Victorian Labor pledges $30-a-week public transport fare cap

Premier Ben Carroll has pledged to cap public transport fares at $30 a week if the Labor government is re-elected next month. The public transport pledge comes hot on the heels of a weekend commitment by Victorian Labor to cap Melbourne freeway tolls at $30 per week. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed concern over the rising tab associated with cost-of-living pledges during the election campaign. Victoria Premier Ben Carroll has pledged to cap public transport fares at $30 a week if the Labor government is re-elected next month, the second transport capping pledge in as many days. Half-price fares were introduced by former premier Jacinta Allan at the peak of the fuel price crunch in April, following a short period of free public transport use statewide in the early months of the US-Iran war. The half-price fare period was scheduled to expire on December 31. If re-elected next month, Mr Carroll said a Labor government would introduce the $30-a-week fare cap, which would run for two years until December 2028. "This is real cost-of-living relief that helps a regular commuter save $1,400 a year," the premier said. "Everyone can benefit, but full-time workers will benefit most." Victorian Labor estimated the transport fare cap policy would cost $206 million over its two-year duration, which Mr Carroll said would be offset by savings made elsewhere. The pledge comes only a day after Labor also committed to a $30-a-week freeway toll cap in an election pledge battle with the Coalition, which only months earlier had committed to a $50-a-week toll cap if elected in November. Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry policy and advocacy chief Amelia Bitsis said businesses large and small were concerned about the escalating profligacy of the Victorian election campaign. "We're asking all major political parties to show some fiscal restraint," she said. "We simply don't have an accurate enough picture of what the true debt situation is in Victoria. "What certainly do know is that business is on the hook for that debt, so are Victorian households. "A lot of the election commitments that we are seeing are lovely nice-to-haves but the question becomes: Can we afford them?" Public transport affordability was a key feature of the 2022 Victorian election campaign, with then opposition leader Matthew Guy pledging a $2 a day cap on metropolitan train and tram fares. During the campaign, the Victorian Coalition also pledged to halve V/Line fares. A political spat later erupted when Labor and the public service came under fire for undertaking a policy costing of an opposition policy proposal, with Coalition MPs arguing it was outside the remit of public servants. During the same election campaign, then premier Daniel Andrews pledged to cap regional train services at $9.20 a day for full-fare commuters, and $4.60 for concession card holders.