Which states have made public transport free<\/a><\/p>\n As fuel prices continue to rise some states have moved to make public transport free. Find out where.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far, Victoria and Tasmania have announced free public transport<\/a> schemes on a temporary basis.<\/p>\n It’s a policy shift William Smith-Gander longs for.<\/p>\n The last time money was tight he went off his ADHD medication, and could no longer afford to see his psychiatrist.<\/p>\n He is beginning to worry it might happen again.<\/p>\n “It’s just kind of like this never-ending loop,” Mr Smith-Gander told the ABC.<\/p>\n “Finally getting a little bit more money and then immediately it goes somewhere else.”<\/p>\n He can only afford to spend about $100 on petrol a fortnight.<\/p>\n William Smith-Gander is worried whether he will be able to afford renewing his car registration and insurance. (Supplied)<\/p>\n Mr Smith-Gander, who lives in Canberra, drives most days to make it to competitive cheerleader training.<\/p>\n But to save on petrol, he has started to make changes.<\/p>\n He now takes public transport whenever he can.<\/p>\n He took a bus from the national capital to Sydney to attend a competition over the weekend.<\/p>\n Last week, ACT politicians voted down a motion<\/a> to offer 50 cent fares for public transport in response to spiralling fuel prices.<\/p>\n Free public transport would have little effect on people in regional and rural areas, such as Sue Mickan who lives in Coonalpyn, a country town about a 2-hour drive south-east of Adelaide.<\/p>\n The federal government has halved the fuel excise<\/a> for three months, estimating it will reduce the cost of petrol and diesel by 26.3 cents a litre.<\/p>\n Ms Mickan, who is in her 60s, said with limited public transport services in her area, she has chosen to work with her local community to organise carpools.<\/p>\n Sue Mickan says a round trip to her nearest supermarket and pharmacy is just over an hour. (Supplied)<\/p>\n There’s about a 100-kilometre round trip between her home, and the nearest major pharmacy and grocery store, which is in Meningie.<\/p>\n “We would get no benefit from a free public transport system at all,” she said.<\/p>\n “It means that we’re trying to work collaboratively amongst our friends to have not all of us having to go [into Meningie] on the same day, but spread it.”<\/p>\n What happened when transport went free in French cities<\/p>\n Unlike Australia, there are a large number of cities in France that boast free public transport.<\/p>\n About 49 cities have free services, which has grown from just six in 2000, according to the Observatory of Free Transport Cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arnaud Passalacqua, from the Observatory of Free Transport Cities, said fare-free travel had increased passenger numbers.<\/p>\n It had also improved the perception of the public transport network.<\/p>\n “There is also a reduction in incidents of anti-social behaviour,” Professor Passalacqua said.<\/p>\n “And, likely, greater uptake among the most socially vulnerable groups, who previously did not apply for the existing concessionary fares.”<\/p>\n A study by the observatory in 2019 found in Dunkirk, which first announced plans to make services free in 2014, about half of new passengers chose to use the bus over journeys they previously took by car.<\/p>\n But the city took about four years from first announcing the policy to it taking effect.<\/p>\n In 2015, bus services were made free on weekends, and in September 2018 it was extended to seven days a week.<\/p>\n Deputy mayor of Dunkirk Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Montagne said making services free was not enough.<\/p>\n “If the service is underused, timetables not well-understood, if buses are always late, and you don’t change people’s views of public transit, then it won’t work,” he told Reasons To Be Cheerful.<\/p>\n Montpellier, which has a population of about 500,000, replaced Dunkirk as the largest city in France to have free public transport in 2023.<\/p>\n Mayor Delafosse followed a similar process as Dunkirk, first introducing free public transport on weekends in 2020, before making it free throughout the week three years later.<\/p>\n The city still charges non-residents for the use of its public bus and tram network.<\/p>\n It has also since introduced the mobility tax<\/a>, which is a longstanding tax first developed in the early 1970s in Paris.<\/p>\n 140 years since Melbourne’s first cable tram<\/a><\/p>\n The city got its first tram in 1885 and the fleet has grown to become the world’s largest tram network.<\/p>\n It is a tax on businesses with at least 11 employees, which then goes to funding the public transport system in local areas.<\/p>\n “It has gradually been extended to smaller towns. It was not, therefore, introduced to fund fare-free public transport,” Professor Passalacqua said.<\/p>\n “Local authorities can adjust the rate within limits set at national level.”<\/p>\n But Professor Passalacqua said free transport schemes in France varied and operated differently across regions.<\/p>\n The form of fare-free transport could be total or partial, and the objectives of each city range were not the same, he said.<\/p>\n There are about an additional 25 French cities that have partially free services with 12 offering it only on weekends, and 13 only to older people.<\/p>\n “The main lesson to be learnt from the French experience is to be wary of the apparent simplicity of the word ‘free,'” Professor Passalacqua said.Could it work in Australia?<\/p>\n Prior to Victoria and Tasmania announcing temporary free public transport, Queensland was the only state where fare prices were the closest to free across the country.<\/p>\n New bus timetable sees positive results<\/a><\/p>\n Early data shows Brisbane’s new bus network saves commuters two minutes on average in first three months<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bb58d7b876873b401f1735e6ba99c11a.jpeg\")
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