. Taking the complexity out of ticketing didn’t just simplify the process for individual riders. Brisbane’s new flat-fare structure also lightened the administrative burden for government and its various group constituencies such as universities and other institutions that no longer need to assess and monitor who qualifies for what transit concessions.
The egalitarian spirit of the system in which everyone gets on board for the same 50 cents fosters a healthy regard for the system as a whole. “This cost of living saving initiative makes a real difference in people’s pockets,” noted Singh. “It does so in a way that is meaningful. Not as a cash handout or subsidy, but as a way to empower people to do more things and participate more in the economy and the society. Those dividends are really paying off for the region.”
The Translink rollout of the 50-cent fare offers some valuable insights and action steps for their peer transport agencies around the world. “Does it always have to be 50 cents everywhere in the world?” asked Singh. “No, not necessarily, but could you make your fare structure easier for your customers to understand? And more accessible for your customers? Yes, you could. Being customer-centric and developing fare structures that are easy to understand has been a revelation for us in Brisbane. We don’t even have fare structures anymore! It’s just 50 cents. Period.”
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Photographs by Nicolas Azar, Illustrations by Ola Niepsujgiven.