News of a fare boycott have reached The Age, amid ongoing reports of the latest train debacle:
Frustrated commuters are planning a day of protest on March 1 in a display of anger over the number of train cancellations.
Melbourne’s rail passengers are understandably upset over the latest of an ongoing saga of issues plaguing Melbourne’s public transport.
“It sounds like a lot of passengers are extremely frustrated and they are keen to display that through action,” spokesman Alex Makin said. “It appears that a number of people are quite intent on holding a day of boycott.”
While potentially a popular notion, a fare boycott will actually do very little to entice Connex to lift its performance. Under the current privatisation arrangements, Connex retains 40% of revenue raised by public transport fares with the tram and bus operators receiving the other 60%. In addition a fare boycott offers little relief for people that use bus or tram services or holders of weekly, monthly or yearly Metcards.