Melton and Bacchus Marsh commuters who travel to Melbourne for work will benefit from cheaper train fares under changes to the metropolitan rail network pricing structure.
From January 1 next year, anyone who currently purchases a zone 1 and 2 ticket will only have to pay the price of a zone 1 fare.
Rockbank, Melton and Bacchus Marsh are all zone 2 stations.
While Bacchus Marsh is beyond the metropolitan network, Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder’s spokeswoman confirmed Bacchus Marsh commuters would also benefit from the changes.
Premier Denis Napthine said the new fare structure would save commuters about $5 a day, or $1200 a year.
Bacchus Marsh commuter Chris Huculak, who travels to Footscray three times a week, welcomed the changes. “I’m very happy with the arrangement and it’s a sensible one because myki is very difficult to use,’’ he said. “It’s good to have a fare cap and it makes it easier to understand the fare structure.”
Melton Labor MP Don Nardella said that while he welcomed cheaper fares, more needed to be done to fix the problems faced by the commuters of Melton and Moorabool.
“What this will do is increase train patronage,’’ he said.
“People are already sitting in the aisles and standing the whole trip. [The government] has not made the hard decision to upgrade the service.”
Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said the changes represented a “lost opportunity”.
“Specifically regarding Melton, we regard the two-hour service frequency as a much greater deterrent to using the train service than the level of fares,’’ Mr Morton said.
“We believe people in Deer Park, Caroline Springs and Melton would be much better off having the line duplicated and the frequency increased to match other Melbourne suburban trains, compared to having the current two two-hour non-service with a discounted fare.”
