00:00Six months ago, public transport fares in Queensland were slashed to just 50 cents.
00:09They've been wildly popular, but it appears some commuters still won't or can't pay.
00:15More than 3,300 fines have been handed out for fare evasion since August.
00:22That is a reduction on previous months, but at $322 per fine, that works out to more than
00:29a million dollars in penalties issued by TransLink.
00:32That's a lot of money for a 50 cent fare.
00:35It's ridiculous.
00:36It's 50 cents.
00:37Why not just pay that and go on with your day?
00:39Yes, I'm really surprised that people have evaded paying fares because 50 cents is nothing.
00:44More than 21,000 got off with a warning, the majority of them children.
00:49TransLink says the fine money is reinvested into public transport and that it's important
00:54for people to tap on and tap off so they can understand which routes are busy and
00:59then plan reliable services.
01:01I think commuters should pay the 50 cent fare.
01:04It doesn't get much of a better deal than paying 50 cents, to be quite frank.
01:08TransLink has stepped up its patrols on buses, trains and ferries, with almost 600,000 checks
01:15carried out since 50 cent fares were introduced, compared with 480,000 at the same time last
01:22year.
01:23The Greens describe the fines as mind boggling.
01:26It's absolutely absurd that you could be charged over $300 for not paying a 50 cent fare.
01:32Ultimately, the state should be looking at the next sensible step and finding alternative
01:37ways to gather that patronage data and to make public transport genuinely free.
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