Poor service a driver of fare evasion

I’M not a fare evader — but I can understand why people sometimes don’t want to pay for their public transport trips.

According to Public Transport Victoria, $36.5 million in revenue was lost from fare evasion in the 2016-17 financial year.

It’s all too easy to claim our state is rife with cheapskates and petty law-breakers — but perhaps executives at Metro Trains and V/Line should look in the mirror for an explanation.

In the past two weeks, I have boarded more late and delayed services than I have punctual ones. For cities the calibre of Melbourne and Geelong, that is a lacklustre result.

I couldn’t help but think of the staff at Domino’s Pizza, who have happily offered me free meal vouchers when my order has arrived very late.

Why doesn’t public transport operate under the same premise?

If my train arrives 15 minutes late and, as a result, makes me late — why should I be paying the full price? If Metro Trains and V/Line were forced to offer free — or reduced — fares when their services run ridiculously late, I’m sure their punctuality results would immediately improve. It is all too frequently touted that Melbourne is the world’s most liveable city, but our public transport is bungling compared with many European and Asian countries. The State Government needs to ramp up the stakes to ensure our public transport improves. As I said, I’m not a fare evader and I’d prefer to buy a ticket than deal with the unnecessary commotion of being fined.

However, if I was standing next to a fare evader on a train that was more than 15 minutes late — I wouldn’t be holding any grudges.

I wish delayed services were my only gripe with our public transport, but they aren’t.

The Government received widespread applause when it introduced all-night train services in Melbourne — and I was among the supporters.

But it seems that with the Saturday night hustle and bustle, Metro doesn’t have time to clean the carriages.

Starting my Sunday morning sitting on a train surrounded by spilt alcohol, vomit and rubbish isn’t ideal.

There will always be fare evaders, but I think the number could be greatly reduced by providing a better service.