The Victorian opposition recently pledged to drop metro public transport ticket prices to $2 if elected, at a cost of about $1.3bn.
The suggested savings of $3,600 a family a year are certainly significant enough to make an impact, but something else that might make an impact is a functioning, safe and operational public transport system.
If you’ve ever caught a train, bus or tram in Victoria, you know three things are true: it will not be on time (late or early both fine); if it’s hot, cold, hot-cold or cold-hot, everything stops running; and, in some parts of the state and even metro Melbourne, there just isn’t any.
So I got to thinking of some other suggestions for state governments seeking to fix our struggling transport system. Here they are, free of charge (that’s a hint).
Make it safe
As a train-using woman, I can’t count the number of times a chap has “adjusted his backpack” in such a way that my body is somehow also involved. It’s criminally common – it’s systemic. One study in 2019 found 80% of female university students reported being victims of unwanted sexual gestures, comments, advances, groping, or being followed on public transport over the previous three years.
Being alone in a carriage is scary. Being around other people in a carriage is scary. Granted, I have several anxiety disorders, but it’s common among my friends to avoid public transport if it’s dark, late, early, rainy, sweltering or far away, for personal safety reasons. Suggestions: well-lit and covered platforms/shelters, lower hand holds, staff who don’t harass people, and a button to press when the person next to you is pretending to fix their belt but is actually assaulting you.
While we’re here, some fresh air would be nice, given everything.
Make it easy
Those new, safe staff members could also take ticket payments. They might even let you do it after you board, instead of realising too late that you don’t have credit and being forced to stand in the rain until the next bus comes, which could be anywhere between five minutes from now and never.
Also: I’m very disorganised, so I often arrive at a train station missing half the stuff I need. In the next pledge, consider: a clean undies vending machine, a Japanese-style bento service, an onboard barista, replacement office passes, the breakfast I forgot to have, and a place to hire large parrots that can fill the seat next to you in place of strangers who are sometimes sticky (see above).
Make it clean
When was the last time you visited a train station toilet that didn’t have an empty Gatorade bottle in the bowl? Who can say?
Make it accessible
If you have to halt a service to lay down a ramp for someone’s wheelchair, it’s not accessible. If a person using a mobility aid has to climb the steps of a bus, it’s not accessible. If a tram doesn’t have audio and visual cues for stopping, it’s not accessible. If it doesn’t exist, it’s not accessible.
There’s no joke in this section. Make public transport equally available to everyone.
Make it internet-enabled
One of the big complaints coming out of everyone with a vested interest is that people aren’t returning to the CBD fast enough. Two reasons spring to mind – the rising cost of living means we can no longer afford mobile data to watch our social media stories, and no one knows when their bus will arrive.
Solution: free wifi on public transport, including charging ports for our devices. Instead of working from home, we could work from train/tram/bus! Just back and forth from Hurstbridge to Flinders Street all day long, sending emails and taking Teams meetings. It will be the most we’ve travelled to the CBD/away from the CBD/back to the CBD in years.
Make it free
This is contentious. Some of the arguments against making it free include “people would buy fewer cars” and “people would use too much public transport”, which is like saying raising JobSeeker is bad because “everyone might have food to eat”.
As we suffocate in clouds of greenhouse gas emissions, the value of public transport is ever-clearer. Making a bus, tram or train an easy first choice is good for the environment, air quality, community health, bank balances, flow-on economic impact, congestion and mobility.
This election year, instead of $2, make it free. Let Victorians hop on public transport so they can go to a job interview, spend time with their families, take care of a friend, or just visit a town with a great bakery.
Or, you know, implement any of these other things. Looking forward to hearing from you.
