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Free fares and high petrol prices have sent passenger numbers on Victoria’s public transport network roaring back to pre-COVID levels, with April the busiest month on the network in more than six years.
The Department of Transport and Planning said it estimated passenger numbers on trains, trams and buses last month were in line with April 2018 and 2019, when about 49 million trips were recorded.
More than 68 million public transport trips were taken statewide between March 31 – when free travel started – and May 11, an increase of 19 per cent compared with the same period in 2025.
The surge in patronage is a remarkable turnaround after the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent working from home policies left a large dent in public transport patronage.
In 2025, there were 490 million trips recorded across the network, which was 19 per cent below 2019 levels (603 million) despite the state’s population growing by 453,200 over that time.
The Allan government made myki fares free in April and May, and then half price until the end of the year, in a cost-of-living measure that will cost the state $433 million.
Melbourne’s metropolitan train and tram networks have been the hardest hit by the loss of commuters now working from home. Passenger numbers are down 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively compared with pre-COVID levels.
However, V/Line trains have been busier since all fares were cut to the maximum metropolitan daily fare (currently $11.40) in 2023.
The regional train service carried 25.7 million people in 2025, which was 4.1 million more than in 2019. Issues with overcrowding on long V/Line journeys have become worse now that fares are free, passengers say.
Department of Transport and Planning secretary Jeroen Weimar told a transport industry event in late April that free fares had triggered a “more than doubling” of V/Line patronage at weekends, and a 25 to 35 per cent jump on the Melbourne public transport network.
“We’re now back to pre-COVID levels. Frankly, I thought that was going to be a very long and painful haul,” Weimar said.
Passenger data for April and May is slightly less reliable because the department is not recording myki touch-ons and is instead using passenger detectors on gate readers and vehicles, and manual head counts on V/Line.
Monash University transport researcher Graham Currie said only a small proportion of the extra public transport passengers would be people replacing car trips.
“It will be some people travelling more who are already using public transport, it will be people who might have walked or cycled, and it will be some people that are travelling that wouldn’t have travelled,” he said.
Currie said free travel was a good short-term policy to help people under financial stress, but long-term, the funds would be better spent improving and expanding the network to cover more of the city.
“About half of people in Melbourne don’t have [access to] public transport, so we’re only helping some people,” he said.
Toll road owner Transurban said in April that traffic on Melbourne’s CityLink was down 0.8 per cent in first three months of the year, after the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28 and resulting spike in petrol prices.
Myki fares are capped at $11.40 a day, meaning a full-fare, five-day-a-week commuter would save up to $250 a month during April and May, and more than $850 from half-priced fares between June and December.
The Greens have called on the state government to make public transport permanently free, which the Parliamentary Budget Office estimates would cost $1 billion a year.
Travel will remain free for anyone under 18 after the introduction of the youth myki in January, and seniors, carers and disability support pensions will also remain eligible for free travel at weekends.
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Patrick Hatch is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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