50c fares a huge opportunity for cost of living, koalas, and climate action

Today's incoming 50c public transport fares for south east Queensland could cut the number of kilometres driven on our roads by 1.5 billion km every year, saving 245,000 tonnes of carbon pollution every year, and reducing wildlife deaths.

The new analysis from Queensland Conservation Council is based on SEQ's new public transport fares diverting just 10% of commuters to trains and buses from private vehicles, with the state's environmental peak body calling for on-going public transport investment to ensure people take advantage of this climate and cost of living solution.

Queensland Conservation Council Director Dave Copeman said:

Transport is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions in Queensland, and has actually increased by 20% since 2005. Public transport is a huge climate win. Every kilometre travelled on a train only produces around 2% of the carbon pollution of travelling in a private car.

In 2021, only 6% of Queenslanders travelled to work via public transport, according to Census data. If 50c fares can increase this by 10%, and increase weekend usage as well, we could see cars travelling up to 1.5 billion kilometres less on our roads every year.

Every kilometre driven on many south east Queensland roads is a wildlife risk. We’re coming into koala mating season, when koalas move to find new habitat. Unfortunately in SEQ, that means koalas are trying to navigate our busy roads. Car strikes are a leading cause of koala deaths in SEQ. Reducing the number of cars on the road is a huge win for wildlife.

We are calling for a bipartisan commitment to extend the trial if it’s successful. But to see people use public transport at these rates there are other factors to consider.

Although cost is one of the big reasons people haven't used public transport, the other big ones are reliability and coverage of services.

The 50c fares have to be backed by an increased investment in more services, so that we can meet demand, and we realise the benefits for budgets, koalas and the climate.

Ultimately, we need to see our cities planned better to reduce development in koala habitat, and improve access to public transport.

We congratulate the Miles Government on the 50c fare, for identifying one of the many ways that reducing cost of living pressures also reduces carbon emissions, and has a positive impact on koalas. Now we need to make sure this idea is backed by strong investment in making the services run on time and that it can cope with the increased demand.